Dog Body Language

A situation where analyzing a dog’s body language is extremely important happened just last night, as we accepted a new foster dog into our household. In introducing ourselves and our three resident dogs to our new foster, Liz, it was important to understand what her body language was saying about the likelihood of how safe each interaction would be with ourselves and each of our dogs.

We began by starting with Liz in a quiet, open, and securely fenced field where I could introduce myself and observe Liz for several minutes in a neutral setting. Her body language ranged from curious to relaxed.

Based on my initial observations, we brought in our resident female dog to greet Liz in the neutral territory, with leashes attached but dropped to avoid any possible leash frustration or reactivity. We carefully observed Liz’s body language as she greeted our resident female Jackie. Liz and Jackie sniffed each other appropriately and greeted with curved bodies head to tail.

When Liz’s body froze with her tail held high and stiff while standing over Jackie, I was able to redirect her by loose, curving movement of my own and of Jackie’s. It was important to understand that while Liz and Jackie’s bodies were loose and curved, with relaxed facial expressions and slightly open mouths, the introductions were going well and were safe to proceed.

After meeting all three of our resident dogs one at a time and then as a group in the neutral territory, we brought the new foster Liz into our backyard and repeated the process of introducing the resident dogs one at a time in the open space of our back yard. Since that went well, we brought Liz into our home that had been previously prepared by sectioning off the area we want her to spend most of her time initially, and repeated the introductions indoors.

Every step was important for us to analyze each dog’s body language so that we understood that the interactions were safe and friendly for all dogs. For an eventual good adoption outcome for our foster, as well as keeping our resident dogs safe, including our 16-year-old geriatric spaniel, it was critical that these early encounters go smoothly, which they did.

Identifying body language is extremely important in this situation and sets the scene for a good outcome.