By Jane Dinunzio

Learning to read your dog’s body language is pretty simple. They have limited actions and verbal noises, that once you can interpret, will make both your lives easier. You will then know when your pet is happy and when they are distressed.

Most devoted dog owners can immediately tell what their dogs are feeling by different body language signals. Most dogs have similar and repetitious signals that are generally easy for someone who understands their dog, will then help understand a friendly dog on the street, or in a dog park, from a potential enemy.

If you are not sure of what a dog is saying check out these few different examples that I have learned from my dogs, Lady and Lola.

A Happy, Friendly Tail Wagging Dog:

The tail will make wide sweeps or almost a circle movement, with the tail hanging down, and not held straight up and wagging stiffly. The ears are relaxed and fur will be smooth down the spine and shoulders. A happy tail wagging dog won’t look another dog or you in the eyes, but will be busy with the task of sniffing, usually first nose to nose, then nose to butt, moving in a relaxed manner. Ask the owner if it is okay to pet their dog after the sniffing routine is finished, then offer the back of your hand to smell first before petting. I usually just stand with my fist turned towards the unknown dog at this point, staying fairly still with my arm hanging down at snout level. I allow the dog to approach me rather than sticking my fist out towards him. So far I haven’t had a problem with misinterpreting this action as aggressive.

A Tail Wagging Dog that is Showing Aggression:

If you meet another dog while out with yours, or even if you are just out alone don’t assume he is friendly because his tail is wagging. Although the strange dog is not growling, showing it’s teeth and snapping at you, he can be dangerous. If his tail is stiff and held high, and the ears seem alert, and he stares directly into your or your dog’s eyes, then you are encountering a hostile dog. The hackles are raised. – ( the fur down the spine and around the shoulders ). To prevent attack you should try to quietly remove yourself and your dog quickly, without running of course.

A Happy Playful Pup:

This is my favorite way for Lady or Lola to show me their “mood”. Most people will recognize this type of dog language, even people who aren’t dog people. Let’s play. Your dog bows down and rests on the chest and front elbows, with the butt swinging happily up in the air. Sometimes after a short display of this, they get up, bark, run in circles, do a quick roll around, and return to the position. I can never resist this request.

A Very Unhappy Fearful Dog:

The whole body will be lowered, and tucking the tail to cover it’s scent will be a good indication that your dog is afraid of something. The ears are usually laid back and tight against his head, and the fur is raised along the back and shoulders. Fear biting is sometimes a result when a dog is afraid. This is a dog you want to retreat from quietly and quickly.

A Submissive Dog:

When a dog is being submissive, it may lie on his back and expose the belly. This is not a sign of cowardice. This way the dog gives you the power of pack leader he can relax and enjoy his life of belly scratches, walks, getting a regular meal and playing. These dogs aren’t looking for a fight, and are usually laid back and relaxed pets. This type of personality makes a good family member. As long as there are no other symptoms to go along with this behavior that would indicate the dog shows obsessive behavior along with this body language, or is so timid that is hides all the time and is truly a “scaredy dog”. I had a sweet, sweet beagle named Susie that was so submissive and afraid of everything that it took over one year just for her to trust me enough to approach me. She stayed mostly under the bed and I was always hunting around the house for her. I rescued Susie from a horrible existence in a puppy mill, at the age of 6 months. Even with all the her quirky and difficult behavior, I loved her dearly, and patiently she learned to trust the immediate family. She was a wonderful addition to my life for 10 years, before succumbing to cancer.

Obviously these few examples above of “dog body language” are just that – a few. Dog’s have many actions, expressions and stances that indicate different wants and needs. Most of these are genetically passed on from wild ancestors.

Learning to read the different variations within your dog’s body language makes living together a very rewarding endeavor.

Check out more about dog health, behavior, and nutrition here along with my pictures of Lady, Lola and my Susie’s bio here: http://recipes4gourmetdogs.com

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© 2009 – 2010, Dog Service Network. All rights reserved. Republished articles have been reprinted with permission. For permission to reprint these articles, please contact the author.

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By Stan Rawlinson

A couple of years ago a Japanese electronics company came up with a Gizmo which they claimed could convert dogs barks, yips and whines into human language, thereby allowing us to understand “Doggie” speak for the first time. I was on a radio program recently, discussing the merits and usefulness of a new dog collar that was also a mobile phone. You could ring up and converse with your dog at any time and enjoy a nice cosy chat. You might as well text your pet for all the good phoning it would do; the mostly likely outcome of this idea would be to startle and frighten your pet.

In reality, real canine language is not just verbal; it is a rich visual language, where dogs are able to converse with each other irrespective of breed or nationality. A Collie from Wales can converse with an Akita from Japan and a Poodle living in France with a village dog in Ethiopia.

Dogs have a truly universal language that can be incredibly subtle and wide ranging. This marvellous language is one that we can also learn and understand, and through that ability communicate with our dogs far more effectively.

However this is a language that needs to be practiced for our dogs to be fluent. That is why early socialisation, puppy classes, and controlled play with other vaccinated dogs is so vitally important, especially in the critical periods from 7 to 16 weeks. As a behaviourist I get to treat many of these animals that are unable to give calming signals or are stunted in their ability to meet and greet because of the lack of early socialisation.

These are normally the ones that have fear and animosity towards other dogs and sometimes humans, culminating in the most common aggression of all “Fear”. In many cases, they are unable to understand or signal their intentions; a classic example is boxers who are often attacked by other dogs. They have been bred with flattened features that are almost immobile, then we dock their tail to a tiny useless stub, making them unable to display some of the facial and tail signals that are so important in the greeting ritual.

I said earlier that we can learn this language, however some aspects of canine language are so complex, that we cannot even start to reproduce it with our puny two legs, small immobile ears, and lack of tail.

We are further hampered by the fact that we tend to think that our pets can understand complex thought patterns; we assume a dog’s level of understanding is on a par with our own. This is known as “anthropomorphism”, the dictionary definition is “The attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behaviour to nonhuman organisms or inanimate objects”. It is a bit like saying that a vine climbed up the tree to getter a better view of the garden.

Dogs and Vocalisation

Dogs do bark and vocalise it is a part of their ability to converse, however this is only one factor in your dogs language repertoire, effectively when they bark they are saying “Heyyyyy”. This can be happy, demanding or questioning. They also communicate verbally in other ways the excited Yip when you get the lead out, the bark they make when someone is at the door, quite different from the nervous bark when they hear something unusual.

Having said that true communication comes from the glance, the head position, the body posture, and a myriad of other signals constantly being passed back and forth. Dogs try to converse with us, but without understanding the subtly of the language we often miss most of what they are trying to convey. This can cause misunderstanding and confusion and may be one of the main reasons we get the behavioural problems we see today.

Greeting and Appeasing Signals

We humans are the direct descendants of primates including ape’s chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas. That is not to denigrate our unique position on the evolutionary ladder, but our heritage is none the less, Primate. Dog’s ancestry is intrinsically linked to the wolf, therefore Canids, which include wolves, coyotes, and jackals, a very different species with very different body language.

Where communication sometimes breaks down is when we greet other species, we tend approach then as we would humans, face on making full eye contact; we often hug, face to face, putting our faces close together. Just look at the common greeting of kissing both cheeks. To a dog, this is a threatening gesture and is deemed rude and inappropriate.

Have you ever seen dogs hug? In the main most of our pets suffer this indignity in silence but not always. This is one of the reasons people are bitten, especially young children under five, who tend to cuddle everything they can get their hands on. This coupled with the fact that you cannot negotiate with a child under five, you have more chance of negotiating with a terrorist. Ask any mother, this sadly makes the toddler one of the most frequent victims of dog bites.

If you stand over a dog and ruffle the top of its head this can also be perceived as threatening, imagine someone coming up to you and ruffling your hair every time you met, how would you feel?

Turid Rugaas (1) The Norwegian behaviourist and acknowledged expert on reading the intricate body language of our canine companion’s states that dogs have a highly developed set of calming signals that act as diffusers of aggression and conflict. These signals include circling, lip licking, yawning, sniffing the ground, looking away, moving very slowly and deliberately, the body shake as if shedding water, distracted sniffing, and either sitting or lying down. These signals are aimed at other dogs but are also directed at us, who are also perceived loosely as pack members.

Just as we expect our pets to understand our every word, then dogs think we can interpret their signals, quite often these are the ones we miss when our dogs are stressed or worried. If you can spot them you can actually signal back calming gestures in response such as yawning, lip licking, moving slowly, and looking away. This helps to diffuse the situation and relax your pet.

If you think about it, these actions are the opposite of the aggressive stance that dogs take as a prequel to an attack or dogfight.

Aggression

As opposed to the calming signals, this body language is initially easier to read and includes ears pinned back flat against head, or sometimes pointed forward, hackles raised, hard stare, low head stance, stiff legged walk, lips skinned back, and tail either upright and quivering or straight out not wagging. There may be low growling or a snarl. Sometimes the dog gives a whale eye this is when the head is turned slightly away but the eyes showing the whites are turned towards you. This is often the look when the dog is guarding something like a bone. All these signals are a threat, the dog is saying stop what you are doing or there could be violence.

In Wolf packs these threat displays are a way of controlling the hierarchical structure, the breeding males and females will control their pack position by these overtly aggressive stance . Rarely does it turn into violence these animals cannot really afford to be injured or hurt in an all out fight, therefore threat displays normally suffice.

Because of our and sometimes other dogs, inability to read the postures and body language and give calming signals in return means that sometimes the threats can actually escalate into physical violence.

Timid Dogs: If you find that your dog is very fearful or timid round strangers get them to walk him on a lead with you, it calms and gives confidence to the stressed dog, make sure you are walking next to the dog at the same time

In conclusion, we need to watch and learn from our pets, if you write down the numerous signals your pet gives and in what context you will gradually build up an understanding of what he is saying to you.

You can then signal back appeasing signals in return turn your head away, yawn, or lick your lips at a fearful or aggressive dog and you may just diffuse the situation.

With practice, you should find yourself more able to communicate with your dog with a more enriched and sophisticated vocabulary. This will benefit both you and your dog and allow you to have a better understanding and more relaxed relationship with your pet.

© Copyright: Stan Rawlinson (Doglistener) is one of the leading Dog Behaviourists and Obedience Trainers in the UK. Who has owned and worked dogs for over 30 years, starting with Gundogs then moving on to the behavioural and obedience side of Pet Dogs. He now has a successful practice covering London, Surrey and Middlesex. Visit his Web Site for more information and details of his work.

http://www.doglistener.co.uk
enquiries@doglistener.co.uk
0208 979 2019

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© 2008 – 2010, Dog Service Network. All rights reserved. Republished articles have been reprinted with permission. For permission to reprint these articles, please contact the author.

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How do you understand your dog, when your dog can’t speak?Learning to read your dog’s body language can certainly help with this. Below is a list of different signs to help you read your dog’s body language:

Source: “Reading Your Dog’s Body Language”, About.com. Retrieved on November 7, 2008 from http://dogs.about.com/od/dogtraining/tp/dogbodylanguage.htm.

© 2008, Dog Service Network. All rights reserved. Republished articles have been reprinted with permission. For permission to reprint these articles, please contact the author.

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As primates, we humans are big on eye contact. We can’t help but gaze into a cute dog’s eyes (especially those of our own beloved pooches!), but eye contact is actually an unnatural behavior for canines. In fact, some dogs find eye contact downright intimidating! So in addition to its use as a communication tool, teaching your dog to make eye contact with people is a handy way to ensure that he’ll feel comfortable when other human admirers look into his eyes.

• Begin in a quiet environment with few or no distractions. Hold a couple of small treats in your hands. The treats should be soft and easy for the dog to eat quickly. Your dog will very likely paw at your hands, mouth at your hands or bark at you. Be patient and wait him out. Keep watching his eyes. At most, just whisper his name once to see if he looks in the direction of your face. The instant his eyes shift up toward yours, say “Yes” and give him a treat from one of your hands. Continue to do this until the dog begins to “offer” looking at you. Assist him only by whispering his name once or twice. After that, wait him out and he eventually will look at you. Remember, you can’t expect more than a fleeting glance at this point. Helpful hint: Do make sure you mix up which hand is giving him the treat.

• Once the dog understands to look at you in order to get the treat, ask for gradually longer periods of sustained eye contact. Start with a few seconds and try to build up to 20 seconds. It may help your dog if you smile and tell him he’s good while he’s gazing at you. If he looks away, say “Uh!” (not in a scolding tone, just conversational) and pull your hands behind your back. Immediately bring your hands back out front and resume waiting for voluntary eye contact. Maybe ask for slightly less than you’d hoped for last time, just to maintain your dog’s confidence.

• Does your dog use a crate? Be sure to incorporate this exercise there, too. Put your hand on the latch, as though you are going to open the door, but don’t do so until the dog looks at you. The instant he looks at you, say “Yes” and open the crate. You can also do this at the door if your dog likes to go out for walks. Looking at you gets the door opened!

• Add a cue so you can start to ask your dog for the eye contact behavior. Say “Look” or “Watch” before you look at him. If he looks away at any time, say “Uh! Look,” and smile and praise when he looks back at you.

• Start holding other things your dog might want, like a toy. When he looks at you, say “Yes!” and throw the toy for him or offer him the toy for a game of tug.

• Hold your hands in various positions, whether you’re holding treats or toys. Hold your dog’s food bowl away from your body, say “Look” and wait for him to make eye contact before you put the food down. When your dog has the hang of it, try holding your hands closer to his face, or hold your palm open so the dog can see the treat. Remember, he doesn’t get the prize until he looks directly in your eyes.

Incorporate the eye contact games into various aspects of daily life. When your dog brings you a toy to play, ask that he make eye contact for five seconds before you play. If your dog wants to go say hello to another dog, ask that he sit and make eye contact with you for two seconds before you release him to play. When your dog wants a cookie from the cookie jar, ask for 20 seconds of eye contact first. Use your imagination! You’ll find this is a very useful behavior when you are walking along a crowded city street or when you have your dog off-leash, but need his undivided attention for a moment. And it’s especially useful when there’s a neighborhood cat sitting on the lawn and you don’t want your dog to see him!

Copyright © 2008. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). All Rights Reserved.

© 2008, Dog Service Network. All rights reserved. Republished articles have been reprinted with permission. For permission to reprint these articles, please contact the author.

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“Objectionable pet behavior is the No. 1 reason people have unsatisfactory relationships with their dog,” says Dr. Rolan Tripp, veterinarian and behaviorist who spoke on animal behavior to veterinary students at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. More dogs die as a result of behavior problems than all preventable medical problems combined. Frustrated owners simply give up, and their untrained dogs often end up in animal shelters with uncertain fates.

Part of the problem lies in miscommunication. It’s easier than you think to teach your dog the wrong thing. Well-meaning owners do it all the time. We’ve all seen owners yell and yell for a dog to come as the dog blissfully ignores the command, madly chasing squirrels instead. When finally the dog comes, the frustrated owner may pop the dog on the nose and yell some more. The message? Would you go to somebody who might hit and yell at you? Consistent training and positive reinforcement with treats and praise work a lot better to enforce the right message.

Teaching a dog proper behavior means knowing how to correct him when he does something inappropriate. Dr. Tripp points out that there are both good and bad ways to correct a pet. Owners should avoid spanking, kicking, “rubbing his nose in it,” or yelling at a dog. Besides rarely communicating the message the owner intends, this type of correction can cause even more behavior problems.

“If you spank a dog for going to the bathroom inside, the message is, ‘don’t do it when I’m looking,’” says Dr. Tripp. “By rubbing his nose in it, the dog thinks, ‘you want me to eat my own feces?’ That can cause coprophagia [eating feces].”

Good corrections interrupt the undesirable behavior, then give a positive command, such as “sit.” “When the dog doesn’t ‘sit,’ ignore her and walk away,” says Dr. Tripp. “Try again after two or three minutes of isolation. When she does it right, praise her.”

Appropriate interruptions can include water spray, a collar correction, and use of a head halter. Many owners find that water in a spray bottle is an effective way to distract a barking or jumping dog, so that you can reward the opposite-being quiet. But sometimes owners will look to prong collars or choke collars for help in controlling behavior problems. Remember that these collars are not a substitute for putting in the time needed for obedience training and that they can be very dangerous

“Objectionable pet behavior is the No. 1 reason people have unsatisfactory relationships with their dog,” says Dr. Rolan Tripp, veterinarian and behaviorist who spoke on animal behavior to veterinary students at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. More dogs die as a result of behavior problems than all preventable medical problems combined. Frustrated owners simply give up, and their untrained dogs often end up in animal shelters with uncertain fates.

Part of the problem lies in miscommunication. It’s easier than you think to teach your dog the wrong thing. Well-meaning owners do it all the time. We’ve all seen owners yell and yell for a dog to come as the dog blissfully ignores the command, madly chasing squirrels instead. When finally the dog comes, the frustrated owner may pop the dog on the nose and yell some more. The message? Would you go to somebody who might hit and yell at you? Consistent training and positive reinforcement with treats and praise work a lot better to enforce the right message.

Teaching a dog proper behavior means knowing how to correct him when he does something inappropriate. Dr. Tripp points out that there are both good and bad ways to correct a pet. Owners should avoid spanking, kicking, “rubbing his nose in it,” or yelling at a dog. Besides rarely communicating the message the owner intends, this type of correction can cause even more behavior problems.

“If you spank a dog for going to the bathroom inside, the message is, ‘don’t do it when I’m looking,’” says Dr. Tripp. “By rubbing his nose in it, the dog thinks, ‘you want me to eat my own feces?’ That can cause coprophagia [eating feces].”

Good corrections interrupt the undesirable behavior, then give a positive command, such as “sit.” “When the dog doesn’t ‘sit,’ ignore her and walk away,” says Dr. Tripp. “Try again after two or three minutes of isolation. When she does it right, praise her.”

Appropriate interruptions can include water spray, a collar correction, and use of a head halter. Many owners find that water in a spray bottle is an effective way to distract a barking or jumping dog, so that you can reward the opposite-being quiet. But sometimes owners will look to prong collars or choke collars for help in controlling behavior problems. Remember that these collars are not a substitute for putting in the time needed for obedience training and that they can be very dangerous.

Carrie Gustavson, Information Specialist
Reprinted with permission by the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=276

© 2008, Dog Service Network. All rights reserved. Republished articles have been reprinted with permission. For permission to reprint these articles, please contact the author.

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