Dog Guide

Your Dog's Body Language
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Body Language

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With wolves, as with domestic dogs, body language can easily be misinterpreted.

In a display of dominance, a dog will stand over another dog, with raised ears and tail, staring intently. Another dog, lowered into submissive position, averts its eyes and holds its ears and tail down. While similar to the posturing of wild canids, this body language usually occurs in play with domestic dogs, and in most cases ends up with the two frolicking together.

The combination of selective breeding and cosmetic surgery molds dogs to suit human tastes, but such modifications can have an unexpected consequence: miscommunication among canines.

When dogs are bred for heavy, long coats, for example, other dogs have difficulty seeing their eyes, ears, mouth and raised hackles and the messages they normally convey. Surgically altering a dog's ears to remain erect and forward means that it will look perpetually alert and dominant, regardless of its true personality. And docking a dog's tail eliminates one way of conveying its feelings to fellow canines.