Positive Dog Training & Behaviour Blog | Walkabout Canine Consulting
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Observations we make in our Dogs
Sylvia Koczerzuk Koczerzuk 
Do you know how to recognize when your dog is communicating something seems stressful?
Observations are key to understanding our dogs.
When dogs feel threatened in a particular situation or environment, it is important to know how to recognize their signals and avoid triggering more stress in your dog.
Turid Rugas described many behaviours that dogs use to convey information which she called calming signals.
These signals are meant to avoid and resolve conflict.
Some of the many you might recognize are:
Yawning
Lip licking
Turning away or head turn away
Play bow
Sniffing the ground
Walking slowly
Moving in an arch
Sitting and lifting a paw
Scratching
It is important for us to recognize these signals so that they do progress to stress signals.
We can convey non-threatening communication by approaching from the side, averting eye contact, kneeling, speaking softly, and using the back of our hands when making initial contact.
Categories: : dog body language
