Episode #191 Understanding Your Dog's Body Language

In this episode, we delve into the world of canine emotional states, focusing on fear, excitement, and relaxation. Discover how a fearful dog might use behaviors like cowering, avoiding eye contact, or trembling to communicate their distress. On the flip side, understand the tell-tale signs of an excited dog, from wiggly bodies to perky ears. Finally, learn to identify a relaxed dog's soft, peaceful demeanor, ensuring they feel safe and content. Equip yourself with the tools to recognize these cues and support your furry companion in navigating the world with confidence and serenity.

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding Your Dog's Body Language
• 6:05 Recognizing Your Dog's Emotions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 191, understanding your Dog's Body Language. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Up of the way, this is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hey everybody, thank you for listening to the podcast today. I want to discuss body language. How do we tell what our dog is saying to us? There's so many different clues they give us that, even though they speak dog and we speak our language, that we speak, we can understand each other and it's pretty cool. So let's talk about that today. But first I'll give you just a little update on Bella. She is now seven months old. She is still as spunky and fun as ever, also super sweet. So every morning she grabs her snuggle puppy. She went wines and whimpers and uh kind of like scoots around, dances around, if you will, to say hello to everyone in the family. She loves belly rubs. She loves to play peekaboo, so peekaboo is our version of hide and go seek, and she loves that word, the peekaboo term, so I have to be careful when I pull that out, but it's super fun. She loves water. We go on the river trail, walk and I take her to the local hydro park where there's also a river, and she loves to swim. So she is a swimmer, which means she doesn't mind showers either, which is kind of nice. Um, and then we rolled the windows down as we drive home and the air blow dries her. It's pretty awesome, A great combo. She also, um, loves to play Baxter. They wrestle really well, they run and play. They also are good at settling, which is huge. Right At seven months of age she's able to play hard.

Speaker 1: 1:50

But then she also is able to put herself down for a nap in the middle of my floor, which is a great thing that I'm looking for in my dogs that I don't have to be the one to always tell them, hey, it's time to go take a nap, and then I have to put them down for a nap, but they can do that on their own. So life is getting pretty good at our house. I, you know, I remember when she was what, eight, 10 weeks old. You're in the throes of a lot of potty trips and a lot of puppy biting and a lot of things that people maybe panic or worry about. But I promise doing the small, simple things like the sit to say please and rewarding them for attention, giving them regular naps throughout the day, that crate time, that alone time in their pens, where they're taking naps in a managed area, the patience and impulse control training that we do with sit stays and down stays, all just helps. And as grow and mature, I'm telling you guys I know seven months is teenagehood, but life is getting pretty good at our house.

Speaker 1: 2:50

So currently we are working on alert barking, which I think is just part of who she is. Naturally, she has a tendency to alert me to things that are new in our environment. So she's doing really well, though we can now drive in the car and she can see other people beside us or behind us or, you know, just around us, and she's leaving them alone, which is great. She used to maybe want to try to bark at some of them. When we're out on a walk, we can now pass other dogs, we can pass people, we can pass bikes, we can pass strollers, so she's made huge progress in that area and we're right next to them. We're not even 50 feet away anymore, we are literally on the path with them. I just direct her over to the side and they feed her a few food rewards and she's able to handle it just great. So we are making huge progress there, super excited about that, and we'll just continue to keep working and training and at this point we're really just enjoying her.

Speaker 1: 3:44

And a lot of dog training is that it's not practicing the sit, stay, down, come all day long. It's literally just trying to teach the dog things that will help us live our best lives together on a daily basis. So her down stay right now is just a few minutes long, long enough for me to make my bed or empty the dishwasher and she'll kind of just naturally settle at this point. She's pretty cute. She follows me around and then when I stop she stops and she lays down by my feet, so definitely likes to be with me, but she's also able to be alone. So I guess I tell you all this just to kind of give you a sense of where we're at. She's again seven months old and we've been through the puppy phase and now we're into the teenage phase, but it's going really well and we're enjoying being with each other and she's, I think, just loving life here. So there's going to be ups and downs on your journey as you train your dog. Just remember we're here to help anytime that you need us.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Now let's talk about body language. I think it's super important that we understand what our dogs are telling us. The more I understand about what my dog is saying to me, the better I can help them live in the world. So dogs do communicate, primarily through body language and understanding. That will help us build a strong bond. If I know what their posture and facial expressions and different movements are telling me. That gives me insight into how my dog is feeling at any given moment.

Speaker 1: 5:12

So today let's talk about maybe just four basics. Let's talk about scared, excited, relaxed or angry right, those are kind of four major emotions or feelings that your dog might have. So let's start with fear, recognizing fear in your dog, because if you can understand okay, my dog is feeling fearful, then there's certain things that we can do to alleviate that fear for them. Now, fear is an emotion that dogs express in a variety of ways. So it's important that I don't just look at one part of their body, but that I look at the overall picture to really determine okay, what is my dog telling me, right? I don't want to just look at their tail, for instance, or just their mouth, I want to look at all of it, okay, so let's start with a tucked tail, since we started there. Anyway, a dog that is scared will often just tuck its tail between its legs, so that's kind of a telltale, uh-huh telltale sign. Yeah, funny that they are feeling a little anxious, right, it's a classic sign of a fear in a dog.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Now, if they're cowering or lowering their body so maybe they're crouching down or trying to make themselves appear smaller you can imagine in your mind what that would look like. Right, if I'm lowering myself or cowering myself, you can imagine what that would look like in a dog's body. Then that's also another sign of a fearful dog. Now I'm also looking at their ears. So notice how your dog naturally carries their ears, because everybody will have a different baseline depending on which breed of dog they are. So notice your dog's baseline ear position and then if they pin their ears back, that's usually again a sign that the dog is scared.

Speaker 1: 6:42

If they avoid making eye contact, like they won't directly look at it with their eyes. Maybe they look to the side we call it whale eye, where you can see the whites of their eye, or they're just looking away entirely. Then they're probably scared. They don't want to approach it or look at it. It's just too scary. Another sign your dog might be fearful is body trembling or shaking. So in extreme cases of fear they might tremble or shake visibly. You can see that. Lastly, your dog might use vocalizations such as whining, or even just a quiet yawn can be signs of stress or discomfort, or like that yawning might be that they're releasing stress, like something was stressing them out. So they're yawning and then they're letting it go, kind of like a big right. So those will often accompany some fear.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Now, if your dog is displaying these behaviors, it's important that we approach calmly. We give them space if needed. Distance is going to be your best friend. So if I notice my dog is fearful of something, I'm just going to say let's go and walk them out and around or away until they relax and show me that, hey, I feel better. So we don't want to force interaction with anything that they are scared of. We want to reassure them and just confidently say, hey, let's go and we move forward. At some point they'll relax enough to take a reward from you. That's kind of how you know. Okay, we're far enough away that they have relaxed and feel comfortable. You'll also see these signs that we just talked about go away and they'll look more neutral.

Speaker 1: 8:11

Let's talk about excitement next. This one's a fun one, right? Do you guys know what your dogs look like when they're excited? Excitement is one of the most easily recognizable emotions in dogs, so it's characterized by high energy and enthusiasm. You might notice a happy wagging tail right, a really fast wagging tail can be signs of other things, but oftentimes it is excitement, especially if it's turning in a circle, okay, or if it's accompanied with a wiggly body. I call it noodley behavior, where the dog's bouncy and jumpy and, uh yeah, just kind of noodley, right? If you take a spaghetti noodle that's been cooked and you wiggle it, if your dog looks like that, they're probably excited, so jumping or bouncing. Again, an excited dog might jump up or bounce around, especially if they see somebody or maybe they're anticipating something fun is about to happen, like their favorite walk or they love playtime right, you might start to see some jumping and bouncing, but that nice loose, jumpy, bouncy, wagging tail behavior is okay, my dog's excited.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Another part of their body that I'm going to be watching for is their mouth, if it has. They have open mouth. The tongue is hanging out especially. Maybe they're panting a little bit. That's a happy, excited dog. You can almost see a smile on their face. Also, their ears perk up. So, unlike the pinned back ears of fear, an excited dog's ears are usually up and forward, signaling that they're alert and they're interested. If you look closely at their eyes, you might notice dilated pupils. Excitement can cause the dog's pupils to dilate as their body prepares for action. Now, when your dog is excited, it's essential to channel that energy into positive activities like play or training, so this not only helps them burn off energy, but also reinforces good behavior.

Speaker 1: 9:51

Let's talk about knowing when your dog is relaxed. This is another favorite of mine, right? A relaxed dog is one of the most satisfying sights that we can see, as it tells us that our dog feels safe and content. So oftentimes, like I mentioned, bella will just lay out on our tile floor. Either she'll stretch out as far as she can and put her little froggy legs behind her in that little sploot position, if you will, um, or she'll just kind of lay on her side and and stretch out to fill that nice cool floor and she'll just fall asleep. So we all can kind of picture in our minds what a relaxed dog might look like.

Speaker 1: 10:25

Baxter currently, actually, as I'm doing this podcast, is relaxing on his bed, sleeping, um. So we're looking for, I guess, if they're awake, a loose wagging tail, so just like our natural tail carriage and just maybe loosely wagging a little bit if they are up and about. But it's not like that high, fast wag and it's not a definitely a tucked tail, right, it's kind of a neutral gentle tail, if you will. Again, gentle is a good word to describe a relaxed dog. So their eyes will be gentle, their facial expression will be gentle, they'll just have a soft look in their eyes and just a peaceful content. Look Now, lying on their side or back.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Like I mentioned, the dog that feels secure may lie on its side or back, exposing its belly. So I don't know about you, but my doodles like to sleep on their backs, with their bellies completely exposed, their heads hanging back and their feet are in the air, right. So this is a sign that they can truly trust their environment and really relax. Not all dogs will sleep that way, but that is a sign that your dog feels relaxed in your house. So typically when a dog sleeps they'll kind of curl up to protect their vital organs. So if they are a little anxious or nervous and they're tired, then they're going to need to probably retreat to say a corner or under something and they're going to kind of tuck in versus okay.

Speaker 1: 11:44

A dog that truly feels relaxed is going to either just lay on its side, belly exposed, or even on their backs with their belly exposed, or just nice, like Baxter's on his bed right now. So he's not necessarily on his back, he's more on his side, I guess, or just on his stomach, but he definitely looks peaceful. So all of those are great signs that your dog is nice and relaxed. Their breathing will be slow a little more, even not a lot of panting, just open and loose posture. Overall, their body language is unguarded, if you will. It's a nice, comfortable position which could be accompanied by a casual stretch or even a yawn if they're sleepy.

Speaker 1: 12:23

So a relaxed dog is a state of calm and well-being and this is the ideal state that we can, you know, do our regular routines and we can do, you know, training like stay training, impulse control and patience training where they have to remain in a position for a long time. You know, go to bed behavior with a good one to work on in this state of feeling, whereas like that excited dog that we were talking about, that's where I might work with, like recalls, right, loose leash walking, maybe like a go sniff walk. Maybe loose leash walking requires too much attention for that really excitable dog. You know, maybe if there's a good balance between excited and relaxed, that would be a better time for more attention walking. But a go sniff walk or recall, where they can just run and then come to you and then run and then come to you play. So fetch and frisbee are different activities that your dog likes to do. You know it's excited for those energetic times or excited moments, but a nice relaxed dog, they can usually focus pretty well. So that's what I'm going to be working on the stays and the go to bed behaviors, those things that require patience and impulse control.

Speaker 1: 13:33

Lastly, for today let's talk about what your dog might look like if they're angry or maybe somewhat aggressive. I think it's important, with all of this body language that we can read the differences. So just this week I was watching some cute videos of a client's puppy who they thought the puppy was fearful, fearful. But when they sent me the video clips and I watched them, it's actually the opposite. This puppy was super excited to be outside, not fearful of being outside, and it's important that we approach the training from the right frame of reference. Whatever that puppy's feeling, we want to accurately assess that so that we can accurately then make a training plan for them. So that was the good news is this puppy is definitely not scared. This puppy is excited and happy. Now what can we do with it? Because we'll handle that very differently than if they truly were scared of being outside.

Speaker 1: 14:23

So anger in a dog is going to present itself with stiffness and tenseness. So, opposite of that nice loose, noodley, bouncy behavior that we were talking about earlier, with the excitement behavior you might see stiff, tense, freezing, statue-like behavior. The muscles will be tense and the dog may stand very still. So the fur along the dog's back and neck might start to stand up. That's a pyloerection which signals arousal, which is often due to fear or aggression. So you might see some of that as the excitement raises in your dog and maybe their stress raises as well raises in your dog and maybe their stress raises as well.

Speaker 1: 15:06

If a dog is doing a direct stare, so they might fixate on the object that it's angry with or have a really intense look in their face and their mouths are usually either tight, closed mouths or they're showing their teeth and their lips might be curled back. So that's a clear signal to definitely give them distance, give them space. You don't want to approach a dog who's doing that. You also might hear things like growls or snarls. These vocal warnings are clear signs that a dog is feeling threatened or angry and may be ready to defend themselves. So we want to be super careful. If we're starting to hear that Now, growling can be one of those confusing things because you know puppies growl when they play.

Speaker 1: 15:42

Maybe some play growling is happening or you know they're making some noises when they're excited. So you want to make sure that you're looking again at the whole picture. We're watching their body, how tense it is, and their mouth and if it's, you know, closed and tight or showing their teeth, versus a nice, you know happy, you know open mouth versus like a body that's, you know, bouncy and noodley. So it's important again to take in the whole picture, not just oh, I hear growling, my dog must be aggressive. No, your puppy's probably not aggressive if all you're hearing is growling, but all the other signs are showing excitement or a good feeling, right. So it's really important that we look at the whole picture.

Speaker 1: 16:18

So again back to maybe anger would be the ears. If we go back to the ear position, they're going to be probably pinned back or they might be held high and alert so that one could be confusing if you're just looking at their ears. Again you have to look at the whole body picture. So, unlike fear, where the tail is tucked and angry dog's tail may be held high and rigid, they could even be moving that tail, so it might look like a happy, excited wag. We got to be careful there as well. This could be an unhappy wag depending on what the rest of the body looks like. So again, make sure that you always take an overall assessment of your dog before determining what they're feeling.

Speaker 1: 16:54

And again, the better that we understand what they're telling us, the better able we are able to help them. We're able to devise either a training plan for the future where we can help them feel comfortable in situations where they might be fearful or anxious or angry, feeling threatened. Right, if a dog feels threatened and they feel like they need to protect themselves, then we want to know that and know that we can then devise a training plan to help them not feel that the next time. So if your dog is displaying signs of anger, we want to stay calm, we want to avoid making the situation worse. We don't want to challenge the dog or attempt to discipline it aggressively at all. In fact, we use positive reinforcement, we use force-free training here. We want to remove the source of anger if possible and allow the dog to calm down on its own.

Speaker 1: 17:38

So, just moving away, just help that dog move away. As you move away and create distance again, the feelings subside. So understanding your dog's body language is essential for interpreting its emotions and responding appropriately. So please do your homework recognize the signs of fear, excitement, relaxation and anger, which will just help us better care for our dogs and it strengthens the bond that you have with them. By paying close attention to these signals, we can ensure that our dogs feel safe, loved and understood in any situation, which is what we want. Then we can go live life with our dogs right. Okay, guys, thanks for listening. I hope you have a great weekend and give your dogs a high five. For me Happy training. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site BaxterandBellacom to contact me.