Education | Animal Advocacy
15 Subtle Body Languages of Dogs to Help You Understand Them better
Let’s know more about our adorable animal friends
I can’t explain how much I love dogs. It all started when I owned one, and it loves me more than I love myself. From where did they get such unconditional love? I wanna buy it if they sell me, let it cost a million bucks.
Letting it be, it’s also essential we understand their subtle body languages to possess a responsible ownership. Here I mention some of them. You’ll not be the same with them after you complete reading this!
Wagging Tail — We’ve Misunderstood It:
Tell me when does a dog wag its tail? When it’s happy? Wrong.
We’ve been taught often that when a dog presents this obvious body language signal, it’s happy. It only indicates that it’s aroused. Be it excitement, frustration or even worse. The faster the wag, the more aroused it is. The speed and the pattern of its wag interprets it mood.
- When greeting its owner: If it’s a slow, confident, and long wag. Then, it’s in a relaxed state. If it’s faster, it’s very happy and wants its owner to come near it. It could also be expecting something the owner gives it on that particular time of the day too.
- If wagging more towards left or right: A study on tail wagging showed that dogs tend to wag their tails more towards right when they feel positive or happy about something. And towards left when facing negative circumstances.
- Round wag: If your dog is wagging its tail in a circular manner, no doubt, that’s a happy wag. Is it happening when you’re nearby? Lucky you!
Position of Its Tail When Not wagging:
The higher we rise our head, the more confident we are. The same holds true for a dog’s tail.
Dogs with their tails pointing down towards the ground, or even tucked between their hind legs are feeling fear or stress.
Dogs holding their tails up like a flag are feeling confident. It’s even possible they’re aggressive.
Raised Hackles — Like You Get Goosebumps:
Hackles: Erectile hairs along an animal’s back.
The involuntary phenomenon of raised hackles is technically called Piloerection. When a dog is aroused, positively or negatively, it’s hair across the shoulders all the way to the tail fluffs up. If it happens, understand that your dog is upset or stressed or could even be excited or keenly interested in something.
Does It Look Smaller or Bigger Than usual?
What do you do when you want to teach a lesson to a naughty kid in your neighbourhood? You scold him while spreading out your body to appear larger.
What did you do in your childhood when your school bully encountered you? (I know you had a bully, don’t lie. Haha.) You folded your hands or put them back to appear smaller. Dogs do the same too.
A dog lowers its body, acts timid, slithers back, and is ready to run away with a slight act, when it’s afraid of some other creature. It makes this posture to pacify and subconsciously indicate it’s of no harm.
If your dog has its weight shifted forward, tail lifted up and trying to appear bigger and get closer to someone, it’s indicating an extremely confident and aggressive behaviour.
Life saver: If you ever happen to meet a shark in the future, don’t get afraid. Raise your hands up and stretch your body as long as possible. You appear bigger and the shark would go away in most of the cases. It’s proven!
Head Tilt:
I still remember that day when I locked my car and the side mirrors closed and headlights blinked. My dog, Bibo found it very interesting. It was wondering how would it happen without someone pushing them inside.
When your dog sees something for the first time, or something unusual and interesting, it tilts its head and looks at it keenly.
Exposing belly — Awkward but Cute:
A dog does this if it perceives a dire threat or extreme love, for both to express absolutely no threat or aggression from its side.
Body Shaped like a bow:
This is the easiest understood obvious body language of dogs because it doesn’t have exceptions like the ones we’ve discussed earlier.
When your dog places it’s chest near to the ground and its rear part in the air, then it’s in a playful mood. The posture has a jargon — ‘Play bow’. The name explains it.
Raised Paw Without reason:
My dog tries to pull me near it with its paw or maybe for a handshake. It’s a friendly sign. But a raised paw without any reason often indicates a dog is feeling a bit insecure or uncertain about a situation.
They Yawn — Not When Bored, But When Stressed:
Dogs yawn, similar to humans, but in different situations. Unlike humans who yawn when they’re feeling sleepy or bored, dogs yawn when they’re stressed, for example, when visiting its vet.
Dogs can catch yawns too. A study says people who catch yawns possess better social skills. And when dogs catch your yawn, it shows their emotional bond to you.
Lip lick:
Dogs don’t spare even a chunk of their food. They make their food bowl as clean as you might even forget to wash it. They lick their lips lot of times to take in the food particles clinging near their mouth after a delicious meal.
That’s okay after a meal. But if they’re licking their lips without reason, they signal discomfort.
They Smile:
(Click here to see a real smiling dog picture)
Calm eyes, relaxed ears, little open mouth and panting without any facial tension. They indicate your dog is in very peaceful state, and it’s called dog’s smile.
(Click here to see a real ugly angry dog picture)
If they’re intently showing their front teeth out, they mean, “Look at my weapons. Don’t you dare come near me!” Don’t worry. It doesn’t happen before you.
Eyes — Looking Calm or Hard?
It’s very obvious and easy to notice behaviour. When the doggie is at peace, it doesn’t seem to focus or put its eyes hard on something. But when it’s intently looking at something or someone, it’s sensing a threat.
Eye Contact:
A dog shouldn’t hesitate or feel afraid to look into its owner’s eyes. If your dog is doing so, don’t think it’s ignoring you or being stubborn. It’s expressing discomfort. Understand why, and make it comfortable by patting it.
Ears — Relaxed, Flat, or Erect?
- Calm and contented dogs tend to put their ears in a natural, relaxed position.
- If alert, aggressive, or showing dominance, they raise their ears and point them at the direction of their interest, to listen more sound from that direction.
- If it’s feeling low, worried, or afraid, it puts its ears flat against its head.
Dogs with longer ears could be better understood.
Conclusion:
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” — Will Rogers
Humans and dogs have been living together for between 14,000 and 30,000 years, and no other animal has understood us as deeply as dogs did. They subtly possess specific body languages that humans have studied for years and came to conclusions.
They don’t bias you on your skin colour, money or fame. They just love you as you are, and they don’t take advantage of your love. I feel they’re God-given gifts to humanity. You can’t imagine a world without them!
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