Dogs have a lot of tells, including their eyes and mouth. However, the ears are possibly the most complicated to read because they usually need another visual cue in order for us humans can understand what kind of communication is happening between the two tails. But when dogs pull back or hold close those round little things at head height? Well then figuring out exactly how that translates into words will be tough!
I always knew dogs could be so expressive, but it turns out that their ears provide a great deal of information. Erect and forward-facing indicate the animal’s level of attention: attentive or friendly towards you –unless they’re laying back with an angry look in their eyes! Laid tightly against one another suggests fearfulness – which probably means your pup won’t want anything to do with playing time anyhow. Dog ears that are tucked close to the head often indicate negative emotions. So, why do dogs put their ears back?
Sadness
One possibility is sadness, which often results in in-ears that are tucked down close to the sides of the head. Dogs may show this when a favorite person departs. I once saw one do it while some of his dog buddies playing but he couldn’t join them because he was on a stay.
Fear
When a dog’s ears are pulled back, it can often indicate fearfulness. This is especially if combined with other facial and body signals associated with this emotion like lowered tail position or lip catching for instance- all of which point towards an afraid demeanor on your pup’s part! You’ll want to get close enough so that you notice any nervous habits they may have exhibited before assessing what exactly caused their distress in order to determine how best to approach the situation accordingly – after understanding where these feelings came from though will help reduce them more quickly than just guessing randomly at solutions. Some dogs also show this stiffness of the tailor’s body, trembling, a furrowed brow, whale eye, squinting, dilated pupils or pulling the corners of the lips back.
Nervous
A common sign that your dog is stressed or nervous, they may tuck their ears back and flick their tongue. If you notice this behavior in conjunction with other signs such as panting heavily while sitting still at rest, tension along the body’s seams (like shoulders blades), etc., then it might be due to an anxiety attack – which can happen when dogs feel overwhelmed by too many people around them!
Appeasement
When a dog’s ears are in their natural resting position, it typically indicates that he is comfortable with the situation. However when dogs greet each other and one of them has her ear posture held up high while another lowers them back indicating they’re at ease or an appeasement behavior.
Danger
Dogs who are about to bite often pin their ears tightly against the head, which may serve as protection from injury by keeping them out of any teeth that mean business. Often this would be combined with another body language including growling and barking – a warning sign for things like charging up on two legs stiffly staring at something in fear or giving off hard stares when feeling nervous.
Courting
Males will pull their ears back when they are courting a female, and this body language is one of many forms of expression that indicates he’s interested in her!
Dogs can’t always tell what’s going on inside their own heads, which makes interpreting the emotional signs of a dog notoriously difficult. However, it is also true that humans often misinterpret them too and have great difficulty understanding how these subtle hints factor into our relationship with Fido or Fluffy as they run around barking at nothing in particular. Moods are not one-size-fits-all so if you want to get closer than just being friends then knowing some basics about body language will be helpful!
