Name the five ways dogs can display agnostic behaviors to avoid conflict.

• A. Avoidance; Appeasement (calming); Submission; Threats of Aggression; Aggression.
• B. Tail wagging; sniffing; licking; jumping.
• C. Running; fetching; rolling over; sneezing.
• D. Ignoring; yawning; sleeping; scratching.

Answer: (A)

Agonistic signals are how dogs try to prevent a fight by communicating intent and de-escalating tension. The five ways dogs commonly display to avoid conflict are: avoidance, where the dog steps away or retreats to disengage; appeasement (calming signals), which includes subtle behaviors like soft eye contact, averted gaze, lip licking, or turning the head to signal non-threat; submission, shown by a lowered body posture, cowering, or exposing the belly; threat displays, used as a warning that the dog may escalate if necessary, such as a stiff posture, raised hackles, direct stare, growling, or showing teeth; and actual aggression, where the dog escalates to biting or lunging if warnings are ignored. Understanding this sequence helps handlers spot early tension and intervene before a conflict occurs. Other behaviors in the choices are general actions not specifically used to de-escalate conflict.