A dog’s body language is more than wagging its tail or baring its teeth. It is a form of communication so that others know who they are, what their position is in the pack and much more.
Dogs not only communicate vocally, they also use and interpret body language. They use their entire body to communicate, from nodding their heads to wagging their tails.
Start taking note of your dog’s actions and learn to understand it.
The more you understand your dog, the more you will know how your messages are understood to him.
Take a trip to the dog park and watch the dogs interact with each other. Learn how one dog’s body language communicates and reacts to another dog’s body language.
Notice the positions of his ears and the expression on his face from the frown to the tension around the mouth and muzzle. How its weight is distributed and how it supports its tail. You will begin to learn if he is relaxed and/or dominant in a given situation or if he is submissive or even fearful.
A dominant dog is not an aggressive dog, he is confident in himself and in his position. Likewise, a submissive dog is not a frightened dog. In fact, they also trust to know where he stands in the grand scheme of things. They know his position and are happy with it.
A dog’s body language may show that it is submissive to a higher rank but dominant to a lower rank. In fact, it is within these mid-ranges that most of the fights happen because they are continually vying for position.
A pack leader does not need to lower himself to fight.
When you’re at the park, watch for dogs playing together, but more importantly, watch for dogs you meet for the first time. How does one react to the other, do they both react the same? Does one dog show dominance over the other?
When you observe them, observe their general behavior and then try to identify the subtleties of their behavior. Are they both standing with their tails up and wagging, are they relaxed or stiff? Watch the eyes, ears, mouth, and hair, especially along the neck and back.
Dogs are naturally pack animals with keen senses. They can hear, see and smell things long before we can. They are always watching each other as well as what is going on around them.
They use their body language as a means of communication and will very often watch yours and interpret your movements. Knowing this, we can use it to our advantage by doing two things; learn the body language of our own dog and learn to use it in the training of him.