Look at the photo of Timmy lying on the rock. Does he seem happy?
Absolutely! And here’s how you can tell in the Language of Dogs:
- His mouth is open and relaxed
- His eyes are soft
- His ears are neutral — not too far forward, and not flat against his head
- His face doesn’t show any signs of tension
Now let’s check out another photo of Timmy …
Does he still look happy? Not really … and here’s how you can tell:
- His mouth his closed
- His ears are forward
- His gaze is fixed — not exactly a hard stare, but not soft either
- There are ridges of tension around his eyes and forehead
There’s a reason Timmy looks different in the two photos.
In the first, I took the photo with my cell phone while another DogsHome team member held the leash. Timmy knew and was very comfortable with both of us — and he was very used to me taking photo after photo with my phone!
In the second picture, I was holding Timmy’s leash while a friend of mine — whom Timmy didn’t know — was taking photos.
My friend was using a traditional camera with a long lens, a much larger and more intrusive piece of equipment than a tiny cell phone. This was early on in our photo session and Timmy was making it very clear he wasn’t comfortable.
Now look at one more photo — also taken by my friend, but after we’d spent about 20 minutes walking around, snapping random shots, and generally getting Timmy more comfortable with the situation:
Same day, same dog, same fence. But now we see the open mouth, soft eyes, relaxed ears and lack of tension on Timmy’s face. You can practically see the bubble over his head saying, “Life is good!” (Which is Timmy’s usual outlook!)
Recently, I asked a bunch of elementary school kids, “Do dogs talk?” Most of them said, “No!” while a few answered, “Yes, they do! They bark and growl.”
The truth is, dogs are speaking all the time! And 99.9% of their communication is with their bodies.
To keep ourselves — as well as our dogs — safe and happy, we need to pay attention to what our dogs are saying, and we need to learn to “speak dog.”
It’s really no different than when you may have studied Spanish, French or German in school. “Speaking dog” is the same as learning a foreign language, and it’s one we can promise your dog will greatly appreciate you mastering!
Click here to see a chart that will get you started “speaking dog” — but please remember, nothing is carved in granite.
Just like with humans, it’s important to take the entire situation into account. And also like people, a dog can change from relaxed to stressed in the blink of an eye.
Here’s what we tell school kids to look for:
- Mouth: Open and relaxed is a good sign; closed and tight means the dog may be stressed, so keep your distance.
- Tail: Low and gently wagging is a good sign; high with or without a wag means the dog may be stressed, so keep your distance.
- Body: Loose, curvy and wiggly is a good sign; stiff or “frozen” means the dog may be stressed, so keep your distance.
What have you observed your dog telling you? Let us know in the comments section below.
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