Picture a dog standing twenty feet inside a dog park, sniffing near the edge of the grass. Another dog comes through the gate and notices him almost immediately. He could take the obvious route and walk straight across the open space until they meet nose to nose.…
It can feel surprisingly personal when your dog leans away from you. You reach to clip the leash, invite her forward, or bend down to greet her, and instead of coming closer she shifts her weight toward her back feet.…
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.…
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 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.…
You ask your dog for something at close range. He looks at you for a second, then turns his head away.
It can feel pointed. He heard you. He was looking right at you.…
Whale eye is the sudden appearance of visible white around a dog’s eye, often as the eye widens or the dog keeps watching something while turning her head away.…
A visitor walks through the door, spots your dog, and bends down to say hello. Your dog stays where she is, but her ears slide backward until they almost disappear against her head.…
Picture two different dogs at the same dinner party. One just spent five minutes leaning into a guest’s lap, tail going, tongue out, clearly having the time of his life.…