Understanding Dog Body Language – Part 2
canine body language and understanding
canine and communication part two this
video is really going to go over tails
ears and the body it’s going to be just
what you as the owner or the handler
really want to look for if you’re not
understanding what you’re not doing or
if you’re just having general inquiry or
interest in your dog’s behavior or what
they’re communicating as this is a
full-time profession and I mean the
biggest thing biggest false that you see
with the owners is the communication
between the two is so off um the dog is
saying one thing in the human saying
another thing and so much gets lost in
translation or lost in communication and
then you guys are kind of butting heads
but if we can teach humans to better
understand what their dog’s saying and
have a lot of these myth and myths and
conceptions about their dog and what
their dogs doing and throw that in the
toilet or confirm it it just helps
better understand what your dog is doing
so you can better understand how to
train your dog or or how to get them to
where you want them to be so I hope you
enjoy the second video and hopefully the
more video clips I get believe me the
more videos I’m going to do about body
language so that people can actually see
this happening right in front of them
instead of on pictures or just by
reading an article
tail-wagging is a communication signal
given from a dog to help get their
message across to the recipient you
cannot solely judge a dog’s entire
behavior on just a tail wag there are so
many other signals and behaviors to take
into consideration before you can make
an assessment like that Hale
dispositions says a lot with a dog but
it doesn’t say everything generally when
we’re looking at behavior in dogs
trainers behaviors and consultants will
glimpse at the dog’s tail to see if it’s
high neutral or in a low position or
even tucked this tells us about the
dog’s brain arousal levels which can
actually give us a better indicator for
what’s going on
we have Luna and Mookie out for a walk
Lunas five years old and Mookie’s nine
months here look at the difference in
the body language mainly with the tail
Luna is calm and relaxed low head low
tail Mookie is excited and interested in
noises which you can see affects the
brain which affects his body language
tail high head high ears up here is
where things can actually get confusing
for some tail tuck usually indicates
fear or nervousness and dogs however we
have Luna sheep herding lessons waiting
her turn and her tail is tucked I can
tell you that she is not scared of
anything right now
and you can actually understand that by
watching other body language on her her
body is loose ears are up and relaxed
eyes are soft open relaxed mouth so
what’s going on she’s actually
incredibly anxious she’s just waiting
for that second where she is unclipped
and she can go and chase the Sheep how
high this girl’s tail is it’s almost
touching her back and she doesn’t even
have a curly tail this is pretty obvious
that she’s on high alert about something
around her territory whether it’s
territorial behavior or whether it’s
hunting behavior she’s on high alert and
she’s ready for anything
this guy looks happy right tail wagging
looking at me well let’s stop the video
and we’ll see if that tail wag means
good things no this dog is quite careful
and so nice to people
confrontation not good for this dog’s
tail wagging in his case means
appeasement signals he’s trying to
communicate with us that he’s not a
hundred percent comfortable this is Thai
he looks happy
ears up rushing over to sniff the dummy
dog’s butt as if it were a real dog well
let’s stop the video here does this dog
look like he’s happy to see the decoy
dog no he wants to attack it and cause
injury this is a dog that was a stray
who was lacking very much in social
skills with other dogs and just wanted
to make this dog go away we go back in
the video we also see a lip lick which
is good indicator that this dog was not
happy about seeing this dog this dog you
can see the neutral tail position when
walking and watch it instantly change
when he sees the dog in the driveway up
and wagging now did he look friendly
there
you
now this dog is a highly obnoxious and
brute if you let this dog greet another
dog it could possibly lead to a fight
depending on what dog was on the
receiving end look at the brown dog he’s
like wow you’re nuts what is wrong with
you flinching you didn’t want to go near
that top now for some positive tail way
Luna hears instigating play with Mookie
just watch the body crawling the ears
back and which indicates in this
scenario that she’s very playful pure
excitement for food with Mookie you can
even see him trying to sit and be calm
but the tail is a dead giveaway that
he’s still very much excited yeah and
what else okay for the tail recap a
wagging tail does not always mean the
dog is friendly tails tend to but not
always go up when the dog is highly
aroused this means positive and negative
emotions tails tend to wag when aroused
this means positive and negative
emotions dogs also use their tail to
communicate play appeasement which means
not a threat threatening displays
confusion nervousness anxiety and fear
to name the most common you cannot judge
dog’s behavior strictly on the tail
behavior you must take into account the
other body language in order to properly
assess what is going on with the dog
in this video you can actually see Lunas
loose loose body language and Mookie’s
actually being really really tense
because he doesn’t know if she’s out to
harm him or not he’s a little nervous
right now so you see one part of Moon is
always wiggling always moving that’s
what you consider more of a loose body
you see Mookie he goes from tense
completely rigid and then he’ll moved
quickly and then he’ll go tense again
watch this dog does she look tense or
loose she’s moving her head and sniffing
but her whole body is so rigid her tails
not moving this right now is saying this
is not a good green she’s feeling a lot
of pressure with this person you can see
because she jumps back instantly if we
go back you see she takes a step back
her center of gravity shifts it back she
does a polished she quickly moves and
you actually see a lip look as well so
she’s doing a lot of stress signals that
can be easily overlooked by humans
you
here you see incredible tension a dog is
approaching Luna and she is highly
stressed watch the avoidance the way
lies tongue flick even a paw lift
she’s screaming stress right now and she
even snarls to get her point across to
the other dog coming watch the loose
body language coming up to the man watch
it change as soon as she’s confronted to
say hello you see a lip lick which
indicates stress we see a polit which is
another indicator of stress and we also
see the center of gravity of her body
shift away from the person in order to
escape if she needed to this young dog
which is the bigger dog is actually just
trying to play with the younger dog the
chihuahua but you can actually see watch
the tense body language of the Chihuahua
I mean he’s moving look how rich it is
does it look like he’s having fun no
he’s trying to do avoidance just like oh
gosh please just leave me alone it
doesn’t work so he starts acting out and
acting aggressive and you can see those
stress signals start to build and build
and then he has to act out aggressive
because the pup is just not getting the
communication signal that the Chihuahua
is giving so tense versus loose body
recap is on tension and dogs can
indicate apprehension uncertainty
uncomfortable in a situation or scenario
tense body language can be a warning
indicator to dogs and people that this
dog is preparing for the fight-or-flight
response if this behavior is ignored
aggressive behavior can happen but not
always if you’ve ever heard of the calm
before the storm kind of deal that’s
what happens there loose body movements
mean relaxation comfortable at ease in
the situation they’re ok with what’s
happening and relaxed
watch how they’re playing and then all
the sudden when Lunas chase she starts
eating grass just randomly this is the
calming signal for a cut-off cute that
she doesn’t want to play with him
anymore
they’re cut off signal and it turns
around and you see that head to head and
Mookie’s like whoa does it play about
lays down and then buggers off somewhere
else
beautiful communication and beautiful
listening skills in this next clip I’m
actually going to let you guys watch the
clip and see how many warning signals
does Luna give the pitbull count and
then we’ll go over it again I’ll explain
all the warning signals well
there are four warning signals so the
first one is look at him and then
looking away this is avoidance this is
okay I want nothing to do with you
second one is lip licking this is a
stress signal saying okay I’m getting a
little annoying thirds grabbing the ball
moving going okay I’m going to avoid
this situation by picking up my toy and
leaving and then as he’s following she
sees okay you’re still following me and
then she actually moves in another
direction again more avoidance however
the puppy here he’s just not getting it
and it is normal social skews that he
will learn as he grows up so subtle
cutoff signals are these are used to
communicate from one dog to another that
you know I need a break or I don’t want
to play anymore
I didn’t like what you did or starting
to feel uncomfortable or one of the top
views of why dogs will start to use them
cutoff signals are generally used during
activities involving two or more dogs so
playing together or greeting saying
hello to another dog on the road or
something like that or actually being
forced to be put into a small scenario
like a doggie daycare or a house
environment cutoff signals can also be
used as same as stress and calming and
displacement signals that I went over in
part one so the yawning the lip licking
sniffing the ground turning your head
scratching urinating just out of the
blue dogs that have been properly
socialized tend to have a good routine
and good exercise in good social
interactions will have better
communication and can respond to these
signals easier dogs who are lacking in
social skills or you know are just too
excited they’re not getting enough
exercise tend to not be able to see
these signals that other dogs give and
this can often create conflict and with
aggressive behaviors from one or both
dogs
ears now what your dog does with his or
her ears will say a lot about what
they’re thinking and feeling just like
with the tails all dogs have different
ears some perk straight up some are
droopy but you can still actually read a
dog’s ears with either style it’s just a
little bit harder with the flat ears
unfortunately when breeders are owners
crop and/or tape their dog’s ears and
tails we humans along with other dogs
cannot read or find it hard to read the
dog properly this can often cause
miscommunication between the two parties
when a dog’s ears are pointed back or
flattened on to their head the dog can
communicate many different social
signals such as submissive behavior you
often see this in younger dogs when
greeting new dogs and a branch off of
submissive behavior is making oneself
appear smaller to avoid conflict or to
not be intimidating however it’s not
necessarily classified as submissive
behavior agitation when a dog is tense
or irritated the ears will be back but
they’re not quite flat on the head and
of course elements of nature can cause
your dog to put their ears books such as
wind or rain when a dog’s ears are
perked up at the base of the ear between
the head in the mid year the dog can
communicate different social signals
such as listening on alert and interest
I mean all of these pair right in
together
the dogs will perk their ears ought to
be able to absorb all of the sound like
a satellite dish so this can be good for
dogs that if they’re hunting or if
they’re on alert for territorial
behavior you’ll often see those ears
perk up and they might even swivel
another reason is making oneself look
bigger and more intimidating if the dog
is going to use aggressive behaviors or
feeling that aggressive behaviors are
being used on that dog they can actually
perk up their ears and even their tail
to make themselves look bigger and
intimidate the other dog or whatever it
may be off ear behavior recap our ears
just like the tail can give a good
indicator of the dog’s brain arousal
levels and what they’re thinking
you cannot solely judge a dog’s behavior
on just the ears you need to take into
account what the whole body is doing in
that moment
what scenario you’re in what environment
you’re in dogs well that will have
floppy ears such as basset hounds and
beagles or dogs with their ears cropped
ape Dobermans pitbulls etc like that
will be actually harder to read because
you’re not going to be able to see the
whole ear it’s going to just be at that
base of the ear just like the base of
the tail
avoidance behavior and dogs which
basically means go away and the reason
why I love avoiding avoidance behavior
so much is because actually humans use
it a lot to when they want to disengage
from something they’ll actually divert
their eyes to something else and I mean
it’s a good indicator that they’re no
longer interested in whatever you’re
saying or whatever you’re doing so you
can see this little guy is just bugging
the heck out of this big dog you see
he’s just like leave me alone I’m just
going to turn my head over here and lo
and behold it works you can actually see
it frame by frame with this dog about
the avoidance there’s a lot of stress in
there so you see the lip lick the eyes
gaze turning away the whale eyes and
then you see the head just turn this dog
wants nothing to do with whatever’s in
front of him so the avoidance behavior
recap is avoidance is generally
characterized by a dog turning their
head or body to avoid a situation
confrontation or conflict head turns are
one of the most used avoidance behaviors
which can also be classified into a
stress calming and displacement signals
avoidance is one of the first warning
signals used before
dogs before with dogs before it
escalates into aggressive behaviors and
this is also depending on the dog some
dogs will have a stronger flight
response thank you for watching and
thank you to all who donated video clips
to help make this video possible for
educational purposes don’t forget to
subscribe because I plan on making a lot
more body language videos and other
how-to tutorials on tricks and behavior
and obedience training
