How to Read Your Dog's Body Language When Training

How to read your dog’s body language in training sessions. Firstly we shall look at what the ears of the dog are telling us during a training session. When training a dog you want to shoot for the ear position on the left: POINTED AT YOU, relaxed or perky. I call these ears “expectant” they are expressing that the dog is expecting something to happen that he is not conflicted about. The ear positions on the right, POINTED AWAY FROM YOU give you information that your dog might be feeling somehow conflicted, uncomfortable or anxious.
Don’t panic if you see your dogs ears go back during training. Your dog is just communicating with you. When you see the ears go back, you can tweak your training plan by breaking the training up into smaller steps and trying to figure out what is making your dog feel uncomfortable so you can get those ears back up and looking perky or relaxed.
Your dog’s ears will also move around if he is listening to sounds in the environment. This is also information though, as when his ears are moving around, he will not be as focused on learning so don’t train a new behavior in a distracting environment until you have his full focus. Dogs also put their ears back in every day life when greeting dogs or people. This is normal dog behavior.
Want to become a trainer that is great at reading dogs? Film your training sessions, and when you watch back the footage, pay attention to just one part of your dog’s body during the whole session - his eyes, his mouth, his neck, feet, body posture or ears. To begin with, watch your dog’s ears. By watching back the footage you will see things you missed while training.
When a dog is directly in front of you during a training session, the dog’s gaze should ideally be POINTED AT YOU, the reinforcement or in the direction of the task. If you notice the dog’s gaze start to POINT AWAY FROM YOU or the task, this gives you vital information about what to do next in the training session.
Dogs can look away during training for many reasons. Some reasons include, that the dog is uncomfortable or stressed, that the reinforcement is not of high enough value, the session has gone on too long or that the dog is simply distracted by the surrounding environment. Regardless of the reasons, the dog is not paying 100% attention and is not 100% in the training game. When a dog starts to look away, you can reassess if something is causing the dog to feel uncomfortable. There could be some unintended social pressure you were unaware of, for example the dog could perhaps be feeling uncomfortable that you are leaning over him. If you believe this is not the case, you can see if using a higher value of reinforcement will get your dog back in the game. If this does not work, it’s not a good idea to train new behaviors without having your dog’s full attention. You can either give your dog a break or you can ask for behaviors that your dog knows and loves and use a higher rate of reinforcement. It is normal for dogs to be slightly distracted during training when working in new environments for the first time. So I suggest when you begin training somewhere new, warm up with attention games, your dog’s strongest behaviors or a settle.
In a training session with your dog in front of you take note of your dog’s body posture. The ideal picture is that your dog’s posture is relaxed in a neutral position or leaning toward you, the task or the reinforcement. When you see your dog’s neck and chest start to shift away from you, downward, to the side or back away from you or the task, this is giving you information. Imagine you are talking to someone and you see them leaning their chest and neck in your direction. They most likely feel comfortable with you and are engaged in what you have to say. Then you see them start to lean away from you… Something has changed. If they are just getting comfortable, that’s a different story. But if you see their center of their body start to point elsewhere… It is information. The same is true with dogs.
All dogs communicate differently with their body posture just like people. Also, outside of training sessions your dog might change his body posture according to different social scenarios. Your dog might have the tendency to greet you or other dogs with a submissive appeasing posture or lean away from another dog who is trying to lick him.
Just to note, I don’t condone having young kids hug dogs but used the picture for “leaning to the side” because it is a very good visual example of a dog feeling uncomfortable. You will also notice the facial expression is very telling.
#dogbehavior #dogtraining #understandingdogs

[@TeslaNick2]

Filming my training sessions has been incredibly valuable. I can clearly see all the mistakes I'm making and enables me to refine training sessions to a great degree in terms of posture, position, reward placement and all that good stuff.

[@dabodo932]

Perfect timing at 44 sec with Wish. "Let's look at the ear positions of the dog" Again at 3.55 with "dogs can look away" was beautiful also. Absolute perfection. Thanks for posting

[@littlemybeinglittlemy1018]

oh kikopup is just soooo great, the loveliest person ever for putting all this free advice online..,, i always just let kikopup videos run on auto play, so that i just keep learning in the background even whilst illustrating or doing other stuff at the computer. after one of their newest video with ryan and the idea of 'asking' your dog if they are still interested in training at that moment long with this information i can happily say the dogs in my care are 99% training only when they actually want to.. and as one comment says videoing yourself still shows me when i go too far or read their body language falsely,, but i really am trying, due mostly to kikopup's influence to do good by the dog(s) in my care... such feelings of gratitude that this amazing person exists.

[@MyFavoritePupJasmine]

I like this! Anytime anyone asks me to make a training video, I always refer them your way! I don't want to spend the effort making it when there are already good ones out there! :)

[@kikopup]

Thats very sweet of you! :)

[@thankmelater1254]

Such helpful tips, always right to explaining the point and then to illustration and examples, all without intros and outros and sales.

[@SpeekofDee]

Great video. I'm learning so much.

[@analarson2920]

Great video ,love the tips ,so now I will watch my kids more closely, I mean my fur babies, lol.

[@54626]

Thank you, Emily! Always helpful.

[@christinemurray5771]

Awesome video on postures. My trainer highly recommended you a few years ago when I first took puppy classes with my dog. I still watch your videos, and you're the best.

[@kikopup]

Awe thanks!

[@orun0810]

Clear concise and really helpful.

[@castulo]

I love your advices, I've been following them for the last 10 years. Thanks for doing this.

[@kikopup]

Thanks for the comment on my video :) That means a lot to me. Because it makes my videos get more views.

[@CamilleGG451]

Oh thank you so much!! I always love the way you describe things. As a trainer-in-training, this is the area I feel a bit overwhelmed by and yet it's the most important one! 😳

[@tedjack7593]

Thanks for the different ways you offer information. I think you are the only one who is doing this. I really appreciate it. Very important topic too.

[@kikopup]

Thanks Ted :)

[@judhajitdas4458]

thanks

[@dabodo932]

hanks for posting another wonderful tutorial. Many don't understand that dogs being highly social pack anamals have to have excellent communications systems in order for them to function. Slightly off training topic but my point of complex dog body language. My dog recently defused a situation with two male dominant dogs that she knew. She approched & brushed up against one from the side and flicked her tail in his face whilst looking back at him head slightly tilted. This took just seconds & would go mostly unnoticed but her actions was deliberste, precise & its effect of defusing the situation was highly effective. This requires a complex level of thinking, communication, sociability & understanding. We have such beautiful animals. If anybody has observations/experience of dogs body language they wouldn't mind sharing, please post. Thanks Emily for all what you do. Absolutely love your channel. You are wonderful.

[@kikopup]

Oh wow. I can just picture that. Some dogs seem better at communicating and understanding than other dogs. Some extremely talented. I guess like people. :)

[@dabodo932]

@@kikopup Dogs communicating is an area I find particularly interesting. I have watched & listened very closely for years but still understand so very little. I find this is such a fascinating & beautiful area of dog behaviour. Thanks for your wonderful work, & finding the time in your busy schedule to reply to me. Love your channel & what you do. Thank you so much.

[@aussiepete67]

thanks for a great vid and solid advice.. appreciate that you share your knowledge so freely.. regards from Brisbane Australia 👋🇦🇺🦘🐕‍🦺🇦🇺

[@user-vq3qi3ox1z]

Hi Emily! I’ve been watching your videos for a decade. Your new pup is adorable! Its great to see Kiko, Tug and Splash hanging out in the background, wise older sages. I love senior doggos. Im rewatching some now with my 5 yr old hoarding rescue doughter, who is afraid of the world, basically. My mantra when I comfort her fears in front of dog people who don’t get it; “Emotions are not Behaviors” Thank You! Thank You!! I have done the lip licking and sighing at the vet and it helps!! She trusts me thinks it’s hilarious when I understand what she is asking for. Sometimes I may ask her to try the dog playground once in a while, and she sits on my foot. We did this the other day and she seemed interested in the action.... a very nice dog am sure came up directly to her face, in her face. Nose to nose. Ears back, maybe he was OK I just thought f a person did that to me I would not stick around. I scooped her up and took her out. Am sure the other humans thought I was coddling whatever. I’m not in a relationship with them. When I adopted her we had not met, and she was so shell shocked I could not touch her. She didn’t respond and I thought she may be not the smartest crayon if you know what I mean. Not true. She had an ear infection. She loves weaving, cop cop, high fives, boxes... Recently she has had trouble deciding what to do at night. She paces and circles. Can’t figure out where to settle. So we tried your vid “ Go To Your Bed.” It was great. It relaxed her and made her happy. Sometimes she thinks the clicker is the reward?! Same with targeting; she fetched and ate the post it:) It’s her past life of recycling... Thanks so much for all your hard work. Wish I lived in SD:)

[@kikopup]

You sound like an amazing trainer, not many people would think to reinforce going to a bed to fix the pacing or take the time to do it. Well done on all your hard work! And that is hilarious about the post it!!!!

[@user-vq3qi3ox1z]

Wow, you’re the best! Thank you for responding! I have to look at your website for help with some issues. (Big Hallway Vaccum@#&**!!) Best to you and the Pups! The puppy will keep the seniors young/ 10 is the new 5!

[@alemanalondon]

great video thank you

[@EarthVoiceOnline]

Excellent presentation. Thanks!

[@kikopup]

thanks! This is actually from one of my power point presentations I present at conferences and seminars :)

[@danielcastello6054]

Such a good video!

[@InsideTheDogWorld]

Amazing video!! Love your dogs

[@magdakowalska10]

You are amazing!!❤️

[@kikopup]

Thanks!

[@barbraporria8180]

That really helps😊

[@itlitlitl6]

Thanks a lot! Have you filmed a general overview on dogs' body language, not particularly while training? It can be very helpful 😊

[@kikopup]

Brenda aloff has a nice picture book www.amazon.com/Canine-Body-Language-Photographic-Interpreting/dp/1929242352 and lili chins amazing illustrations www.amazon.com/Doggie-Language-Lovers-Understanding-Friend/dp/1787837017

[@SerendipityRules]

Yes please make more videos on bodylanguage! 😄

[@kikopup]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rovFlnmop56br8k This is a video on dog play where I hosted another trainer

[@chihuahuabulldog]

WONDERFUL! THANK YOU! This is such good and important information! I am very excited to share this. I emailed a link to one of your most recent videos, the one that has many links in the description, to someone that needs help training. She says is using one already. If I had a dog I would be wearing out my computer watching your videos. Again, thank you so much for all you share. It is greatly appreciated.

[@kikopup]

Awe. And thanks for helping that person!

[@chihuahuabulldog]

@@kikopup My help is VERY limited without friends like you and Pamela Johnson! I cannot thank you enough!

[@manolopapas]

Great video

[@lindas.martin2806]

Súper duper!!! Thank you, I am going to start being more observant starting today :-)

[@kikopup]

I find it easier to film too sometimes.

[@alternativewitchyunicorn]

Never thought about filming the sessions

[@kateajurors8640]

excellent point and topics however I think showing video footage of ~ 3 different dogs doing each behavior would really help a lot of people. I find many people miss read dog body language though understand every description and still pictures about it. you do have examples in other videos as do other trainers but I would totally watch 30 min - 1 hr long presentation over this kinda stuff.

[@anwmusic]

Thank you! So helpful. A question... submissive grinning. Is it ok? Does it mean puppy is nervous? How to address that? Our puppy is doing a lot of submissive grinning, every morning and whenever he hasn't seen you for awhile he will do it again.. anyone have video about this?

[@blocksbrothersminecraft5521]

I have a dog and he's a Belgian Malinois and he's good at tricks like sitting and shake hands but it's so hard to make him to understand that he is not allowed to bark and pull me when he sees other dog. and Everytime we go for a walk he is always pulling his leash because he wants to sniff other dogs pee puddle. I hope that I could reset his brain to his puppy brain and train him. Because when he is a puppy i didnt pay attention to him and now everytime he sees a dog passing by our house hes going crazy What can i do for him

[@all_4_paws797]

We have this 8 month old Labradoodle that we had since a puppy; we use positive reinforcement clicker training with him, He likes to hide in a corner like we beat him all the time every day, he will come out of the corner for food and to go outside to go on a walk, but even going on walks he acts like we beat him, I try using treats and play to get him more comfortable but that makes it worse. I don't know what to do, I already have people coming up to me and say can I take your dog because it looks like you beat him. Please help...

[@kikopup]

You know. My youngest BC was really anxious and fearful too. Seriously... one day when she was 8 weeks someone tried to pet her, as they were giving her a treat. She got so traumatized she didnt touch food from strangers for many months and would not eat the treat that that person gave her ever again in her life... If I tried to feed her the same brand of treat it would look as though she'd been "beaten". You could first check to make sure there is nothing medically wrong with a full blood panel. Dogs can be like this for many reasons and reasons still unknown to us. But some reasons could be, that the dog didn't get socialized, or had traumatic experiences as a puppy, that the dogs mother experienced stress while pregnant, that either parents had a stressful traumatic event in their lives at some point, or that the dog had a perfect puppy upbringing perfect parents but inherited that part of their personality from a grandparent or great grandparent that your breeder didnt research... so its better not to ponder over the "why" as youll never know. I suggest that you work on stationing on a bed- you could start with it in the corner, then start to move it to different locations in training sessions. How to teach go to bed- kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2PGZnihrtmBi5I Then I suggest you move the bed from the corner after 2 weeks of training, to a more natural location, and have a bed in every room as a safe zone. If your dog is just worried about you and your family can work on targeting where the dog targets your hand - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIi2e4mtj96VrdE to build the dogs confidence in moving toward you also you can work on the chinrest- kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWPPn5Sbp7WFa9E And honestly, no one will understand what it is like unless they lived with a dog like this. Especially if they have a happy go lucky dog. You have to keep believing in creating change and that it is possible. If you start to think "It will never get better" it wont. You have to stay positive. Also know that for humans the teen years are really hard for some and the same for dogs. Keep working and you will progress.

[@all_4_paws797]

@@kikopup thank you very much! I will definitely work on it. And I will get him checked out by a vet.

[@llnightmaresll]

So I had a question for you I've been trying to figure out usually when me and my dog zeus go for walks ( hes got the semi floppy ears they kind of stand up but about half way they flop down ) his ears are usually pulled back but his tail is relaxed into a curl on his back like a malamutes tail or samoyed, he usually walks with confidence but again his ears are usually pulled back any idea what it could. Mean ? He doesnt show any signs of stress no panting drooling or lip licking

[@kikopup]

I can be a little bit of stress, but all dogs act differently and one dog could do that because they are excited to go for a walk while another only when really scared of something. Sometimes they also put their ears back when they are infront of you to listen to you from in front or to listen to what is behind them. But if they are just stuck back you can try stopping, and talking to your dog while you stand calmly, blink and breath deeply and pet your dog, and see if the ears come back up. Also if you stop and your dog is scanning the environment and cant look at you and when he does look at your face his ears are still back it can be that hes excited about the environment.

[@KaiSub]

I tried to teach my Tervuren to spin just like I taught my Jack Russell, by using a lure above the dogs head and making them turn in a circle. When I did this in the beginning he understood it clearly, but all of a sudden, one day he stopped following the lure and just jumped up on me as soon as I moved my hand over his head. He was terrified... this made me suspicions as to what had changed, and I believe someone in my family has hit him at some point, maybe not intentionally, but he had definitively been traumatized by something. He has gotten over it now fortunately! I'm just so worried about what made him scared in the first place...

[@taleahrose126]

Are submissive ears back when greeting ok though if she isnt overstimulated? I always try to avoid making her anxious but somethings just talking to her will get her pinning her ears and wagging her tail (while coming to me)

[@roshniravindran9400]

What if the point is counter-conditioning? I should expect the dog to be initially uncomfortable during the training session, right? Because the point is to make them more comfortable gradually...

[@kikopup]

That's a good question. If you can do it in small approximations where the dog shows no signs of displeasure, fear or anxiety, then the training will be more effective. But if for some reason this is impossible I would look at the dogs behavior and decide when you are training what behaviors mean "too much" and you need to lower criteria. The problem with presenting the trigger at full intensity, is that the animal might have an overly fearful or aroused response... and therefore might not even find the treat reinforcing... or even notice the treat. For example if the dog saw a squirrel run past his nose. He might not even want to eat the treat. Or if the dog didn't like the cat and you put the cat in his face... You could instead have the cat in the arms of someone at the other end of the room, then if the dog started to show too many stress signs, the cat could be taken around the corner until the dog could recover. Training session lengths can also be modified because the longer the session the more stressed some dogs can get.

[@roshniravindran9400]

thanks so much for the detailed answer! Glad to hear that counter-conditioning can be done without stressing out the dog!

[@kikopup]

@@roshniravindran9400 kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJ29nn2iodGDbbs Yes, its awesome. In this video you can see I am working with a cattle dog who gets over aroused by a broom and wants to bark and bite at it. But because I work on the different things the broom does and looks like separately, before adding them together the dog never gets too excited. (You could do the same if the dog was scared of a broom).