Dog Care From The Heart

In order to create a positive environment to care for your dog and to fulfil your role as a benevolent leader, it is important to understand your dog’s needs, desires and wishes as well as to address their concerns, fears and anxieties. This is even more so when you are caring for more than 1 dog. Whilst we have a vocabulary running into thousands of words, as well as gestures and body language, dogs cannot speak and so express themselves in the main through their body language. In the words of Santo  (How to Read Dog Body Language) “By understanding what your dog is trying to tell you, you’ll be able to predict what he’s likely to do next, which gives you the ability to prevent or manage his behavior.” Studies have shown that not only do dogs have personalities (such as (Davies, 2017), (Elyssa Payne, 2015)), but that they also feel emotions. The body language could be expressing both conscious and unconscious “intent and ensure their personal safety by affecting behavior in ot...

A dog with short, tight lips is expressing tension or a low level of stress. Becker notes the importance to take heed thus avoiding the dog becoming aggressive or potentially dangerous. He says that, “In order to recognize when your dog is anxious, it is important to be familiar with how he behaves when he’s relaxed” (How to Tell If Your Dog Is Anxious or Stressed). If there is no visible cause for the stress in your vicinity it may be the result of an ailment (Clarke, 2017). The tight mouth is accompanied by other changes in the dog’s posture including: the ears moving partially backwards; a slight narrowing of the eyes; a tense body, possibly lowered into a submissive position; a partial lowering of the tail; accompanied by a low whine. The dog may try to appease the other dog or display displacement or avoidance behaviour. Some of this is to alleviate the stress (eg yawning, tongue flicking or having a curved tongue (Stilwell, n.d.) and some is to move itself away (eg turning the he...