Reading Dog Body Language 1

Here is a picture of my dog, Mocha. Examine it and attempt to determine her main signals based on her body language. Is she happy, relaxed, or neutral, or aggressive, or nervous, anxious, fearful?

Sometimes it is challenging to identify based on a still-photograph, since dogs’ behavior and emotions can change quickly, or a picture can capture a moment that looks like something else - for example, a dog with wide eyes (showing more eye white), can indicate fearful behavior, or a sideways glance that has nothing to do with fearful behavior.

What is Mocha’s main body language?

In this particular picture Mocha is nervous/anxious.

• She is looking away to avoid eye contact.

• She is stress panting (sometimes you can tell by the way the lips are pulled back tensely with an open mouth).

• Her ears are pressed back (this can also just be listening behavior, though).

• She is close to the door - presumably in an attempt to leave.

The overall context:

Mocha was at an indoor swimming pool for the first time. She was nervous about it and did not want to get into the water.

Here is a second picture zoomed farther out. It shows more clearly her avoidance of eye contact and the pool. She is hiding the corner.

Once we identify dog behavior and body language (or communication signals), we can take action. In this particular situation, Mocha was also not taking many treats and due to her relatively high level of stress, she was allowed to leave the pool and run around a different training room to play instead.

One of our goals should always be to keep dogs below a threshold of fear/anxiety, and train at that level to encourage new behaviors, building them up gradually over time.