Learning to focus on body language instead of applying broad labels has been life changing and so beneficial!
A question about conflicting body language: my dog has a tendency to tuck his tail when doing food puzzles. His body language is often loose, ears neutral, and he’ll finish the puzzle how it’s intended to (opening compartments, flipping a toy etc.) does his tucked tail mean he hates puzzles?
Hey Kali! That's a great question. If he was tensing and tucking his tail when the puzzles made noises, that would be cause for concern. But since the rest of his body language is loose and relaxed and he chooses to engage with the puzzle toys when offered them, I'm fairly confident he doesn't hate them. I suspect in this case a tucked tail means he's focused/concentrating on the task at hand. A similar example in humans might be when we frown or scrunch our brows when concentrating--those expressions convey so many different meanings, and the context and rest of the body language is also important here. :)
Learning to focus on body language instead of applying broad labels has been life changing and so beneficial!
A question about conflicting body language: my dog has a tendency to tuck his tail when doing food puzzles. His body language is often loose, ears neutral, and he’ll finish the puzzle how it’s intended to (opening compartments, flipping a toy etc.) does his tucked tail mean he hates puzzles?
Hey Kali! That's a great question. If he was tensing and tucking his tail when the puzzles made noises, that would be cause for concern. But since the rest of his body language is loose and relaxed and he chooses to engage with the puzzle toys when offered them, I'm fairly confident he doesn't hate them. I suspect in this case a tucked tail means he's focused/concentrating on the task at hand. A similar example in humans might be when we frown or scrunch our brows when concentrating--those expressions convey so many different meanings, and the context and rest of the body language is also important here. :)
So informative!!
Thanks a bunch, Hadley! I’m so glad you liked it.