Paws for thought: What is your dog thinking?

Few dog owners can be in much doubt that their beloved pet pooches are pleased to see them

If your dog raises an eyebrow it s a display of recognition If your dog raises an eyebrow it's a display of recognition

When Rover or Fifi comes bounding up excitedly it is usually a good sign. But can we really know our dogs’ full range of emotions? New research has focused on canine facial expressions and how this might be a more subtle indicator of what they are thinking and feeling. Eyebrow raising and ear twitching are apparently key.

Japanese researchers at Azabu University took a number of pet dogs, including poodles, labradors and golden retrievers, and placed them in a room divided by a partition. When curtains covering the partition were pulled back the dogs could see what was on the other side and their facial expressions were duly monitored.

The results showed that the dogs would raise their left eyebrow upwards on being reunited with their owners. On seeing a stranger for the first time they would cock back their left ear. Then if they were shown an object that might scare them, such as nail clippers, it was the right ear that went back.

What does it mean? Explains Dr Miho Nagasawa: “Dogs’ ears are prominent features used to convey emotional expression. Therefore our results suggest that dogs were more cautious toward unfamiliar people. In contrast eyebrow movement might indicate a visible response whereby dogs attempted to look at their owners more intently.”

Sarah Whitehead, a leading UK animal behaviour specialist, was interested to hear of the findings, chiefly because she believes it demonstrates the close bond between people and dogs. “This little eyebrow lift when dogs recognise their owners is a very human thing to do,” she explains. “People and other primates very often raise their eyebrows when they see someone they recognise. It’s a well known expression of greeting.”

She also sees significance in how it is the left eyebrow that is raised.


Sarah Whitehead

“One of the most fascinating pieces of recent research looked at how dogs read human expression and it found that dogs have something called ‘left gaze bias’ which is shared only by humans. It means that when they look at the human face they look at the left side first. That’s the side of your face that shows most emotion because it’s connected to the right hemisphere of your brain. We’ve found no other animal on the planet does the same thing. Dogs don’t even do it to each other, just humans, and it suggests that dogs have evolved to read human emotions.”

Research from an American ­university out earlier this year suggested that people were similarly able to read dog emotions, with a high number of volunteers being able to spot when a particular dog (a police dog called Mal) was happy, sad, angry, surprised or scared just by looking at his facial expression.

Sarah has a website called learn on which there is a quiz to see whether visitors to her site can do just that and read a range of dog expressions.

“So far we’re finding that about 70 per cent of people are getting things right,” she says, adding that while humans and dogs have evolved to understand each other it’s not always so straightforward. “You have to take body language signals and facial expressions in context,” she says. “It’s dangerous to look at a dog and conclude, ‘It’s wagging its tail so it must be happy’ because actually some dogs also wag their tails when they’re very aggressive and about to bite you.”

Chihuahua, dog, yawn,As well as an indicator to energy levels, a yawn may mean that your dog is stressed

Here, then, is Sarah’s guide to reading your dog’s emotions and behaviour.


“When they’re happy, dogs very often do the equivalent of a human smile and pull their lips right back. It’s one of the things scientists believe developed along with our social evolution. They smile so that we understand immediately when they’re happy,” says Sarah. “They also instinctively understand what our smile means.”


If a dog is unhappy, if its owner has just died for instance, its grief is written all over its face. “Dogs have very similar expressions to humans when they’re sad,” says Sarah. “Their eyebrows will be pulled together into a frown and the rest of their face will be passive and almost expressionless.

“The whole of the dog’s body language would give you the ­bigger picture. A dog will keep itself small and lower its body to the ground and its tail is likely to be lower than if it was feeling happy and self-confident. It is basically making itself look less significant in its environment.”


“People often don’t realise dogs suffer from stress in the same way as we do,” says Sarah. “Generally a dog that’s feeling stressed will jump up at a human. It’s as if it’s asking for help. Other distress signs are lip licking and panting heavily even if it’s not hot. One other major sign is yawning. A highly stressed dog will very often do big wide yawns that show its teeth. It’s as if to say, ‘You’re too close to me. Back away. Here are my weapons’.” This is one sign that most people misinterpret, simply thinking the dog is tired. It’s not. It’s just one way that dogs ­differ from us.


Most dogs will start off being fearful and anxious before they move to anger and display those signals first. “If they can get away from the situation they will,” says Sarah. “If not they may start staring hard at whatever they feel threatened by. That is a very confrontational sign for a dog. If a dog suddenly goes very still then that’s not a good sign either. It’s what’s called a freeze response. It may also shut its mouth almost as if it’s holding its breath to see what will happen. It may then move on to the more obvious signs of hostility such as baring its teeth and growling.”

Strangely, research conducted at the University of Adelaide earlier this year discovered that dogs that were “left-pawed” (equivalent to our left-handed) were more likely to show aggression towards strangers than “right-pawed” ones.

pug, dog, behaviour, training, puppy, thinking, When happy, dogs' skin is pulled back over their teeth and they smile just like humans


“The vast majority of the time dogs will simply try to get close to you to show they love you,” says Sarah. “If you’re sitting somewhere with your dog and you move your feet one inch the dog will often move that one inch with you. That type of shadowing behaviour is something that people also do when they’re fond of each other.”


“This is all about tail position,” says Sarah. “Typically dogs that are being friendly have an almost horizontal or slightly below horizontal tail wag, roughly the same height as the dog’s back. I liken the happy wag to a big genuine human smile. It’s wide, it’s open, it’s saying ‘I’m pleased to see you’. If the wag is significantly below horizontal the dog is trying to conceal something. It has its tail over the part of itself that gives off a lot of scent and it’s trying to mask that scent. It means it’s worried and it can potentially lead to aggression.

“If a dog wags its tail really high and fast (Jack Russells often do this) it’s trying to suggest it’s very confident. It might not be but it’s trying to give that impression. It’s a type of posturing.”


A bark can mean a dog is distressed, happy, lonely or angry. “Humans are very good at determining what a dog’s bark means but generally speaking if a dog is distressed the pitch of its bark tends to go up,” says Sarah. “The higher it is the more stressed it is.”