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It always surprises me how bad some people are at reading animal body language. There are videos out thereâlearn it and you'll be more comfortable interacting with strange animals. Though always ask before petting someone else's dog. https://twitter.com/dogbehavanswers/status/1354107700448174080
Also, if nothing else, make sure your kids learn it! Kids get bitten most often because they don't know the warning signs to leave an animal alone.
The most common thing? People don't know that dogs wag their tails in lots of ways, for lots of reasons. That dog in the video? Tail is down, wagging is tight and fast: she's fearful, nervous
Tail is way up in the air and wagging again in tight, fast motions? The dog is excited and potentially aggressive, lots of nervous energy. If the hackles are up, especially, that's a warning
A happy tail-wag is loose, roughly horizontal, and swishy. Their whole butt may wiggle with it. Happy eyes are relaxed with no or little whites showing (some dogs show whites all the time regardless of mood, but will show more if they're freaked out/stressed). Happy mouths smile.
You should especially steer clear if there has been that high, tight tail movement and then the dog goes very still. Often they will not look directly at what they're thinking about biting, but will look sidelong at it, lots of whites showing, lots of tension in the body
That's a dog that is about to bite if something invades their space suddenly or doesn't back off. They'll sometimes do that same sort of sudden freeze when playing, but in that case they'll probably keep wagging loosely and will be less visibly tense, and may "play bow"
That tight, high tail tension and the stock-still stare can sometimes go either wayâplay, or a fight, depending on how the other dog reacts. But a fearful dog is the most likely to be a bitey dog, in my experience and knowledge. Go back to the video....
If I saw a little kid hugging on a dog and the dog looked like that, I would be very afraid that kid was about to get bitten. That's when you ask a child very calmly to let the doggy go and take a few big steps back.
