Understanding Dog Behavior – Part 2

Discover the messages your dog can send you by observing his posture and his mouth.

In the first part, we saw the prerequisites to have to understand the behavior of the dog, the greeting, and the look. In this second part, we will focus on the message of your dog according to its posture, its mouth and its tail. Happy reading!

How to read your dog's posture ?

With the gaze, the analysis of the posture and movements of your dog will allow you to learn a lot about what he feels. The possible postures being very numerous, we will present only a few of them.

• Relaxed posture : his face and body are relaxed, his posture is balanced and his movements are calm. Your dog feels in a pleasant environment, he is carefree and serenely enjoys the present moment.
• Alertness posture : His ears are erect, facing forward, his head and body are forward and his tail is raised. Your dog is probably feeling interest, surprise, curiosity about a change in his environment.
• Stalking posture : Your dog has a slow and cautious gait, his head and body are close to the ground, and his gaze is fixed. He is very focused and is hunting something. This behavior is completely natural in dogs, depending on the context, stalking can be a game or on the contrary something very serious.
• Uncertain Posture : Your dog has his head down, his front body forward, his tail stiff, and his hind legs outstretched. He is unsure of what to do: should he flee a situation or approach? He is cautious and preparing to flee, needing more information about the situation to know what to do. He may be feeling anxious or curious.
• Anxious posture : Your dog is curled up, tail tucked or low, head down, ears laid back, body motionless, or even trembling. Here, he very clearly feels a great deal of insecurity, a paralyzing fear and he wants to avoid interaction at all costs. It is important to respect his feelings and not force the dog to confront what scares him at all costs, at the risk of making his feelings worse and causing him to lose confidence in you.
• Threatening posture : The look is hard, the jaw clenched, the tail stiff and erect and he has the bust leaning forward. Your dog feels a strong annoyance, he is tense and determined. Here, he is preparing for combat and sending a very clear warning to his interlocutor, if the latter persists in his behavior, the dog risks going on the attack.
• Defensive posture : His body is curled up, his tail is low, he growls or shows his teeth and his ears are folded back. Your dog is probably afraid, he may feel trapped and he is ready to fight to defend himself or to flee.
• Angry Posture : This behavior usually occurs as a last resort, when all other signals have been ignored and the situation causing the discomfort has not improved. The dog lunges forward, growls with bared teeth, and the hair on his back may stand on end. Clearly your dog is showing his anger and extreme stress. He is attacking to protect himself where all other attempts at deterrence have failed.

What message is behind my dog's mouth ?

We humans are very sensitive to the face of our interlocutor, especially by looking at what is happening on their lips. We try to do the same by analyzing our dog's mouth, but the errors of interpretation are often numerous, their fangs can come to bias our way of seeing things.

• Happy mouth : the jaw is not clenched, the tongue is retracted or relaxed, its gaze is soft and the ears are also relaxed. Here the dog feels relaxed, happy and serene.
• Anxious Mouth : This expression can easily be mistaken for joy because it makes the dog look like it is "smiling," but it is actually a sign of stress, discomfort, or frustration. The dog's mouth is open or closed, with the lips stretched back in a grimacing manner. The dog may be panting and his body is tense, and his ears are pulled back.
• Closed mouth : The jaw is clenched with the lips forward, the gaze is hard. Your dog is showing his concern, his restraint or his annoyance in the face of a situation.
• Defensive mouth : The mouth is open with the fangs exposed, the lips are forward and the dog's body is tense in general. Here, he is showing his worry or stress, he is preparing to flee.
• Smile of appeasement : be careful, this is often interpreted as aggression or joy, while the dog shows benevolence tinged with uncertainty. His mouth is stretched in a wide smile, the teeth are visible, the posture low. Roughly this can be interpreted as a "I come in peace" from the dog.

The different positions of the dog's tail :

We may tend to believe that a dog that wags its tail is necessarily happy or that a dog with a very low tail is necessarily uncomfortable. The nuances are much more numerous than that, and again it is always important to analyze the context and the entirety of the dog's body. It is also necessary to take into account its physical particularities: some dogs naturally have a high tail and others will have it low. 

• Relaxed or Neutral Tail : In this case, it is important to consider the proper appearance of your dog's tail, depending on his breed. The hindquarters should be as relaxed as the tail. This shows joy and that your dog is relaxed.
• Low tail : The tail is flat against the hindquarters or tucked in. In dogs with naturally curled tails, it may be lower than usual. Your dog is communicating his lack of confidence, anxiety, or even fear.
• Tail Raised : The tail is held high, either relaxed or stiff. Your dog is showing you that he is alert, excited or agitated. The more excited or agitated the dog is, the more his tail will be raised and the faster the tail beats.

In addition to the position of the tail, it is important to distinguish between the types of tail beats that can seem very similar:

• High beats : If the hindquarters are wagging, the dog is excited and playful. On the other hand, if the body and face are tense, the dog is agitated. A stiff tail and tight beats are not a friendly signal.
• Loose or tight beats : Loose beats are a sign of joy while tight beats with a low tail are a sign of anxiety.
• Circular Beats : If your dog is making rapid, circular movements with his tail while wagging, you can rest assured that he is the happiest dog of all!

To conclude, you have understood that even if your dog does not speak the same language as you, he can still easily make himself understood and you will be able to enjoy him even more once you have learned his language.

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