Body Language and Calming Signals

What are our dogs trying to tell us?

Did you now that a nose lick can mean that your dog is feeling uncomfortable?

It is very important to us, as advocates for dogs, to educate owners of the way that they can themselves better understand what their dogs are trying to tell them.  As dogs are a different species and cannot understand human language, nor talk to us to tell us how they are feeling, we will never be able to know what they really think and feel. However, we can all do our best to try to understand the way dogs attempt to communicate with us, by watching and comprehending dog body language and the signals dogs display.

Dogs do have a clear way of communicating with each other and they use the same language to try to communicate with us.  They really do try to tell us how they are feeling. Unfortunately, a lot of their efforts to reach us are either missed altogether or misunderstood by humans. If we make an effort to understand their language, we would know how to better handle our dogs and avoid unnecessary punishment, conflict and even bites!

We owe it to our dogs, who try so hard to please us and fit into our human world, a world that is filled with human expectations and rules, to try a little harder to understand their world the best we can. This way, we can guide our dogs in all aspects of their lives and therefore become the best guardians possible for our best friends.

The collection of pictures below are an excellent start to better understanding what your dog is trying to tell you.

With careful observation you will begin to see these behaviours in your own dog and will be well on your way to understanding your dog’s language.