My dog has not been well-socialized around other dogs. I don't go to dog parks or pet stores etc.

We now live in a real neighborhood, where we encounter dogs (generally from a distance) daily. Chula always will hackle (she hackles very readily, and with her short hair, it's easy to see. Good for me, because I can instantly tell when there might be a potential issue arising.) I say always, but it's always in response to some behavior of the other dog; ie barking at us, or lunging at us, or sometimes an off-leash dog will run toward us.

If I can keep moving forward, I do, and she will stop hackling once the dog is behind us. She may look around once or twice, but she can generally be distracted with obedience at that point.

I have not corrected her in this situation, because she doesn't fixate on the other dogs, and she doesn't attempt to lunge toward the other dogs.

She will ignore a barking dog behind a fence, including our neighbor's 3 pitbulls, whose fenceline we share.

So, I guess my question is, is there any reason to correct her for hackling? (and sorry in advance for the rambling...)

Hackling alone I wouldn't worry about it, I'd just refocus the dogs attention if the dog fixates at all.

Thanks; that's what I was hoping to hear...

Hackling seems to me like a much more involuntary reaction than an actual "behavior", like growling, lunging, refusing to keep walking, etc. Like goose bumps. If that's so, you can condition the dog to feel more comfortable in more situations, thus she wouldn't automatically hackle when she sensed a possible threat, but correcting for hackling in and of itself doesn't seem appropriate, or useful.

Is that a correct assumption/understanding?

~Natalya

I've wondered how to deal with this too. Max hackles readily when he sees other dogs or strangers. He doesn't bark aggressively at the end of the leash but he will repeatedly emit muffled barks and growls, like "Grrrrr... umph." Should I correct him for the growling? He will continue to do this even as we're walking away from the source of his hackling.

Yote hackles a lot, but he has two different kind of hackling.
One of them is only on the neck area, and the other is all the hair along his spine, making him look like he has a mohawk.

I do correct for the full back hackle because that is what he does during aggressive moments. I am actually glad he does it along with obvious growling because it helps me know when he is going into drive and about to start something.

When only his neck hackles, which is whenever he gets excited, like playing tug or ball or just tearing around the yard I either ignore or re-direct.

I agree with Mike, I would not correct a dog for hackling. In the case of a young dog, it's many times a sign of unsureness and adding a correction while the dog is feeling unsure can actually create an issue.

Rush gets his hackles up at times, usually when he sees something or someone in the distance or out of context (i.e. a weird item in the woods) I know from raising lots of puppies that this behavior will go away with life experience if I don't make a big deal out of it and redirect his behavior to something else. In his case, I call him to me and ask him to do a hand touch or a down or something just to break his attention from it.

George is doing the same for about the same reasons as cindy stated, but also when he sees another dog. good to know, the whole "redirect for now, will grow out of it with experience" thing.
Man!! thats why I LOVE this place!!

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

Yote hackles a lot, but he has two different kind of hackling.
One of them is only on the neck area, and the other is all the hair along his spine, making him look like he has a mohawk.

I do correct for the full back hackle because that is what he does during aggressive moments. I am actually glad he does it along with obvious growling because it helps me know when he is going into drive and about to start something.

When only his neck hackles, which is whenever he gets excited, like playing tug or ball or just tearing around the yard I either ignore or re-direct.

Tucker is the same way. He will neck-hackle when he's chasing squirrels in the backyard, but thats because he's just too excited. That doesn't bother me so I don't worry about it.

The other all back type is only if he spots another dog.