Dog Communication 101
These skills will help prevent behavioral issues and build a mutually beneficial relationship with your dog
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Effective communication is the foundation for strong social relationships. Communication is by definition an action by one animal that influences the behavior of another animal that benefits either or both of them.1 Dogs are masters of this—they communicate through a complex system of ritualized signals, each conveying specific meanings to other dogs. This communication happens in various ways: directly, as when one dog play bows and another responds with their own bow—"game on!"; at a distance, when dogs howl back and forth from their respective homes; or indirectly, when a dog leaves scent marks that another dog discovers later.
How Dogs Communicate
Dogs use three primary means to express their needs as well as their emotional states:
Body language: this includes facial expressions, ear and tail position and movements, overall posture and degree of body tension
Vocalizations: from whines to barks to growls and snarls, dogs can make a wide range of vocalizations that also vary depending on their size and breed
Chemical signals (scent and pheromones): all dogs’ bodily secretions provide scent signals, from sweat and saliva to urine, feces, and anal sac secretions which allow dogs to identify each others as individuals and gather information such as age, reproductive status, health AND emotional state
While dogs can communicate a wide range of emotions from pleasure to panic through these various mechanisms, for the purposes of this post we’ll focus on how they communicate negative emotions (fear, anxiety, distress) using body language and vocalizations. Why? Negative emotions are at the root of most serious behavioral issues, dogs communicate these emotions with distance increasing signals, and humans aren’t skilled at reading these canine signals without prior training.
Why you need to learn distance increasing signals
When dogs are feeling frightened, anxious, distressed, or otherwise threatened, they’ll show what we call “distance increasing signals.” These are signals that dogs, and their wolf ancestors, evolved to communicate to one another “I need space” “go away” or “not right now.” As long as both dogs within an interaction are capable of signaling and processing information normally,2 these signals enable dogs to manage social conflicts without escalating to harmful physical altercations.
Dogs use the same distance increasing signals with us too, but we tend to miss the subtle ones. This is truly unfortunate because when we miss these subtle signals and proceed with approaching or interacting (i.e. not giving the requested distance and rather increasing social pressure), we punish the subtle signals.
In behavior science, punishment is an unpleasant event or removal of something desirable that follows a behavior, reducing the behavior’s future likelihood of occurring.
A dog will learn to ditch the subtle signals from their repertoire in favor of those that are more effective: in many cases that’s growling, baring their teeth, snapping and biting. We refer to these signals as aggression, which are essentially distance increasing signals with an intent to do harm if the social pressure is not reduced.3
Common subtle distance increasing signals in dogs include:
Averted gaze (also showing the whites of their eyes)
Ears pulled back
Furrowed brow
Lip licking
Yawing
Leaning away
Lowering head, tail or body
Here’s what they look like. Notice that in each of these pictures you see a combination of these signals:
These signals can have different meanings depending on the other signals given and the context. For example, a dog may pull their ears back in play, or lick their lips in anticipation of a treat.
That’s also true for the paw lift, which signals anticipation of either a pleasant or unpleasant event. Based on the other signals the dog below is giving, do you think they are anticipating something pleasant or unpleasant?
The same goes for a yawn. Like us, dogs will yawn when they are tired, when they’ve just gotten up from rest, and when they are stressed. What do you think is the case for this dog? Hint: look at the entire picture, including the bottom.
Other signals give us information about the dog’s emotional arousal including:
Body tension (degree of tension escalates with the dog’s emotional arousal)
Pupil dilation
Panting
Tail position (erect rigid or rapidly wagging tail = high emotional arousal)
As a dog’s motivation to end what they perceive as an unpleasant or threatening interaction increases, so too does the intensity of their signals, their body tension, and their emotional arousal. They shift from leaning away to leaning forward, from averting their gaze to staring, and usually add in vocalizations such as growling, barking and snarling.
Here’s further escalation in intensity:
This dog is so tense the ears are folded up, all the muscles around their mouth are contracted, and even their nose and tongue are pulled back. The visible pupil is dilated and they have piloerection (their hackles are up) which indicates sympathetic nervous system activation—i.e. they are in “fight or flight” mode.
Here are similar signals with a view of the whole body. Note how tense all of the muscles are, the piloerection, and stiff upright tail.
What to do if you see distance increasing signals
First: stop and assess the situation. What other signals is the dog giving? What’s their overall posture? How tense are they? Are you seeing any signs of arousal? What’s the context of the interaction—did you approach them or did they approach you? Are they a dog you know well or a dog you are meeting for the first time? If you’re in doubt about the signal or the dog seems to be sending mixed messages, back away and reduce that social pressure. Distance is your friend.
Ideally, you want to catch and respect distance increasing signals when they are subtle and when the dog is in a low state of emotional arousal. This is when you have the best chance of ending the interaction well and without risk of serious harm to your relationship. After all, it’s our job to learn to understand how our dogs communicate. As veterinary behaviorist Dr. Ashley Elzerman so beautifully phrases it:
Think of canine body language signals as requests. Your job is to figure out the dog’s “ask.”
Thanks for reading this post! To test your skills further, take a look at this video on petting consent. You’ll see many distance increasing signals as well as how dogs communicate “more petting please.”
Insightful Animals is operated by me, Kelly C. Ballantyne, DVM, DACVB. I’m a vet behaviorist, nature fanatic, bird artist, wife, and mom to two hilarious Ragdoll cats, Pipit and Towhee. In my day-to-day, I consult directly with pet parents and veterinarians on a range of behavior problems in dogs and cats.
Wilson, E.O., 2000. Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Harvard University Press.
Signaling ability can be affected by a dog’s confirmation including nose and tail length, coat color, and coat length. Their ability to process information can be impacted by their emotional state and arousal, illness, social experience, and learning history.
Elzerman, A. and Radosta, L., 2023. Developmental, social, and, communicative behavior. Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat-4th Edition, p.11.
This is invaluable information! It is so helpful to be able to understand our dogs' emotional states and how they communicate them so that we can make appropriate decisions in response. So much conflict can be avoided when we become proficient at reading body language!