Its important to able to read body language to see what your dog is trying to tell you and other dogs. There are different kinds of body language to be able to observe which reflect the emotional state of the dog and recognising these can help us act quickly.
When your dog starts to respond to something in the environment, their body language changes from calm and relaxed to demonstrating their state of arousal – this relates to how much stress chemistry your dog is experiencing.
Have a watch of these videos by Kikopup and Battersea and this one on body language in play
Dogs can show the change in their emotional state to one where stress brain chemistry is affecting them in Fight – Flight – Freeze – Fool around behaviours
- Flight – run away
- Freeze – stop in their tracks and stand completely still, often barely blinking
- Fool around – displaying behaviour we think of as ‘annoying or irritating’ but can be more subtle.
The subtleties of ‘Fool around’ can be changes in body language such as yawning, head shake/body shake (like wet), scratching at ears or sides, chewing things, licking self/others, lifting one paw, roll over and show belly, peeing themselves or lowering of head and neck.
Dogs can also show stress brain chemistry by
- being ‘hyperactive’
- destructive
- panting when its not hot and/or they haven’t been running
- showing a ‘grimacing’ face or a tense/hard expression
- inability to focus (described as ignoring the owner)
- snatching at treats
- grabbing at anything they can reach – lead, clothes, hands/arms/feet
- mounting – dogs, objects and people
- ‘lipstick showing’ in male dogs
- constant jumping and mouthing at people
- being ‘over friendly’
- being hypervigilant to things in the environment
- Body language is tense (muscles harden), tail lifts above horizontal, ears are pulled forwards, mouth may move from open to closed
