Part II: How Dogs Communicate and the pop quiz answer

Hello again Steemit Community,

Hope my last post was helpful in learning about what your dog is communicating. Are you becoming a better observer?

Picking up from where we left off (an alert dog), I mentioned that at this point, a dog can either revert to being relaxed or he can become afraid and tense, and that from there, a dog can then flee or get ready to fight. (If, however, your dog is not fear-based but confident, another scenario can ensue, which I've explained below.) Again, every dog is different and thus will react differently to the "trigger" (a stimulus that initially caused the alert) which prompted the dog to pay attention in the first place. Note: what may trigger one dog may not trigger another and as dogs mature, they often become used to stimuli that used to alarm them as puppies and young dogs.

Let's say the dog becomes worried and somewhat tense. How will you know?

One of the easiest ways you can tell is simply by running your hands down your dog's body; notice whether the skin is loose or rigid. Sometimes these long strokes can even be enough to calm your worried dog down. But if it escalates, the body is lowered, the ears are back, the dog may lick its mouth often, the tail may be wagging slightly and one front paw may be raised. This dog does not make good eye contact.

And, in more extreme cases, the dog may roll over on its back with the tail tucked between the hind legs, the head turned to one side, the mouth closed tightly, ears pinned to the sides of the head with no direct eye contact at all. Sometimes the dog may even urinate a little. This dog is doing everything it can to convey that it is not a threat and that it does not want to fight. If he could talk, this dog would say, "I am scared but I don't want to fight and I don't want to get hurt!"

As I mentioned above, however, not all frightened dogs become submissive - some prepare to defend themselves and their body language is very different. A dog who is afraid and preparing to go on the offense looks like this: the ears are back, the head is down and thrust forward, the eyes are round and often staring, the hair on the back of the neck is raised and the dog may be growling.

This is probably not a good time to try and touch your dog if she is acting like this; as Cesar Millan would say, this dog is now in the "red zone" and could attack momentarily, especially if startled! Better to move slowly and talk quietly to your dog to hopefully redirect her.

Finally, if your dog is not afraid but has gotten angry (yes, dogs do get angry and can even be bullies) his body language looks like this: head and ears up, the hair on the back of the neck is raised, eyes are hard not soft, the mouth is slightly open and teeth exposed, tail raised and bristled. This dog is confident and looking to fight.

For an expanded version of this post with illustrations, please visit my website: www.thegraceofdog.com and click on BLOG.

If you know what to watch for in your dog's body language, it is much easier to prevent a problem. That said, don't expect a problem if you know your dog tends to be somewhat fearful. Over the many centuries we humans have lived with dogs, we have bred them to look to us for cues, which they have become very good at picking up on.

So, balance it out: watch your shy dog for any signs of distress but don't automatically expect him to become tense. I will discuss the importance of human leadership for our dogs soon. In the meantime, here is the answer to the tail wagging question . . . .

Not necessarily! A relaxed dog's tail is wagging fairly slowly and the tail is about horizontal to its body. An excited dog's tail is wagging much faster and may be slightly raised.
But like cats who purr when they're stressed, some dogs wag their tails frantically when they are tense. I liken this to people who jiggle their feet or bob their knees when seated - the motion acts as a kinetic "tranquilizer".

Till next post . . . .