04 Nov How to Understand Your Pup’s Body Language

Happy Tuesday, Puptopians! Yes, Monday is finally over and so is Halloween, but we still have plenty of tricks up our sleeve and we’re about to dive right into the first one of the week. Ever wonder what your dog is thinking when he tilts his head to the side and looks at you like you’re crazy? Or maybe you just want to know why your pooch always stands with her heinie facing your general direction? Today we’re going to show you some basics to help you understand your dog’s body language and make sense of all the weird things your furry best friends do on a daily basis.
You can tell a lot about how a pooch is feeling but observing a few key areas, namely the eyes, mouth, ears, tails and hair (like when a cat walks past and your pup’s hair hits the roof). Taking a look at those areas and then putting them together to form a bigger picture is a great way of figuring out what emotion your dog is experiencing. From there you’ll be able to tell if your pooch is feeling happy, alert, excited, aroused, playful, scared, submissive, fearfully aggressive or offensively aggressive. Yup, your pup has just as many emotions as you do!
Our Head Trainer Kristen had some interesting insight to share on the topic of doggy body language. Here’s what she had to say – “Emotions are the foundation for all of our pup’s behaviors. Dogs get stressed about much the same things as we do- too much noise, too much social interaction, too little sleep, and so forth. When we’re stressed, we don’t exactly want to do certain things, like hang out with a bunch of pushy strangers, and your pup is the same way. Dogs, however, have their own version of tactfully declining social interaction- showing teeth, growling, snapping. At the same time, dogs have their own way of telling us they want more attention- barking, jumping, mouthing, and much more. Next time your pup shocks you with their behavior, check out their body language to give you a clue to what they’re feeling. You might be surprised by what your pup is trying to tell you with those cute fur bottoms (or not so cute teeth) of theirs!”

Now let Boogie the Boston Terrier take you through this awesome chart of daily doggie language, so you know exactly how your pooch is feeling, what they want and why they act the way they do:

Still struggling to understand your pup? Let us help you and your pooch find some common ground with the best dog training services in NYC! Click here and read all about what Puptopia can do for you and your pup!