Interpreting dog body language

I always thought it’s interesting how I’m not that great at reading humans, but since I’ve got a dog I’ve done a lot more reading about how to read dog body language. And I still have not read a single page or article about reading humans! Hah!

Anyway, I’m not an expert on this so I’m not going to write a textbook for you! :P

But suffice to say, keeping this blog going and taking pictures of Donna has made me more “in tune” to her body language, albeit looking at her pictures belatedly!! :P And hopefully with time, I get better at it!

But I think slowly, as she gets more comfortable with us, I need not worry every single time her body language seems to be hinting at some level of unease (based on the textbook definitions I have been reading).

It was cold and rainy this morning. I offered to play fetch but she looked at the toy thrown across the floor and was simply uninterested. She wanted to go for her morning walk instead. She decided going back to laze in bed was a better idea since she perhaps understood there’s no chance of us going for a walk with the rain outside?

Although I do think she looked hopeful here. But once she realises I’m just going to stay there with my phone and there’s no hope of a walk, she settles down in her more cosy sleeping-donut position.

Here she is doing a whale eye:

But her forehead is not knotted with tension and her tail is relaxed. So I thought she was just not ready to move but she’s looking at what I am doing out of the corner of her eyes.

Usually if she doesn’t want the attention, she will move away and settle down with her back facing away from us. But in this case, she still doesn’t move away even when I went closer. Then I left her alone and she went to sleep.

And you know what, five months ago words like “whale-eye” and “lip licking” was not even in my vocabulary!! :D You can read all about it in my previous post – How not to test if your dog is child friendly I did say we were dog idiots many times on this blog, right?

So now, I shall direct you to the people who are more expert at dissecting and analysing dog body language than I am:-
– Is your dog comfortable with being petted? Take the hint: How to use the 5-second rule for petting dogs by Ahimsa Dog Training
– What does a fearful dog look like? The look of fear by Eileenanddogs
– Dog Body Language: How to tell if a dog is happy, frustrated, scared, annoyed – Part 1 and Part 2 – by Smartdog Blog

Hope this is helpful to you. Or if you are already expert at reading your dog, well I guess you would have clicked away even before getting to this line :P