Recognizing Dog Body Language

By being able to recognize the body language dogs use, as well as their facial expressions and vocalizations, you’ll have a useful insight into what your dog is probably thinking at the moment. It isn’t too hard to figure out most of this language. If your dog is wagging his tail like crazy and has his mouth open in a big smile and is prancing around, obviously he is in a playful happy mood. Since dogs can’t speak, at least not in English or any other understandable language, they communicate to us and each other not only with barking, but also easily recognizable dog body language. If you learn to understand these 8 distinct postures, you’ll be able to determine what your dog is experiencing. Is he happy, is he scared, is he angry? What is he trying to tell you? Read your dog’s body language and find out.

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One example of a very important benefit of recognizing and understanding your dog’s body language is that it can help you avoid potentially dangerous situations. You can avoid a dog fight with another dog that is showing signs of aggression. Conversely, you’ll know if your own pet is about to become aggressive himself. On the other hand, it is great to know that your dog is happy just by glancing at him. If your dog is well adjusted and happy he will normally carry himself with confidence. If he appears unhappy or nervous, you can try to notice what may be bothering your pet, and then do what’s needed to make your doggy happy and confident. Another important benefit is that by better recognizing and understanding your dog’s body language you’ll find him easier to train him. To help you better understand the dog’s “point of view” it is good to get a basic knowledge of pack behavior and how the dog sees his position in the pack. In your pack he must be submissive to the superior members – which in this case means your family and you.

Here are the 8 main recognizable dog postures.

• Confident. You will recognize the confident body language of your dog -his head is up, his ears are sort of perked up, his tail is held loose and perhaps wagging just a bit, his mouth may be a little open (like a grin), and he is standing tall and proud. Just at a glance you can see nothing is bothering him-he’s totally relaxed and feeling fine. A confident dog is feeling pretty good about things

• Happy. This particular dog body language is really easy to recognize. Your pet will look like he is actually smiling! His mouth will be open with his tongue hanging out, his tail will be wagging rapidly, and he might be so excited he’s even jumping and running around a little. You can see at a glance that your dog is having fun and not worried about anything else. It’s always fun to see your dog in this state.
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• Playful. Your dog is not only confident and happy, now he is in full play mode. It’s also easy to recognize this dog body language-it is unmistakable, and a joy to see. If we could only have as much fun with such simple diversions, life would be a lot less stressful, wouldn’t it? Anyway, your dog will be jumping and running and acting silly and all but say “Hey, let’s play”. One of the playful body postures is when your dog sort of bows to you, with front legs stretched out forward, which pulls the front of his body down a bit. He will push his head forward a little and give you that unmistakable look as he invites you to play. He may even also stick his butt up in the air and wiggle it -the better to help wag the tail, I guess.

• Submissive. This doggy body language is always easy to recognize. When your dog feels the need to show submission to a more superior pack member, he will lower his head, put the ears back somewhat, his tail will not be wagging, although not yet tucked up between the legs. He may try to give the superior pack member a lick on the mouth to show submission. You always see puppies doing this to show respect to their superiors. He may also roll over onto his back and expose his tummy. We’ve all seen these behaviors many times. This is how your dog tries to avoid a potential difference of agreement about who is boss.

• Anxious. This is similar to the submissive stage but you’ll recognize this dog body language by the dog’s more pronounced nervousness and discomfort. His head will be lowered on a stretched out neck, his tail will be tucked up between the legs, his ears will be back and he may even be whimpering and shivering a bit. If you notice this in your pet, try to ascertain what is causing the anxiety and remedy the situation by distracting your pet with something more pleasant. Try walking away calmly from whatever is bothering your dog. Stay relaxed, so your dog doesn’t get even more anxious.

• Fearful. The fearful stage is characterized by an obviously distressed dog-you can’t help but recognize this dog body language. At this point the dog is noticeably shivering, probably moaning and growling, his whole body is lowered in a cringing position, the tail is tucked up by the tummy, his ears are back and his head will be lowered and the eyes will be averted. You’ll really want to be aware of this body language, not only because of your dog’s discomfort, but because this stage could be followed by actual aggression-called fear aggression. Don’t try to cuddle a dog is this posture-they may be apt to snap out of fear. You will want to defuse the situation by getting away from the cause of the problem-perhaps another dog that is presenting an aggressive posture himself. It could be dangerous for both you and your dog, so take action to defuse the situation.

• Dominant. You will recognize this dog body language as the one where one dog is trying to impose his top dog status over the other dog. Often the dominant dog will place his head above the other dog’s head. He may place his paw over the other dog’s shoulder to show his dominance. He may even hump another dog-no, not for any fun reason either-but to show dominance. He may growl and put his hair up on his back, too. All in all he is showing that he thinks he is boss. If the other dog is submissive in its posture, the dominant dog recognizes the body language and a fight is avoided. However, if the other dog does not display submissive body language, a fight may be likely. You’ll need to recognize this dog body language as potentially dangerous before it gets out of hand.

• Aggressive. You need to be able to recognize this dog body language as a dangerous situation waiting to happen. The aggressive dog will be standing tall, maybe leaning forward, with the hair on his back standing upright. The dog’s mouth will be open, displaying snapping teeth, and emitting growls and barks. He will be staring intently at the object of his anger, and there is no mistaking his bad intentions. It’s pretty hard to see an aggressive dog in action without being made very aware there is a problem going on. The next step can be an actual attack, complete with biting and blood and all that, so be very careful when encountering an aggressive dog. You will really want to find a way to avoid a potential attack between you dog and another. You don’t want to have to break up a fight caused by an aggressive dog, as you could easily get bitten yourself in the process. If it is your own dog that is the aggressive one, you will need to change that behavior problem immediately with some serous training.

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