Understanding Your Dog's Body Language

Reviewed by Darris Cooper, CPDT-KA, FFCP

Although dogs are often happy-go-lucky, it’s important to stay tuned in to their body language. Not only will understanding  your own dog’s body language help you keep them happy and comfortable, noticing common stressors and behaviors in other dogs may help you keep your dog out of potentially dangerous situations.

When a dog encounters a new situation, they are more likely to show their true feelings through their body language. As a pet parent, the best way for us to understand what our dog is communicating at any given time is to be aware of and recognize the cues they are sending.

Your dog’s communications decoded

If you’re trying to figure out if your dog is happy, fearful, stressed or feeling something else, take a look at these common  behaviors and what they are trying to tell you.

Reacting to your dog’s body language

Once you recognize that your dog’s body language holds the key to what they’re feeling, you can start to address whatever they’re trying to communicate. Sometimes a dog’s signal can be worked through in the moment, but other times an action or scenario might need to be ended completely before the dog will return to feeling safe or happy. For example:

• When to stop: If your dog is acting aggressively (growling, lunging, barking or snarling), is exhibiting signs of fear, anxiety or stress (like fidgeting, panting, trembling or showing avoidance by moving away), then you’ll want to stop whatever is causing your dog stress or immediately remove them from the situation.
• When to be aware: If your dog is displaying more than two moderate signs of stress mentioned above more than four times in a minute, you should exhibit caution. Try offering treats, toys or attention as a distraction. If that doesn’t work, then remove your pet from the situation.
• When you can keep going: If your pup is exhibiting mild signs of stress but keeps a relaxed body language and continues to solicit social interactions, then you should be able to defuse the situation and slowly get them to be comfortable with what is going on using treats, toys or attention.