© Giampaolo Urso
There has been a very interesting discussion about shakeoffs on the DogRead elist. Many wonderful examples of shake offs were offered. Shake offs occurred after uncomfortable physical contact, in response to stress, when transitioning from one activity to another, when rearranging a coat after repose, and of course, when wet!

I particularly appreciate the concept that for some dogs shaking off is a transitional state, going from one activity or one mood to another. A psychiatrist friend of mine once said to me “that ambivalence is an emotion that reflects a transitional state”. So perhaps we could extrapolate backwards from that definition of ambivalence, that dogs shaking off are expressing ambivalence about what just happened, or what might be about to happen. A psychiatrist friend of mine once said to me “that ambivalence is an emotion that reflects a transitional state”. So perhaps we could extrapolate backwards from that definition of ambivalence, that dogs shaking off are expressing ambivalence about what just happened, or what might be about to happen. Check out this link below, as a matter of fact, check out all the “Time Warp” videos they are great, especially the one of a dog drinking.