Adopting a Pound-Hound

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Dog Language

By understanding how dogs communicate, you can learn to interpret their barks, howls, gestures, postures, and facial expressions. You can also communicate with your dog by using canine language. If you study calming signals, you will be able to decipher your dog's stress level. You'll understand how to communicate and reassure, and when to expect a fear-aggressive response.

Click on these pictures to see what the dog is saying:

- Bowing usually means "Let's Play!" Sometimes a play bow is employed as a calming signal.

- This dog is very distressed by the child's attentions. This is a dangerous situation. The dog has a stiff posture, her head is making a calming signal, turned away from the child.

- This dog is exhibiting "dominance-aggression." Compare her face - ears cocked forward, staring eyes - with the dog below. Dr. Karen Overall, DMV notes that dogs with dominance aggression often are unsure of their social roles and use aggressive behavior to discover what's expected of them.

- This dog is frightened, and showing very aggressive signals motivated by fear. In contrast to the dominant dog above, her ears are flattened against her head. Gary L. Clemons, DVM, notes that fear-aggressive dogs typically display submissive body language (ears back, often flat against the head; avoiding direct eye contact; lowering the head and body; tucking tail between the legs). They hate to have their feet touched, don't like to be groomed, shy away from hands - which may be why massage can be so effective in treating fear aggression.

More Dog Language:

This dog is trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, his goal is to diffuse any aggression from approaching person or animal in a totally passive way.

Calming signals include:

Body curved in C-shape
Head lowered and turned away, nose down
Ears lowered but relaxed
Tenseness over eyebrows
Eyes squinted but soft, blinking
Lips soft
Nose, lip lick
Body weight shifted, paw probably raised

By using appropriate body language and calming signals, you could easily let this dog know that you are non-threatening and ease his tension. Don't loom, hover or stare. Get low, turn sideways, use soft eye and quiet voice.

This dog is not looking to a person for reassurance, he's looking at the wall - trying to be invisible.

Nose up, ears back
Whale eye stare
lips drawn back (fear)

Flight would be his first choice, but he is cornered by being on leash and against a wall.

This pup has also flattened himself against the wall, this time in a more actively self-defensive posture.

Ears back, whale eye, focused on person holding his leash.
Lips are tight, whiskers forward.
Tail is up, not tucked - he is probably just as stressed but is more confident/aroused than the previous pup.

The previous pup would probably hurt HIMSELF trying to get away, this pup might hurt YOU.