Pets don’t speak our language, but they’re communicating through body language all the time. We just need to learn to interpret what they’re trying to tell us. Understanding how animals use posture, movement, facial expressions, vocalisations, and behaviour to convey information can help us know how to best react to their needs. While each animal has its own personality, here are some tips to help you understand common body language signals.
Look at the entire body
One sign can rarely be interpreted on its own. A wagging tail doesn’t always mean a dog is happy. The position of the ears, body posture, facial expression, and surrounding context all help put things in perspective. Observe multiple cues together instead of interpreting one behaviour alone.
What does a calm, relaxed animal look like?
A calm animal has a relaxed body, usually comfortable in its environment. A dog might lie down with a relaxed posture, a relaxed tail position, while a cat might stretch out, groom, or settle quietly in a familiar spot. Positive signs might also include eating normally, engaging with others, and moving in a relaxed manner.
Signs of stress
There are many different indicators of stress. An animal might hide, be quieter than usual, not want to interact, pace, vocalise more than usual, or over-groom by licking. Dogs might also yawn, lick their lips, turn their head away, or lower their body. These signs should always be interpreted in context, as there are many reasons why any one behaviour might occur.
When your pet is asking for space
Animals will sometimes ask for space. Moving away, hiding, turning their body away, having flattened ears, and tension are all ways an animal might communicate that they’d rather be left alone. Giving a pet space is very important. Don’t force interaction if your pet seems uncomfortable.
Noticing changes in behaviour
It helps to know what normal looks like for your pet, so you can pick up on odd behaviour. If an animal is normally sociable, but suddenly wants to hide, becomes aggressive, refuses to eat, or behaves differently for no apparent reason, it’s worth noting. There are many reasons why an animal might behave strangely, such as environmental changes, stress, discomfort, or illness. If something seems wrong, get advice from a certified veterinary professional.
Building a relationship through observation
Learning about your pet’s body language isn’t going to happen overnight. You need to regularly observe your animal to build up a picture of their behaviours. Spend time watching your pet when they’re relaxed, excited, interested, worried, and sleepy. The more you observe, the better you’ll become at picking up their cues.
Conclusion
The foundation of a good relationship with a pet is observing them. You can become a better observer by paying attention to body language, and putting it in context. At PetHorizon Studio, we believe that increased knowledge creates better relationships between humans and animals in daily life.