Understanding Your Dog’s Body Language

As much as we’d love to know what our dogs are thinking, we will never be completely sure. However, we can educate ourselves to try and understand the messages they’re trying to send. Dogs will very often communicate with their body language.

Learning to read your dog can strengthen your relationship with them. It can also help you predict their behaviour and understand what they are feeling. In this article, we’re going to talk through dog body language, helping you understand what your dog is trying to tell you.

When Your Dog is Relaxed

A relaxed dog will have a loose posture. When dogs are relaxed, we often see this as happy. Their ears will be held in their natural position, their mouth will be gently closed, or any panting will be gentle and proportionate to the temperature, their tail when relaxed will either be still or swaying/sweeping smoothly rather than a rapid, ‘jerky’ wag. 

Overall, their posture will be soft. They might exaggerate their movements, especially when they’re playing. We see this a lot in our doggy day care!

When Your Dog is Alert

When your dog is alert, they’ll be actively scanning their surroundings, trying to find more information. They might do this if they have just heard an unusual noise, or seen another dog, deer etc. 

When your dog is alert, and depending on the breed, their ears will be more rigid, perked up and possibly rotating. Their eyes will be wide and focused. Their tail will be extended away from the body, and it might be wagging slightly (depending on the breed and what is holding their attention) Their overall posture will be rigid and distributed across all paws. They’re getting in their ‘ready’ position, waiting to see what comes next!

We often see this at our doggy day care when our visitors meet new friends or in high energy play.

When Your Dog is Stressed, Nervous or Fearful

Dogs express similar body language signals when they’re stressed as they do when they’re nervous or scared and the severity will vary across breeds and individual history.

This often includes tucking ears back against the head, turning their head away from the threat the mouth may be tightly closed or they may be panting excessively. If they’re scared, they will tuck their tail under their body, pushing it against their belly.

If your dog is stressed, nervous or fearful, they might perform body language signals called ‘calming signals’. If you see your dog performing any of these moves, it means they’re trying to self-calm or regulate. These signals include…

• Looking/turning away
• Excessive panting
• Licking their lips
• Moving in a curve or circle

Stressed dogs may also avoid eye contact, or look quickly and then look away.