My partner’s Golden Retriever does this weird thing in the car. When the windows are down and she spots another dog on the road, she starts barking at the dog aggressively, which is very unlike her. She would never act like this if she saw the same dog while out on a walk. Usually, she’s super calm and submissive around other dogs.
This reminds me of something my old parakeet used to do. Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago, but he used to act the same way when he saw ravens or buzzards outside his cage. He’d stay completely silent when they stared at him through the window, likely because he couldn’t escape and was afraid of getting attacked. But as soon as a family member would come to chase the birds away, he would start screeching and acting tough like he was ready to fight.
My partner and I find this behavior really curious. Could this just be the pet version of “talking smack”?
That’s interesting, but what do you think causes it? It’s so strange.
I think it’s called barrier aggression. It happens when dogs get worked up because they can’t reach each other, like when two dogs are separated by a fence. They might act aggressive on either side, but when they meet face to face with no fence, they just ignore each other or even become friends.
As for your parakeet, it’s a different situation. Birds are prey animals and they know they’re stuck in a cage with no way to escape from predators. So, they stay silent and hope the predator leaves. But once the threat is gone and the human shows up, the bird can let out its frustration and fear.
So in short, it’s about survival instincts. The parakeet was scared but couldn’t escape, so it froze. Then, once it felt safe, it expressed its fear in a loud way.
That’s interesting, but what do you think causes it? It’s so strange.
Thanks for explaining, I didn’t know about barrier aggression, so that’s a helpful tip for me to research more. I get the bird’s silence at first; it makes sense. But what’s confusing is why it acted so tough afterward. It wasn’t just about fear. It almost seemed like it was trying to assert itself after the danger had passed. Why would the bird do that?
@Lexi
The bird wasn’t trying to act tough, it was just reacting to being trapped. When animals freeze in fear, it’s because they can’t fight or run. Once the threat is gone, the animal’s instincts to fight or flee kick in. But with the parakeet being stuck in a cage, the flight response can’t happen. So, it expresses its frustration by screeching, almost like it’s trying to fight, but it can’t actually do anything about the situation.
That’s why it seemed like it was putting on a show. It wasn’t about dominance. It was about frustration and fear.