Reading and interpreting the body language of dogs is very important; it can help you analyze behavioral problems, prevent a dog fight, or simply help you to understand your dog when it tries to communicate with you.
I made this little 'guide' to help you interpret your dog's body language; if anybody would like to add anything or correct me (as I'm not perfect!), please feel free. This is just what I have learned from experience by watching dogs at the dog park interact.
First of all, a nice little quote on the problem of using the 'Alpha Roll' to correct your dog's problems:
- Quote :
- "Forcing the dog onto its back is the equivalent of an abusive parent beating a child to force it to say, 'I love you.' Although he or she may have forced the words out of the child's mouth, they cannot force the statement to be true.... Forcing a dog into a submissive position is the Doggish equivalent of this scenario. Even worse, this technique may actually anger the dog enough to provoke it to attack. ... Forcing a dog into an alpha roll, or shaking the dog, both constitute physical aggression. Physical aggression is not communication. If there is good communication, then such confrontations need not occur."
- Stanley Coren, "How to Speak Dog"
In addition, rolling your dog, especially if your dog is more dominant, may result in a bite. My boy is a dominant little sh*t, and the first time I rolled him, he growled at me so loudly I thought he was going to bite me. Thankfully he didn't, but you may not be so lucky. Know your dog before you attempt a roll!
Aggressive Dominance- General posture: Stiff-legged, body leaning slightly towards the cause of its behaviour. Hackles can be raised. Body stretched upward to make themselves taller; may slightly stand on toes to do so. Head high.
- Eyes: Staring at the object/thing that is the cause of this behaviour.
- Ears: Forward
- Mouth: Lips curled up into a classic snarl, teeth showing, mouth can be open.
- Muzzle: Wrinkled and tight
- Tail: High in the air. Stiff.
- Vocalizations: Deep growls, loud growls, aggressive barking.
Will likely bite/show physical aggression if he is challenged by another dog.
Note: Truly aggressive-dominant dogs are quite rare, and body signals may be mixed with the 'Fearful-Aggressive (Defensive)' signs. In most cases, the hierarchy in dogs is sorted out through scent and non-violent posturing.
Picture copyright to Modern Dog Magazine.Passive Dominance- General posture: Stiff-legged. Seen stretching the body to be over the other dog's head. Hackles may or may not be raised (to make self seem bigger). Stands on 'toes' to make self seem bigger.
- Eyes: Staring at the dog directly.
- Ears: Forward
- Mouth: closed; unless panting
- Muzzle: Smooth. Smells the other dog first; can smell the face first before going to the scent glands near the anus.
- Tail: Held high; stiffly wags in a tight arc when smelling dog. Wagging is medium to slow. Limited movement.
- Vocalizations: Usually none. Can softly growl?
Figure 2: The dog on the left is showing passive dominant behaviours. Notice the stiff posture of the dog and the submissive body language of the Boxer on the right. (picture copyright: loscuatroojos.com)NOTE: Some dogs are
leash-aggressive, this does NOT necessarily mean they are dominant. Usually dogs that are leash-aggressive feel 'trapped' because they cannot escape. As in the 'flight or fight' response, because they cannot flee (due to being attached by a leash), they have no other choice than to 'fight' or to show aggressive behaviours.
NOTE 2: If challenged by another dog, this dog may switch to 'Aggressive Dominance' to reinforce its position
(in which case a fight is imminent) or it may back off by showing submissive body language, or it may simply walk away and avoid the other dog in the future.
Fearful-Aggressive (Defensive)- General posture: Body is low to the ground. Hackles may or may not be raised. Head low.
- Eyes: Pupils are dilated; eyes wide. Eyes are staring at the cause of his fear.
- Ears: Back and flat against the head.
- Mouth: Lips may be slightly curled (but not as much as a snarl). Teeth also may be showing.
- Muzzle: may have slight wrinkles
- Tail: Tucked in between legs. Stationary. The amount of 'tuck' indicates the amount of fear.
- Vocalizations: Usually none, but the dog can also snarl or growl to put on a 'brave face'.
Will most likely bite if it continues to be threatened. Behaviour may also switch to 'Fearful' if it continues to be threatened.
Picture copyright to Modern Dog Magazine.Fearful- General posture: Body low to the ground. Head low.
- Eyes: Pupils are dilated; eyes wide. Staring at the cause of his fear. Whale eye.
- Ears: Back flat against the head.
- Mouth: May be panting rapidly.
- Muzzle: Wrinkled and tight
- Tail: Either completely in between the legs or slightly in between. (varies based on the degree of fear)
- Vocalizations: Yelps, whines, yips.
Will most likely flee or hide; however behaviour may change to 'Fearful-Aggressive (Defensive)' if it isn't given an option to flee the situation.
Figure 4: Notice the lowered body position, the tucked in tail, the bent legs, and the lowered head and ears. This is all to make the dog appear smaller and less of a threat.
(Picture copyright: DogTime Images)Passive Submission:- General posture: Body lowered. May look away with head.
- Eyes: Eye contact will be brief before they look away; may avoid contact altogether.
- Ears: slightly back
- Mouth: mouth closed; unless panting.
- Muzzle: smooth. Allows other dog to smell first; rarely greets face to face.
- Tail: low to the ground or in its normal 'relaxed' position.
- Vocalizations: None
Active Submission- General posture: Body is lowered; head is lowered. A front paw can be lifted either slightly or all the way off the ground.
- Eyes: Eye contact is very brief; may be reluctant to maintain eye contact or they look away frequently from your gaze.
- Ears: Back
- Mouth: Licking the more dominant dog's chin (or, if your a person, licking your chin if they can reach!)
- Muzzle: smooth/relaxed
- Tail: low to the ground.
- Vocalizations: Can whine.
(Picture copyright belongs to gsdhelp.info)Complete Submission- General posture: Rolled over on back, showing his jugular and stomach. Head turned to completely avoid eye contact. May sprinkle some urine. Allows more dominant dog to stand over him.
- Eyes: Slightly closed.
- Ears: Back; flat against head.
- Mouth: closed; unless panting
- Muzzle: Smooth
- Tail: Can be in between legs as far as it'll go, but not always. Sometimes the tail isn't in between the legs.
- Vocalizations: Long whines, yelps.
(Picture taken from: http://4hpetpals.osu.edu/)PlayfulUsually 'invites' play by play bowing. (lowering self's nose towards the ground; butt high in air. Tail wagging). Can hold play bow until other dog responds with their own bow, or release it right away when other dog does not respond.
- General posture: Relaxed. Pace is bouncy when running/trotting. Might jump in the air while running. May also roll around on the ground (scent rolling), with tongue lolling out of mouth.
- Eyes: normal/relaxed
- Ears: relaxed
- Mouth: Closed, usually panting. If play fighting, teeth may show, but no other signs of aggression (no growling, etc.). Tongue is loose; may loll out of mouth.
- Muzzle: Smooth
- Tail: varying levels of height depending on their current mood during play. Can be wagging quickly.
- Vocalizations: Playful growls (soft, broken up), yips, yowls, barks.
Figure 8 - the Siberian Husky in this photograph is inviting the other dog to play.(Picture's copyright belongs to myself)Relaxed- General posture: Relaxed. Loose.
- Eyes: Normal; blinks slowly. May have half-lidded eyes if lying down.
- Ears: 'normal' position.
- Mouth: Closed, or panting. Tongue may be loose.
- Muzzle: Smooth
- Tail: in the 'normal' position.
- Vocalizations: Usually no sound.
Figure 9: The Siberian Husky in the photo is relaxed. Note the partly closed eyelids and the loose tongue. (Picture's copyright belongs to myself)Happy/Excited
Similar to 'playful'
- General posture: Relaxed position. Pace may be bouncy or feel 'light'
- Eyes: wide eyes; but relaxed.
- Ears: back, touching head.
- Mouth: Usually open, with tongue loose. May loll out of mouth. Dogs that are not properly trained will mouth your body (usually hands) and loose clothing or lightly nip at them.
- Muzzle: Smooth
- Tail: wagging rapidly in wide arcs. Loose movement.
- Vocalizations: Excited yips, yowls, woos, howls, barks.
PainDepending on the degree of pain and where it hurts, their reaction to pain tends to differ. This part's format will be different than previous...as the previous formats are not applicable.
In general, most dogs try to hide their pain - and are very effective at it! Most, from my experience, don't vocalize their pain unless it REALLY hurts (like a broken bone.)
You might notice small differences in their movements - for example, if they are experiencing arthritis in one of their hips, you might notice a very slight limp. The dog would favour that leg and use the other legs more - this is seen by the difference in muscle mass. The leg that is hurt would have less muscle mass than the other legs because it is not being used as often.
You also might notice behaviour changes. Maybe they are walking a little slower than usual, not pulling as hard, or falling behind slightly on walks. They might have difficulty going up stairs, or they might have difficulty getting up from the lying down position. Their appetite might have decreased.
In summary, the following is a list of behavioural changes you might notice when your dog is hurt or suffering:
- Loss of appetite
- Stumbling
- Having trouble getting up/down stairs.
- Difficulty in getting up (from sitting or lying down)
- Reluctance to exercise
- Reluctance to play
- Temperament changes - more aggressive or very timid
- Lethargic
- Favouring a certain part of the body
- Atrophied muscle of the favoured limb (if applicable) due to favouring it.
- Swelling of the hurt joint/muscle/limb
- Bleeding
In addition to different types and classifications of pain, there's also the sudden pain reactions (like whining, whimpering, or yelping) or the more-difficult-to-spot gradually increasing pain.
Also, different breeds have different pain thresholds (or the amount of pain they can stand before they start showing signs). Breeds that were bred to fight, for example the Pit Bull breeds, would have a higher pain threshold (and therefore not show as many signs - or none at all!) than a breed that has been bred to do something else.
Other Misc Behaviours...Scent-MarkingThere are many ways for dogs to mark their scent: scratching the ground, urinating on objects (usually vertical objects, if possible, with their leg hiked if they are more of the dominant type), and scent-rolling.
Scratching the ground usually occurs after the dog pees on an object, although it can occur just by itself. Up to 4 paws can scratch the ground, although some dogs only use the 2 hind paws.
The paws contain glands that secrete the dog's individual scent; the scraping action stimulates these glands to create more 'scent' to wipe on the ground.
Another method of scent-marking is by urinating on an object. In either sex, the dog will lift its leg up (hike it up) to mark on the object - that is usually vertical. The higher the dog lifts its leg, the more dominant it is trying to be as it would want its scent to be as high as possible.
In more dominant dogs, the dog might 'mark' or pee over another dog's urine or it might pee on a lot of objects (like, for example, on a walk or at the dog park.), or it might 're-urinate' over the objects it already urinated on.
Humping/Mounting - Why does my dog do it?Please read the following link - it contains 4 pages of an article that explains why they hump and how its a perfectly normal behavior. (But, you can still correct it if you don't like it.)
http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/showthread.php/42769-Humping-Why-do-they-do-it?