How do you decipher a dog's body language?
How do you decipher a dog's body language?
Body language in dogs can sometimes say more than a thousand words. Every dog owner should remember that our pet is communicating with us by raising its tail or smiling gently. Dog stress and joy behavioural signs have been studied by experts.
What would you ask your dog if he could talk? According to a survey of 2,000 four-legged owners conducted by the UK animal advocacy organization Dogs Trust, more than 60% of respondents are most interested in whether their dog is happy. It was also followed by questions about how to make a dog’s life happier (48%), whether their four-legged companion understands what is being said to them (45%) and what they dream about (40%) and whether they love us (39%).
How to read a dog’s behavior?
Although dogs do not speak human language, they communicate with us in other ways. The key to understanding their emotions is the knowledge of non-verbal signals. Researchers (e.g., Carrier et al., 2013) rush to our aid, having analyzed dog behavior mainly in two different situations — while playing in the park and during a visit to the vet.
As Dr. Marc Bekoff, author of Canine Confidential, explains, observing a dog’s instincts in specific situations allows us to create a list of species-specific behavior patterns called an ethogram.
“This is a descriptive catalog of behaviors without interpretation or explanation of motives. Creating an ethogram is a wonderful process of learning another species”, Bekoff says.
Here are some of those behaviors:
Raised hackles
When a dog’s hackles are raised, it means the hair along their back is standing up. Technically called piloerection, the fur can fluff up across the shoulders or down the back and all the way to the tail. This is a definite sign that the dog is aroused, but not necessarily in a negative way. The dog might be upset or stressed but could also be excited or intensely interested in something. It’s often an involuntary reaction, like goosebumps in people.
Play-related signals:
“I want to play” = exaggerated, exaggerated behavior, arching over with front paws on the ground, jumping (on hind paws with tail raised), embracing the other dog with paws around the neck.
Signals to attract attention:
Biting (not the kind intended to cause pain), pawing at the other dog, sudden, exaggerated withdrawal.
Signals indicating enjoyment:
Mild and unfocused gaze, relaxed forehead, ears hanging loosely, tail wagging (unhurriedly = contentment, vigorously = excitement).
Stress-related signals:
Avoiding eye contact, yawning, tail curling, paw raising, muzzle licking, hunched posture, trembling, and moving away or away from other dogs.
In their 2019 study, Stellato et al. used a five-point scale to assess fear based on dog body language. This included subtle behaviors such as yawning and lip licking as well as more obvious ones such as shaking and vocalizing. Dogs that were judged to be extremely fearful exhibited several of the behaviors listed above, made multiple attempts to escape or try to hide, curled their tail, laid their head low, and had their ears hanging close to their head. The study found that four weeks of behavioral training helped the dogs to become less stressed during their visit to the vet.
Dog speech — how to understand dog gestures?
The full range of dog signals is of course much wider. Many of them are very subtle — such as licking the muzzle or yawning — and are therefore often overlooked by dog owners. Clearer signals, on the other hand, can be misinterpreted, such as biting, which does not always mean anger. In order to make a dog’s body language easier to understand, it is advisable to keep a close eye on our four-legged companion’s behaviour.
Source: psychologytoday.com
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