Thats a really big topic and something we could (or at least I could) talk about for far longer than we have time just here. So I’ll try to cover the really really important bits below but there is far more to this topic than just whats covered here. Body language is really important to dogs, not just in dog/dog interaction, but dog//human as well so its important we know How to listen.

It’s the whole picture that really matters.

There heaps of information out there, what this and that mean and so forth. The really important thing to remember is to look at the whole situation and use that to inform you as to whats going on. Never let just one sign take precedence over all the others. For example Henry growls in pleasure, much like a cat purrs. That really disconcerts a lot of people but is hard to see why.

The Tail.

A wagging tail means a happy dog? Not at all. All a wagging tail means is a dog wants to interact. Nothing more then that.That interaction can take many forms. Again look at the whole dog for its intensions

A tail held low can mean a dog thats scared or unhappy or in pain. As above its the whole picture that matters.

The Mouth.

An aggressive dog will always show a short mouth It. will make its head look as big as possible. Equally a dog that scared will show a long mouth. Its a difficult difference to realise, and a behaviour that will vary considerably from dog to dog

Yawns and Lick Lipping

Dogs yawn and lick their lips when they’re stressed. You need to look at the whole situation as to whats making them stressed

More in part 2

where we’ll look at displacement behaviour and then on to part 3