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    Dog Body Language

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    Lu Silva
    Dogs communicate primarily through body language using their tails, ears, eyes, mouths, posture and fur to convey different messages and emotions. Key postures and signals include alert or interested posture with ears up and tail down, fear-based defensive threat posture with hackles raised, tail down and growling, aggressive offensive threat posture with tail held high and growling, and submissive postures with tail tucked, eye avoidance and lowered body position. Dogs also use body language to invite play through play bows with front end lowered and tail wagging. Signs of stress include panting, shaking, scratching and hiding behind owners. Being able to read canine body language is important for dog owners to understand their pets'

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    Dog Body Language

    Uploaded by

    Lu Silva
    395 views3 pages
    Dogs communicate primarily through body language using their tails, ears, eyes, mouths, posture and fur to convey different messages and emotions. Key postures and signals include alert or interested posture with ears up and tail down, fear-based defensive threat posture with hackles raised, tail down and growling, aggressive offensive threat posture with tail held high and growling, and submissive postures with tail tucked, eye avoidance and lowered body position. Dogs also use body language to invite play through play bows with front end lowered and tail wagging. Signs of stress include panting, shaking, scratching and hiding behind owners. Being able to read canine body language is important for dog owners to understand their pets'

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    Dogs

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    Dog body language

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    Dogs communicate primarily through body language using their tails, ears, eyes, mouths, posture and fur to convey different messages and emotions. Key postures and signals include alert or interested posture with ears up and tail down, fear-based defensive threat posture with hackles raised, tail down and growling, aggressive offensive threat posture with tail held high and growling, and submissive postures with tail tucked, eye avoidance and lowered body position. Dogs also use body language to invite play through play bows with front end lowered and tail wagging. Signs of stress include panting, shaking, scratching and hiding behind owners. Being able to read canine body language is important for dog owners to understand their pets'

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    395 views3 pages

    Dog Body Language

    Uploaded by

    Lu Silva
    Dogs communicate primarily through body language using their tails, ears, eyes, mouths, posture and fur to convey different messages and emotions. Key postures and signals include alert or interested posture with ears up and tail down, fear-based defensive threat posture with hackles raised, tail down and growling, aggressive offensive threat posture with tail held high and growling, and submissive postures with tail tucked, eye avoidance and lowered body position. Dogs also use body language to invite play through play bows with front end lowered and tail wagging. Signs of stress include panting, shaking, scratching and hiding behind owners. Being able to read canine body language is important for dog owners to understand their pets'

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    Body language: Dogs

     
    Dogs are very social animals. The ancestors of today’s domestic dogs lived in
    packs. Communication among the members of a pack is necessary for the pack to
     
    cooperate to hunt, raise the young, and to get along. We can see pack behavior
     
    when watching two or more dogs together.
    www.hssv.org
    For the most part dogs communicate through body language, that is, dogs use
    their bodies to explain their moods and thoughts. Dogs in a pack communicate
    easily with each other. It is important for every dog owner to learn to read these
    messages so we can adjust our training to how the dog is feeling.

    A dog basically uses five parts of his body to communicate. These are the tail, ears, mouth and teeth,
    eyes and the fur along the dog’s back (which are also called the hackles). A dog’s posture, that is whether
    it is standing, crouched or lying down, is also very important.

    BASELINE POSTURE
     Normal posture for a dog when relaxed

    ALERT/INTEREST: Dogs often simply show interest on meeting another animal for the first time. The
    dog has not yet decided if it needs to communicate submission play, aggression, or fear. This state usually
    lasts only a brief moment before the dog chooses to show another feeling.

    ALERT POSTURE
     Prelude to another behavior/emotion
     Head high Ears up but not forward
     Tail down
     Corner of mouth relaxed
     Ears forward Tail straight out
     Mouth closed
     Stands tall on toes

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    Rev. 1-11
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    FEAR: A frightened dog can very easily become an
    aggressive dog, and many people have been bitten by
    dogs showing signs of fear.

    DEFENSIVE THREAT POSTURE


     Fear-based posture
     May bite if cornered
     May be growling
     May urinate and/or express anal glands

    AGGRESSION:

    OFFENSIVE THREAT POSTURE


     Dominant/confident posture
     Dog is dangerous, may attack at any time
     May be growling/barking
     Tail may be held high & stiff while wagging slowly

    SUBMISSION:

    ACTIVE SUBMISSION
     May urinate
     May be whining
     Avoids eye contact
     Tail may be wagging and held low OR
     Tail may be tucked completely under body

    PASSIVE SUBMISSION
     Most submissive posture for a dog
     May urinate
     Wrinkled nose
     Pupils dilated
     Tail tucked
     Corner of mouth back
     Body lowered
     Ears back
     Hackles up
     Corner of mouth forward
     Body lowered
     Corners of mouth back
     Licks at mouth of superior dog
     Forehead smooth
     Ears back
     Tail down
     Groveling movements
     Eyes looking away and tail tucked
     Rolls onto back
     Tail up and stiff
     Stands tall and forward on toes
     Wrinkled nose
     Ears forward
     Hackles up

     dog_body_language.pdf.DOC
    Rev. 1-11
    2
    PLAY: May look like submission in some aspects but the dog will be active and excited. It is the way he
    says, “Play with me!”

    PLAY BOW
     An invitation to play!
     Front end lower than hind end
     Tail up and wagging
     May bark & run in circles
     Ears up or slightly back
     Hackles smooth

     
    STRESS: A dog that is showing signs of stress is telling the rest of the world that he is uptight and unsure
    about his situation. The more signs of stress a dog is showing, the more anxious he is becoming. Some
    stress in training is natural but a dog that is severely stressed cannot learn. He needs to rest. If pushed
    much further in the current situation he may react with fearful aggression.

    SIGNS OF STRESS
     Sniffing
     Licking lips
     Scratching
     Excessive blinking
     Dilated pupils
     Panting and salivating
     Increased activity or pacing, restlessness, distraction, agitation
     Whining, excessive vocalizing
     Shaking
     Hiding behind owner
     Need for repeated commands when ordinarily responds to one command
     Excessive shedding
     Loss of appetite (will not eat treats ordinarily loves)
     “Shutting down” by turning away or avoiding eye contact or freezing in place
     Diarrhea
     Sweating through the pads of feet

    RECOMMENDED READING:
     CANINE BODY LANGUAGE - A PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE by Brenda Aloff
     DOG LANGUAGE - AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANINE BEHAVIOR by Roger Abrantes
     ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS - CALMING SIGNALS, 2ND EDITION Turid Rugaas
     CANINE BEHAVIOR - A PHOTO ILLUSTRATED HANDBOOK Barbara Handelman
     STRESS IN DOGS - LEARN HOW DOGS SHOW STRESS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
    Martina Scholz & Clarissa von Reinhardt

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