Conflict behaviour

Behaviour that appears when an animal is simultaneously motivated to do two incompatible things, or when an animal is being asked to do something that conflicts with their internal state.

In horses, conflict behaviours include head tossing, tail swishing, teeth grinding, resistance to cues, tension in the jaw and back, and several other patterns. In dogs, conflict behaviours include yawning, lip licking, looking away, freezing, and a range of subtle postural and facial signals. In cats, conflict behaviours include tail flicking, ear position changes, and pupil dilation patterns. The specific behaviours vary by species but the underlying phenomenon is similar.

Conflict behaviours are useful welfare indicators because they often precede more dramatic behaviours and give the handler a chance to adjust the situation before things escalate. A horse showing increasing tail swishing during a training session is offering the handler information about how the session is being experienced. A dog showing repeated lip licking during a particular type of handling is offering the same kind of information.

Conflict behaviours are closely related to displacement behaviour but distinct from it. Displacement behaviours are out-of-context normal behaviours that overflow from internal conflict. Conflict behaviours are more directly expressions of the conflict itself: tension visible in the body, signals of competing motivations, indications that the animal is being asked to do something that does not fit their current state.

Reading conflict behaviours well is one of the central skills in modern welfare-positive handling across species. The behaviours are often subtle, particularly in the early stages, and require careful attention to detect. A handler who reads conflict behaviours well can adjust their approach before the animal escalates to more obvious signals, producing better welfare and better training outcomes.

The terminology overlaps with other concepts in the literature: some authors describe similar behaviours as “stress signals” or “appeasement signals”. The terms are not perfectly interchangeable but refer to overlapping behavioural sets that all function as indicators of internal state.