Observation Skills - What do you see in this dog's body language? Episode 1

[snowbunny]

Hello all! I am a member of a Facebook page called "Observation Skills for Dogs". This title always makes me laugh, since it's actually about improving our skills for observing dogs, not the dogs' own observation skills, but there you go. What they do is post up a video and members can comment on WHAT they see, without discussing WHY the dog is performing those behaviours. I thought it might be fun to try out the same thing here, to tighten up our observation of doggy body language. In the interests of discussion, I will "open the floor" to discussion of what you think the dog might be feeling after a couple of days. I'll signal this with "DISCUSSION NOW OPEN FOR INTERPRETATION". But until then, try to stick to just what you see, such as : dog turns its head, dog wags its tail slowly, dog has soft eyes, etc.

I'll start us off with one of the recent videos posted on that group.

What can you see?

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2018638441543156

 

[Charlie]

Ears went back , licking tongue, paw lifted, frowning, moved away, leaning against his owner. x

 

[snowbunny]

Great start, Helen!

Anyone else feel free to join in; doesn't matter if you see and say the same things as people before you.

 

[edzbird]

Lip licking, yawning. Dog looks around then turns away and leans away into his handler. Ear goes down.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Same as swampy - it's the yawning, lip licking and movement away that struck me most evident.
Also the paw lift, not sure I know what that means, but struck me as odd in that situation.
Oh...and that dangling tie!

 

[Stacia]

Dog raises left paw, licks his lips, yawns, moves his body away from the man but his head is turned towards man. At end of clip, dog turns completely away from man.

 

[VanillaBean]

Same as all others. Yawning, turn away etc.

 

[MellowYellow]

Lifting the paw and turning away is interesting.

 

[Emily]

All of the above.

 

[Pepper]

Dog licks his lips, yawns, lifts left paw and turns away from the attention he is receiving.

 

[HAH]

The lip licking, yawning, leaning back, raised paw closest to the man and then looking round to his handler. I was a bit focused on the man too, in that he was leaning over into the dog's space, very close, and the stroking was quite heavy handed quite quickly; he also kept on with the stroking when the dog moved back away from him and broke eye contact.

 

[snowbunny]

Good stuff everyone! I've edited out a bit of conjecture, which can come later; for now, we'll just keep it to what we see.

 

[HAH]

Thanks for the edit @snowbunny, just realised I flouted the rules first time out of the gates (overeager newbies)

 

[snowbunny]

Don't worry, you weren't the first (and won't be the last)

 

[MaccieD]

Lots of displacement behaviour - yawning, lip licking, head turn away, paw lift, movement towards handler to create space. Also soft licks directed at hand stroking him and I'm fighting hard not to put interpretations on to all that lovely body language

 

[snowbunny]

Lots of displacement behaviour - yawning, lip licking, head turn away, paw lift, movement towards handler to create space. Also soft licks directed at hand stroking him and I'm fighting hard not to put interpretations on to all that lovely body language

Hehe, it's very hard, isn't it? I've edited your post to strike out a couple of bits because they are interpretation, but they're useful to show others because they're very subtle. Yes, we might recognise these as displacement behaviours, but they're not always, so that's interpretation. Same with "to create space". The guys on the FB group run a very tight ship and so shall I

Except, they never let it open up to conversation, which I will. Maybe tomorrow

 

[MaccieD]

Force of habit

 

[Naya]

Lifting of paw, licking lips, ears going back, moves body into handler, looking around,

 

[VanillaBean]

I think @snowbunny you have been using to much of the 'Var' . Spoil sport,

But I like to flout the rules a bit (hopefully I was not the first, but would not surprise me if I was)

 

[Selina27]

Paw lifting, nearest the man making contact, lip licking, yawning, looking round to handler and moving closer to handler. Does look towards fussy man initially, but not to make eye contact.