“All of a sudden he just took off after the squirrel.” “She just pounced on that little girl, completely out of the blue.” “I don’t know what happened, one second he was there, and the next he was just gone....chasing the kid on the bike.” “Without any warning at all, she just attacked the other dog.”
by Kelly Ryan

Have you ever heard yourself say something like this? Or thought “Wow, where did that come from?” If not, have you ever had that experience where your dog does something “bad” and you are caught completely off guard? If you are still answering no, then count yourself as one of the lucky few....so few, in fact, that you may be the only one! Even the most experienced trainers and dog professionals have been caught off guard by a dog’s unexpected behavior.

As surprised as we may be by a dog’s behavior, dogs rarely, if ever, do anything without any warning or “out of the blue.” The problem is not that they aren’t warning us, but that we are missing the signals. Dogs are constantly telling us what they are feeling or what they are about to do. We just aren’t listening; we aren’t paying attention!

You can become a better dog handler and trainer by simply paying attention to your dog. You will start to notice your dog’s cues and signals and will be able to prevent problems before they happen. As with most things, prevention is more effective and much easier than trying to fix a problem after it has occurred. Think of paying attention to your dog and learning your dog’s signals as your own dose of preventative medicine.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Just pay attention, easy enough.....but, what exactly are you looking for? Every dog’s signals are going to be a bit different. They have different body types, ear types, facial structures, etc. Each of these physical differences means that their signals will look different. Even within those signals there are subtleties and nuances.

My girl, Clio, is an excellent example. When Clio’s ears are laid back on her head, she could be scared by the loud clatter of silverware falling off the kitchen counter, irritated and about to snap at her ever encroaching younger brother or extremely excited to see one of her favorite people. So how can I tell what she’s saying?

To effectively read your dog’s signals, you need to pay attention to the whole dog, not just one part of their body.

When Clio is scared, her whole body crouches down, her tail is tucked under her body and she will generally turn her body sideways, away from the direction of what frightened her.

When she’s irritated, she will slightly tighten her lips or curl them up, stare at the source of her irritation and her whiskers will start to come forward.

When she’s excited, her tail will be low, but relaxed, not tucked, and wagging in wide strokes, her head will be up, she’ll be “smiling,” dancing on her toes and her entire backside will be swinging wildly from side to side.

Here are some tips on observing your dog. Start with those moments where you have a pretty good idea how your dog is feeling. For example, when you come home from work or when you go to the vet’s office. Some of the easier things to look at include:

Get a feel for how your dog looks when you know he’s excited, nervous, afraid, angry or relaxed.

Once you are able to recognize some basic body language, start looking for some of the more subtle signals. These subtle signals are some of the most informative signals you can get from your dog, so it is important to understand what they mean when you see them It will take time and practice for you to really start to see some of these signals.

Some of the more subtle areas to watch include:

Here’s an extra little tip on watching the eyes, if your dog is staring intently at something....hang on...odds are she is about to take off after something. Get a good hold on your leash, call your dog to you, brace yourself, then look at the rest of your dog’s body to see if she is completely alert and tensed up. After you have figured that out, take a look around you and see if you can see what your dog is keying on.

Another sign to watch for is “freezing,” or going completely still. Freezing is always a warning signal. This goes back to your dog’s most basic instincts and response to a threat: freeze, flee, or fight. Whether it is at the vet, with a friend, a child, or another dog, when your dog freezes, he is saying that he feels threatened. If freezing does not stop the threat, he only has two choices left. If he’s on leash or restrained, flee is no longer an option. The freeze moment will probably be extremely quick, so you are going to need to respond very quickly.

Obviously, no article or book can tell you everything you need to know about how to read a dog’s body language and then how to apply that to your dog. Nor should it. Part of developing your bond with your dog is for you to understand your dog and the nuances of his or her communication. It’s only fair. After all, we expect them to distinguish between a stuffed toy and a couch cushion, to understand we were at work all day and are too tired to play when we get home, to differentiate between our good clothes and our play clothes when they jump on us, and to learn English and sign language and respond immediately to our every whim.

Despite the effort, or maybe because of it, the rewards of observing your dog and learning what your dog is trying to say will be well worth it.

Also read

Canine Body Language by the ASPCA
When Good Dogs Have Bad Days by Dr. Amy Marder, V.M.D.

Some excellent additional resources on this topic are:

How to Speak Dog by Stanley Coren
Calming Signals by Turid Rugass (Book and Video)
The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell