• Range of non verbal body language
  • Repetition is concerning
  • Increase in frequency is concerning
  • Combination – what other behaviours are offered.
  • What was the purpose of the behaviour/what was the end result
  • Objective observation – what is the dog doing ✅
  • Subjective observation – how is the doing feeling ❎
  • Context

Eyes

  • Soft eyes – happy/relaxed – almond shaped – no furrows around the brows
  • Hard eyes – tension/stress – stare – bug, round bulging – aroused/alert/hyper vigilant
  • Pupils – dilation – stress/tension – glassy look – threatened/fearful/uncomfortable
  • Whale eye – whites of eyes – nervous/anxious/pain – resource guarding – head styles. still, eyes follow something (bulldogs naturally show whites of eyes – saggy skin)
  • Blinking – dog is not a threat, happy to engage
  • Squinty eye – like blinking/ appeasement
  • Direction of gaze – staring away from something – avoidance
  • Avoiding eye contact – not a threat/non confrontational/stressed/fearful
  • Hyper vigilant – can’t settle/alert/over aroused/fearful/defensive

Ears

  • 16/17 muscles in each ear
  • Ears read in context with eyes/tail etc
  • Eyes can move independently – look at where the ear is pointing
  • Neutral position (depends on dog’s breed) – relaxed
  • Forward – alert/excited
  • Low/pinned back. – pain/fearful/nervous – tension in the ears = nervous – make body look smaller and less threatening
  • Cropped ears – removing flap, based of ear left – still see movement – communication inhibited
  • Breed specific ear shape –
  • Left side of ear linked to positive experiences – right side to negative experiences

Mouth

  • Spatula tongue – elongated, widened, crinkled – stress/tension/needs rolling/nervous/pain/aggression
  • Smile – is there any tension around smile – is the tongue loose or spatula – can you see the jowls (inside of the lips), no tension
  • Open – happy/relaxed
  • Closed – tense/stress – look at side. of muzzle
  • Winkles on dog’s nose – stress – look for lip curl
  • Snarling – in play – over excited
  • Snarling – looked other body parts – is weight distributed forward (probably good) or backwards – stress/pain – winkles above muzzle, lip curl, front teeth shown
  • Snap – over aroused – final warning
  • Panting – stress/nervous/excited/pain
  • Drooling – with panting – stress/nervous/excited/pain/anticipation/over arousal/aggression/fear
  • Yawning – pain/stress/fearful/anxious – yawns are catching
  • Licking – appeasement/engage/displacement in attention – self sooth – endorphins
  • Excessive self licking – OCD – pain/self soothing
  • Biting – depends on age – puppy soft body language – teeth makes contact with skin – last resort

Tail

  • Use tails to communicate and to distribute their scent around – docked tails stiffer and thicker, can’t hide the scent glands
  • Windmill – side to side, around, bum waggling
  • Waggy tail (happy) – going through the dog’s body, hips moving too, floppy
  • Waggy tail (unhappy) – tension, slow, stiff
  • Position
    • Midway – neutral (breed specific)
    • High – dog is expressing scent – overly confident – rude
    • Down- closed off scent glands, trying to hide, in a vulnerable situation
  • Speed of wag – high wag, slow – alert/over aroused/intimidating
  • Breed specific tails
    • Curled up – difficult to read – scent glands exposed – seems ruse to other dogs
    • Small tails
  • Tails that wag/lean more to the left linked to negative experience

Coat

  • Piloerection – hackles raised – involuntary (like goosebumps) -releasing scent – nervous/unsure/over excited/over aroused/aggression
  • Moulting more than usual – anxious – vet check – daily routine?
  • Coat patterns – changes – curl/wave/swirl – ttouch – skin condition – coat changes where they are holding tension – is dog in balance – claws equally worn – posture and behaviour is linked – good equipment that doesn’t unbalance

Posture

  • Forward – sizing something up/looking bigger/intimidating – ready to take action
  • Backward – fearful – ready to flee
  • Tension –  in different components of the body – stress/over excited/over aroused
  • Leaning
    • Into you – comfort/attention
    • Away from something – unsure
  • Head tilt – friendly/inquisitive/undecided
  • Paw lift – ready to take action – where is weight distribution – running to or away? – indicate something
  • Shake off – full body shake – releases tension
  • Freeze – solid – tension – stare – deciding what next move is going to be – weight distribution? – don’t allow dog to freeze for more than 3 seconds, more likely to be bad choice as they’re staring, do a touch to interrupt or go sniff or positive interrupter