A squirrel moves along the top of the fence. Your dog is already walking toward the yard when she stops halfway through a step. One front paw stays suspended a few inches above the ground.…
Dogs often stand sideways during greetings because turning the body off-center can reduce how direct the encounter feels. Instead of pointing the chest, face, and eyes squarely toward the other individual, the dog keeps part of his body angled away.…
There is a moment that can be easy to miss because almost nothing happens. Your dog is standing near the kitchen while food is being prepared. A second ago, she was shifting her weight, glancing around, maybe sniffing the floor.…
Long before dogs lived in houses, mammals already had a way to make hair stand away from the skin. Tiny smooth muscles attached to hair follicles contract under autonomic nervous-system control, lifting the coat without requiring a conscious decision.…
A dog is greeting someone at the front door, tail moving easily behind his. He sniffs the stranger’s hand, steps closer, and keeps wagging. Then the stranger lifts that same hand and reaches over his head.…
A kid barrels through the front door, backpack still half unzipped, and before “Hi, boy!” is even out of their mouth, the dog already looks like he’s lost control of his own back half.…
A tucked tail means a scared dog. That’s one of the first pieces of canine body language most people learn, and plenty of the time it works. A stranger reaches toward your dog too quickly, his body drops, and the tail disappears between his legs.…
Your dog spots someone he knows across the yard. His head comes up, his tail rises above his back, and he trots over with a loose stride. The tail stays high as it sweeps broadly from side to side.…
A dog’s tail swinging harder to one side than the other looks, at first, like nothing more than momentum. A body part moving fast enough is bound to favor one side occasionally.…
Your dog has walked this sidewalk dozens of times, but today somebody has left a large plastic lawn decoration beside a driveway.
He sees it before you do. His pace shortens.…