Imagine yourself on the bus when you work all day and are tired. After a journey of about 1.5 hours, you came home with pain in your feet. You opened the door and entered. At that very moment, your dog, who has been waiting for you at your house for hours and whose world is mostly based on you, came waving its tail and jumped on you.
He shows how much he misses you by his face, wagging his tail, and being confused about what to do. Your friend, who is bored at home alone all day, is happy to see you, and he shows you this happiness with his actions. Have you experienced anything like this before?
Do they understand us, but do we understand them?
Whether you’re feeding your dog at home or in the garden, you’ve probably seen him act excited just because you came near him. Those who see this display of love, in my opinion, are extremely lucky. They are loved by a very special creature. We can train our canine friends with various commands. For example, it may come when you say come, it may be sitting when you say sit. At this point, you think you can get along with your dog. But have you ever thought that this is not enough?
Just because your dog understands you doesn’t mean you understand him. In this article, we will take a closer look at what our canine friends want to tell us with their body language and actions. Dogs that can’t speak like humans, even though they have voices, can use different ways to communicate. Let’s take a closer look at what are the ways to understand dogs.
What does your dog want to tell you with its movements?
Our dogs are much smarter than we think. These creatures, which can process 570 million brain neurons in total, can easily understand what is going on around them. For this reason, dogs can be trained extremely easily. Of course, in certain situations, there are some things they want to tell us. Let’s see how you can better understand your dog’s body language.
- wagging tail
- Fluffy feathers
- Posture
- Facial expressions
- Eyes
wagging tail
Your dog usually uses his tail to tell you something. Generally, people think that the wagging dog is happy. Although this idea is correct, let’s say that it does not fully meet it. Dogs actually tend to wag their tails when they are emotionally aroused, not when they are happy. The reason for wagging the tail can be excitement and happiness as well as disappointment. At this point, how your dog wags his tail is extremely important.
Basically, the faster a dog wags its tail, the more aroused it is. If your dog is wagging his tail for a long time with his whole body, we can understand that he is comfortable. If this tail wagging is more rapid, it indicates a high level of arousal and possibly something negative. We can give an example of this tail wagging of a guard dog preparing to attack.
According to recent studies, the direction of tail wagging can also give some clues. For example, dogs wag their tails more to the right when they experience positive feelings, such as interacting with their owners. In unfavorable situations, the tails swing to the left. Apart from these, there is also a form in which dogs wag their tails in a circle. This tail wagging may indicate that your friend is happy. This helicopter-like tail wagging is usually an action your dog does when greeting a loved one.
You understand how important the tail is to dogs. The position of the tail of our lovely friends is also very important emotionally. The higher your dog’s tail, the more assertive it is. Fear and stress prevail in dogs with their tails turned to the ground or even tucked between their legs. If your dog has his tail raised, it is a sign that he is extremely confident, and in some cases ready to attack. Of course, the breed of dogs is also very important here. Some dogs have their tails higher and some lower. For this reason, you can learn your dog’s neutral tail position and control its tail movements accordingly.
fluffy feathers
Dogs can fluff their fur just like humans. It; It is known by people as “I got goosebumps”. Dogs can also fluff when upset, stressed or excited. For example, if your dog fluffs his fur and turns into a more imposing appearance when he hears a sound from outside, this may mean that he feels the stress and excitement of recognizing a sound he does not know.
Stance
Your dog’s posture can also offer you a lot. For example, a dog hunched over to the ground may feel fear or stress and want to get away. The dog, who looks smaller with this stance, says “I don’t want to do any harm” with his body language. At the extreme point of this situation, the dog may turn on its back and open its stomach. This posture is also seen in a dog seeking a belly massage. You can differentiate this according to the environment and other body languages of your dog.
If your dog has transferred its weight to the front legs, it may want to get closer to something. While this stance can show interest, it can be a sign of an aggressive attitude when combined with aggressive tail movements. If your dog puts his chest down, it is a sign that he wants to play with you or another dog.
Face expressions
If you already own a dog, you must have paid attention to their facial expressions. They react differently when angry and differently when calm. Dogs overuse their faces when using body language. For example, dogs yawn when stressed, while humans yawn when they are tired or sleepy. Although dogs lick their lips after a delicious meal, they also lick their lips when they feel anxious.
Some dogs smile, though not all dogs. A docile grin, this smile is usually seen in an active and happy dog. Although it looks like a smile, there is another situation that has a very different meaning. Dogs can show their teeth in a smile position by raising the corners of their lips. What the dog does here is the phrase “These are my guns”. This gesture, which is a warning, can mean that it takes an aggressive attitude, especially when combined with a growl.
eyes
One of the most important points that will allow you to understand your dog’s current emotion is the eyes. First of all, a dog’s eyes can be either soft or hard. Soft eyes have looser lids. It may even appear as if your dog is squinting. These eyes show that your dog is calm and happy. You can understand that the dog is in a negative mood in the hard-eyed eyes, where the eyes seem cold. The stern look, in which the dog looks intently at something long, indicates a threat.
Dogs place a lot of importance on eye contact. Looking away is a calming gaze, while stern looks are a harbinger of aggression. When dogs feel stressed, they look away and avoid making eye contact. People often interpret this as their dog ignoring them, but here the dog is trying to express his discomfort.
The whites of dogs’ eyes are also an important body language interpretation. When a dog shows the whites of its eyes, it means they are feeling anxious or stressed. For example, you can see the whites of your dog’s eyes when you hit him on the head or pick up a toy or bone in front of him.
The body language of dogs is a whole
If you have carefully read everything we wrote above to better understand your dog, then you have successfully come to the last part. The body language of dogs does not go forward on its own. All of them continue as part of this system. From the height of the tail to the shape of the eyes, many movements and gestures reflect what your dog wants to tell as a whole. Actually, your friend is trying to talk to you that way. If you can make as much effort as he does and understand it, the bond between your friendship will be much stronger.
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