A dogs body language is more than a wagging tail or bared teeth. It is a way of communication letting others know who they are, what their pack position is and much more. Dogs have their own language.
To a certain degree they will learn to understand ours, but we need to understand theirs too. It’s a known fact that that we know more about the language of wild animals than we do about domesticated ones.
Dogs don’t just communicate vocally they also use and interpret body language. We all have body language but don’t necessarily understand it. Dogs do. They use their whole body to communicate from a tilt of the head to a wagging of the tail.
Start taking note of your dog’s actions.
A dogs body language is communicated by any part and all of its body. Watch the positions of his ears and the look on his face from the frown on the forehead to the tension around mouth and muzzle. How his weight is distributed and how he is holding his tail. You will begin to learn if he is relaxed and or dominant in a given situation or whether he is submissive or even fearful.
Tails are very important to a dog for communication and balance, and that is one of the parts that get chopped off in favor of fashion.
I remember a long time ago, a woman stopped me as I was walking one of my dogs. She asked me what breed he was. I told her he was a rottweiler and she insisted that he couldn’t be because he had a tail. It took some time to explain to her that all dogs are born with tails. It’s us who cut them off.
Even national kennel clubs insisted that they be cut off if they were to be shown. And they were supposed to be authorities!!! The same can be said for ears that have been docked to make them stand up.
Watching Body Movements
We learn a lot from a dogs body language and from their voices. If we learned to understand them, interacting with dogs would be so much easier. The more that you understand your dog, the more you will know how your messages to him are understood.
You can learn a lot about a dog by watching his body movements from his head to his tail. They also vocalize very well from deep gruff warnings to continuous yapping. Understand the important messages they are giving us and learn to train out the requests.
The more we learn about our pets by understanding dog body language, the more fun they become. You will both bond better and therefore training will become easier. A trained dog is a happy dog. Why? because he now knows what is expected of him. If he doesn’t know and you don’t know how to tell him then you will have one unhappy household.
Take a trip to the dog park and watch how dogs interact with each other. Learn how one dogs body language communicates and reacts to another dogs body language.
Watch the ones that are playing together but more importantly watch those that are meeting for the first time. How does one react to the other, do they both react the same. Does one dog show dominance over the other?
When you watch them, look at their overall behavior and them try to pick out the subtle nuances. Do they both meet with tails up and wagging, are they relaxed or stiff? Watch the eyes, the ears, mouth and hair – particularly along the neck and back.
Do dogs react the same way with different dogs?
Try to predict your dogs next move from his body language.
By reading your dog and interacting with dogs, you will begin to interpret signals and identify dog temperament. Take some time to watch your dog and see if you can learn when someone is coming to the door before they knock. You’ll be surprised.
How Dogs use Body Language.
Dogs are naturally pack animals with acute senses. They can hear, see and smell things long before we can. They are always watching each other as well as what is going on around them.
A dogs body language is used as a means of communication and they will very often watch yours and interpret your moves. This is good and can use it to our advantage. We need to reciprocate by doing two things, learn our dogs body language and learn to use body language in their training.
Use a dogs body language to tell his mood:
When I am walking my dogs, I often meet children with parents and the children always run ahead to stroke the dog and the parents usually let them. I know what is coming so I get my dogs to sit and then I tell the children to stop. I tell them if they want to stroke the dog they need to walk, not run and approach from the front.
I also like to tell them – and the parents – never to approach a dog without being invited. You don’t know what its temperament is. Not all dogs on leashes are sociable or in a good mood.
Dogs communicate their behavior to all animals - including humans – using body language. It doesn’t matter whether it is aggressive dog behavior or submissive dog behavior every dog in the pack knows and understands the situation.
Let’s start at the back end. The tail - if it hasn’t already been cut off - tells us a lot. First off, lets get rid of the myth that a wagging tail means a friendly dog, it doesn’t.
Tail:
If the tail is wagging from side to side at a fast rate, he probably already knows you. That’s why he’s happy and excited.
If the tail is wagging fast but is high and stiff, watch out. He doesn’t want you near him. He is agitated and possibly frightened and may well become aggressive if approached.
If the tail is stiff and bristling, this is another definite sign that you are in his space. Move away from him.
If the tail is held loose or is wagging slowly, he isn’t too sure about you. He isn’t going to take a bite out of you and he may not back away from you but he doesn’t trust you yet.
If the tail is erect, the dog is showing confidence – irrespective of whether he is happy or angry.
If the tail is low but not tucked between her legs he is relaxed in his environment.
If the tail is tucked between the hind legs, he is frightened and putting himself into a submissive position.
Head:
If he cocks his head to one side, he is indicating an interest. Very often at a sound that you have made or if you are talking to him and he is trying to pick out a recognizable word.
If his head is lowered and his ears are back, he is in a submissive mood. The hair along his neck and back may be bristled up. The dogs body language is saying that he is frightened. Be careful in this situation as the dog may well feel threatened and if cornered may attack.
Ears:
If the ears go up and forward, he has heard something. If he has erect ears, such as a collie, they will swivel until they get the direction of the noise.
Those breeds whose ears hang, such as hounds, you will see the base of the ear go up. The head will also be raised if it is a sound that excites him – expected or unknown. On the other hand, he may be on his bed in an assumed sleep but his ears will be raised and he will be listening.
Neck :
A dog’s neck and back will bristle up – he will have his hackles up – in an effort to increase his size. He is trying to show the enemy that he is larger than he really is. It’s not just a dogs body language, cats do it when they raise themselves up on tip toe and their hair bristles up. Humans do it by pushing out their chest and having their arms akimbo.
Mouth:
When a dog will pull back the corners of his mouth back showing his teeth he is smiling. He is showing you that everything’s ok and he is happy.
When a dog bares his teeth by raising the upper lip, he is snarling.
If you are a person who is blessed with a big smile that shows all of your teeth, be careful. In a dogs body language your smile may be misinterpreted as a snarl.
Body:
If a dog goes belly up exposing his underside, including genitals and neck, he is showing that he is comfortable in your company and not in fear of harm. My dogs body language shows they are at ease in our house because they sleep in this position most of the time.
If a dog or puppy is going round in circles with his head smelling the floor, he may need to use the bathroom.
Understanding dogs by watching their body language helps us to predict their behavior. Being able to predict dog behaviour, we can counter act a potential situation by issuing obedience commands which is part of basic dog training.
Watching The Signs
Signs of confidence
How to tell if a dog is confident: he will be standing erect with his tail up and wagging slowly. His ears may be relaxed or they may be pricked up and slightly forward if he is alert. He will look directly at you, relaxed and without fear. This posture tells you he is confident and not afraid. It does not tell you if he is friendly or not.
If he is less confident he will not stand so erect. His head may be lower as will his tail. He will look up at you from his lowered head or he may look away. His tail will wag quickly from side to side.
The dogs body language will tell you if he is afraid because his head and butt will be down and his legs will be bent. He’s trying to make himself as small as possible in the hope that you will not see him. He will be turning his head away as he looks at you. This tends to show the whites of their eyes which is a classic sign of fear.
Sign of alertness:
If a dog is alert or aroused by a given situation, the hair on their shoulders and along their back and at the base of the tail will stand up. These are called their hackles and we refer to them as ‘having raised hackles’. Raised hackles tell you that his curiosity is aroused. It does not tell you if he is friendly or not.
Signs of dominance:
The dog dominance behavior will show him standing erect and confident. He may stand over another dog and put his paw or chin over the other dogs shoulder much as we may put a fatherly hand on a child’s shoulder or how we may shake hands with the dominant hand being above the other. Sometimes they will allow another dog to lick his lips and mouth. The other dog is showing deference to him.
If another dog in the pack is unsure or too submissive, he may even roll over and show his belly as if to say ‘hey, I’m not hostile, it’s okay’ just as we would spread our arms wide if we said the same thing.
He will always look the other dog in the eye, not with arrogance or defiance, just with confidence.
Signs of submission:
A submissive dog will stand with head and body lowered. They will allow a more dominant dog to stand over them, much as a child figure will allow a parental figure to a hand on their shoulder. He will lick a dominant dog’s mouth and lips.
A submissive dog may roll on their back exposing their belly, but unlike the dominant dog, they will turn their head away. Their tail will also be tucked between their legs.
A submissive dog is not a frightened dog. In fact they are quite confident knowing where they stand in the grand scheme of things. This is reflected in a dogs body language They know their position and are content with it.
A dogs body language may show that they are submissive to a higher rank but dominant to a lower rank. In fact it is within these ranks that most fighting occurs because they are continually vying for position. A pack leader does not need to lower himself to fighting.
Signs of Play time:
When animals play, they are acting out true life situations. This is instinctive and part of the animal genes. Their play time centers on hunting, fighting and reproducing. As they play they are fulfilling their natural instincts and they are also setting their position in the pack hierarchy.
A puppy dogs body language for play time is to bow down with his front legs on the floor and his rear end high in the air with tail wagging, he wants to play. It could be with you or another animal.
He may paw the ground to get someone to play with him or drop a toy in front of them, enticing them to make a play for it. He will be looking straight at his playmate with a big open grin on his face. His ears will be up and forward in the alert posture and his eyes will be relaxed. Make the most of these opportunities.
When play starts, it may appear that they are being rough but watch closely and you will see that their mouths are relaxed. Their lips will be covering the teeth. If this were for real the lips would be drawn back in a snarl and the teeth would be showing.
There may even be some growling and barking going on but it is all play. It is not the bark of fear or the deep gruff warning that you may hear in other circumstances. It is usually higher pitched. You will get to know the sounds and tones of your dogs bark as well as the dogs body language and be able to relate them to a particular situation.
Dogs sometimes try to mount their play partner irrespective of their sex. We sometimes get embarrassed by this but it is not a sexual thing. Sometimes it is performed by the dominant dog but not always. Some times a lower ranking dog will try to mount a higher ranking dog when they are trying to find their place in the pack hierarchy.
Half way through the rough and tumble, everything stops and they lay down together or go and get a drink like old pals. They may have another bout or they may call it a day.
If you get a little bit disturbed that the dogs body language is suggesting that the rough play is getting out of hand move them apart for a break. This is not punishment, it’s just a cooling off period.
Signs of Stress and stress release:
Dogs get stressed just as much as we do and it is usually out of frustration but sometimes out of fear. How can we recognize the signals?
Stressed dogs show any number of the following signs. Body shaking, whimpering or whining, panting fast with the corners of the mouth pulled back may on its own be assign that he has had a good game and is tired out. He needs to rest.
However, if you couple that with his whole body shaking or his body lowered to the ground it may be something more. The dogs body language is indicating stress. For further confirmation of his condition, look at the tail. If it is up and wagging then he is probably ok. If his tail is down to the ground, then he is stressed.
Nervous dogs may scratch themselves and show signs of sweating through the pads on their feet. Their ears will be pulled back and their eyes will be dilated.
When a dog is with other animals – including humans – they will naturally try to avoid any type of conflict unless they are asserting their position in the pack. A dogs body language is used to reduce any stress that they may have or that another may have towards them. Watch and discover how a dogs body language sends out calming signals.
They will try to appear disinterested. They will do this by looking away or sniffing at an object away from the stressed animal. ‘Look its ok; I’m more interested in this leaf than I am you so you have nothing to worry about’. Laying down and they may lick their lips or nose or yawn. Nose and lip licking are signs that may be used by a stressed dog or by the one who is assuring.
He may roll over on his back as if to say ‘I’m laying here getting the sun on my belly, relax and do the same’.
Signs of aggression:
You need to understand a dogs body language to see the signs of aggressive behavior in dogs in order to stay in control of a situation. Not all aggression comes from large dogs, in fact some of the worst aggressors are smaller lap dogs or terriers. The things you want to look for if you think a dog may be aggressive are:
His whole body will be hard from the intense staring eyes, the ears that are laid back and close to the head, the mouth with the lips drawn back over the teeth and the stiff legs. The hair on his shoulders down his back and at the base of the spine will be raised. His hackles will be up and his tail will be straight out behind him.
To understand a dogs body language you need to be interacting and in communication with dogs on a regular basis. Learn about dog temperament and you will be able to foresee any dog behavior problem before it occurs.
