DOGS BODY LANGUAGE

HOW TO READ YOUR DOG'S BODY LANGUAGE

Although dogs do use sounds and signals, much of the information that they send is through their body language, specifically their facial expressions and body postures.

Understanding what your dog is saying can give you a lot of useful information, such as when your dog is spooked and nervous about what is going on, or when your dog is edgy and might be ready to snap at someone.

You do have to look at the dog's face and his whole body. To help you, here is a sort of visual version of a Berlitz phrase book to allow you to interpret the eight most important messages your dog is sending to you.

Read more and see explanatory pictures here - http://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/how-read-your-dogs-body-language/415


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ASPCA IN-DEPTH ARTICLE ON DOGS' BODY LANGUAGE

 

 

Click here - http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/canine-body-language

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


RELATED

LATEST STUDY:   SCIENTISTS DECIPHER DOG-TAIL WAGS

BBC NEWS - Scientists have shed more light on how the movements of a dog's tail are linked to its mood.

Earlier research had revealed that happy dogs wag their tails more to the right (from the dog's point of view), while nervous dogs have a left-dominated swish.

But now scientists say that fellow canines can spot and respond to these subtle tail differences.

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Prof Georgio Vallortigara, a neuroscientist from the University of Trento, said: "It is very well known in humans that the left and right side of the brain are differently involved in stimuli that invokes positive or negative emotions.

"Here we attempted to look at it in other species."

He added that just as in humans, for dogs the right side of the brain was responsible for left-handed movement and vice versa, and the two hemispheres played different roles in emotions.

Dogs on film

To find out more about how dogs react to the lop-sided tail wags of other dogs, the researchers monitored the animals as they watched films of other dogs.

They measured the pets' heart rates and analysed their behaviour.

Prof Vallortigara said: "We presented dogs with movies of dogs - either a naturalistic version or a silhouette to get rid of any other confounding issues, and we could doctor the movement of the tail and present the tail more to the left or right."

When the animals saw an otherwise expressionless dog move its tail to the right (from the tail-wagging dog's point of view), they stayed perfectly relaxed.

But when they spotted a tail veer predominantly to the left (again from the tail-swishing dog's point of view), their heart rates picked up and they looked anxious.

Prof Vallortigara said he didn't think that the dogs were intentionally communicating with each other through these movements.

Instead, he believes that they dogs have learned from experience what moves they should and shouldn't feel worried about.

He said: "If you have several meetings with other dogs, and frequently their tail wagging one way is associated with a more friendly behaviour, and the right side is producing a less friendly behaviour, you respond on the basis of that experience."

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24746107

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2481634/How-direction-tail-wag-reveal-dogs-MOOD.html


****************************************************************************