Dog Body Language

[Ziggyzoom]

DD brought a leaflet home from Brownies. This picture was in the "Go Away" section. Our dog only ever does this as a submissive, come and rub my tummy, gesture. He'd be quite put out if we went away without making a fuss of him!

Is the leaflet describing something different?

I think it might be contextual - a dog that looks worried, scuttles off and does this says 'look, I have nothing to hide' in a submissive, worried manner. A dog that does it at your feet otoh, says 'rub my tum'

No - it's not different enough for most people to spot it, some dogs do what looks exactly like...come rub my belly and mean, please leave me alone.

You know your dog and it's fine to rub his belly, but it's something you should treat differently with a strange dog.

My dog for instance has issues with strangers and when he does it to a stranger I say straight away, no, he doesn't want you to touch him, but when he does it to me I rub his belly, lol.

Basically it can be friendly, it can mean...leave me alone and if you don't know the dog well enough to tell the difference you're better treating it as the second.

Interesting! My dog's 'don't blame me, I didn't do it' (when he is usually as guilty as sin) gesture is to crawl towards you commando-style, as low to the ground as he can get, avoiding eye-contact!

I will tell DD's to be wary of strange dogs rolling onto their backs from now on, but will let them make an exception for ours!

Ziggyzoom who wrote the leaflet that was given out to your DD?

I have been told about this as a submissive gesture too, it's not hugely well known but I think it should be. Basically, the way it was explained to me is that as a nervous appeasing gesture the dog is showing you the most vulnerable part of his anatomy (his belly) as a way of saying 'I'm no threat, please leave me alone' Of course because we are all used to our soppy mutts doing it for affection, we misread it as an invite!

I think it's a good idea for kids to be aware of it (and adults!) and I think there should be more awareness of readings a dog's body language, as I certainly didn't know of some of the subtle nuances that show nervousness in a dog until I did a lot of research myself.

*reading, not readings!!!

Depends on what other body language signals it's showing.

Body loose and relaxed or stiff? Lip licks? Looking away? Mouth open or tightly closed? Etc etc etc....

A dog lying on its back might be asking for tummy rubs - or it might be frozen in fear and ready to snap.

In the same way as a dog wagging its tail could be friendly - or highly aroused and gearing up to bite.

It was a Blue Cross Vets leaflet mutty.

Agree with the previous posters, here is a pic of my youngest being submissive but not scared. He's floppy and relaxed, not tense, and his tail is relaxed not tucked between his legs like the dog in the illustration.

I think it can be quite hard for us humans to understand what dogs are trying to communicate sometimes and usually context is key.

Cute!

Thanks Ziggy. I have had a look at the leaflet. The drawings aren't great and some of the descriptions are quite ambiguous.

It may be better for children to concentrate on a happy relaxed dog and be clear what that body language is and anything else they see to stay away. (Although the description of the happy to meet you dog could easily be describing a panting stressed dog).

A great resource which is a clearer for children is the Sophia Yins posters available here for free download

Good for the Brownies to have this discussion though

Mutty - have PMd you (just in case you don't see it) :)

That's great Mutty thanks. And I agree that it is great for kids to be learning about this.

My dog's other signals are pretty subtle is the issue...I know him and I'm watching him, but I've had vets thinking he's wanting his belly rubbed and I've had to go, no, he's really not happy btw.

I think with children and strange dogs it is useful to tell them that it doesn't always mean they're being friendly because children especially can struggle to see other things.

It's a difficult one for children. We have one dog that adores belly rubs and regularly flops himself down in front of one of us to try and get some extra fuss. If you ignore him he actually grabs your hand with his paw and guides it to his chest/stomach!

On the other hand, if my other dog rolled over and exposed his stomach it would mean he was highly stressed and asking you to leave him alone. He just doesn't appreciate belly-rub type interaction with people, he likes neck scritches and ear rubs and reversing up to park his backside on your lap. His way of asking for fuss is to put his chin in your lap or hand or sit on you .

All of my dcs know a fair bit about canine body-language - and also that you never touch a dog without asking their owner and then only ever on the chest or shoulder. Oddly enough dd was talking to me before school today about how when dogs roll over they don't always want a stroke - apparently she'd had an argument with another girl in her class about it (she's 5).

Some really interesting posts on this thread, this inter-species communication lark really is quite complex! The Sophia Lin website Mutty linked to was good, and as she points out human communication is primarily vocal, whereas for dogs it's primarily body language. I got a little feel for this doing agility, a tiny change in the angle of my shoulders would send my dog on a different course and as with her dancing analogy, if the human got confused or lost focus the dogs often just started improvising.

Also as Moose points out 2 dogs with sowing similar body language can mean different things. To our untrained eye it looks like they are doing the same thing but to another dog the difference might be glaringly obvious!