Monday 5 August 2013

Slog It Blog It, Speaking Dog Lesson 101!

Molly The Wally The Nose Knows!

Dogs are universally known as mans' best friend but it seems only now are we truly beginning to understand our dogs. New research by animal behavioural experts has found canine emotions are betrayed by specific facial movements, such as raising their eyebrows or cocking their ears. Japanese researchers using high-speed cameras, have found that when dogs were reunited with their owners they tended to move their eyebrows upwards around half a second after seeing them. Eyebrow movement might indicate a visible response whereby dogs attempted to look at their owners more intently.
 
Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.
 
But when the animals were introduced to someone they had never met before, they moved their left ears back slightly. In contrast a dogs’ ears are prominent features used to convey emotional expression, therefore results may suggest that dogs were more cautious toward unfamiliar people. 
 
Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.

Flattened ears can indicate disgust like when a hidden pill in a piece of cheese is discovered or brandishing the nail clippers or running a bath.
 
Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.
 
A  tongue hanging out with relaxed ears and direct eye contact indicate a happy dog, whereas ears forward and head down indicate sadness.
 
Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.


Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.

Uncertainty or puzzlement can be expressed in a number of ways, such as raising one paw or keeping most of the body away from the person, animal or object creating uncertainty, and backing away. If the head is tilted to one side, this means that the dog is listening, or is uncertain and puzzled and is awaiting more information.

Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.

Canines are highly social and communicate using an abundant array of facial expressions. These communication methods play an important role in their communication with humans.




 
Mini-Me Of  Moi & Pippin By Lynne Over at 2 Chihuahua Girls.

Do you speak dog and do you agree? Tomorrow we take a look at cats.

57 comments:

  1. Our ears...and tail give us away all the time! Oh, and our walk. SHE says we do a 'Bette Midler' walk when we feel we've won something.

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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  2. Brilliant display of animal behavious by the mini-me's! Bet you and Pip are happy you have stand-ins and didn't have to do all those poses, BOL!
    Love the animation :)
    Lynne x

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  3. We aren't sure about Whisky's eyebrows (she's so furry!) but her ears do tell a lot! We know if her ears are facing forward and she's laughing, we're going to be chased!

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  4. I AGREE! I DO AGREE! And we are almost on the same wavelength here Miz M. and company, because my post was on HORSE SPEAK!!!!!!! teeeheeee....I agree so much. HEY! Where on this GREEN EARTH do you find those adorable Miz Molly and Pip look-alikes? They are hilarious!

    TOMORROW, THEN!

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  5. Ive read quite a few articles on dog communication and this is my favorite, its the visuals that put it a cut above!

    urban hounds

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  6. When I walk borrowed dogs I find their faces very expressive, they give loads of eye contact, some have very smiley faces some look scared because they are, their personalities definitely show in their faces... cats too - Ambercat smiles by closing her eyes momentarily and then staring at you and will continue like this if I join in and return her smile in the same way - sometimes the whole family return smiles with her like this for ages! She meows and trills too greetings, goodnight, want to go out, hungry. I love your little toy Mollie and it's 'squirrels' expression. Betty

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  7. Oh Molly this is so funny...you nailed the conversation to a T!!!!
    What pretty actors/actresses too.
    hugs Madi your bfff

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  8. Illustrated brilliantly!

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  9. They are figuring us out! This should be a langue class in college.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  10. Ha, that's a good one. I sometimes speak dog. And cat. Always pig :-)

    We have missed you - hope everything has been well and we will be back again soon dear friends!

    ~ Coccolino the mini pig

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  11. Hi Y'all,

    You Humans can really decipher what we're saying. Surprise, surprise.

    Y'all come back now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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  12. So funny Molly, have a great day, we have rain now :( xx00xx

    Mollie and Alfie

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  13. LOL what a fabulous demonstration. I will keep an eye out for these signs!

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  14. Mom says she always knows exactly what we's thinkin'. {Note to self.....gotta make some changes in my facial features}

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  15. LOVE IT!! I am a huge fan of and believer in the mini-me's theatrical abilities. You have shown (brilliantly) that the mini-me's can also do awesome public service/educational training. More, please!

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  16. That's so cute and funny! I think that those mini mes are great actors!

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  17. Those are so cute and that bath one is soooooooooo funny!

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  18. BOL! When I read this article in the news, I couldn't remember which was good - raised eyebrows or ears moving. Now I will. Excellent demo :) Have a great day and hugs to Pip.

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  19. we saw that on television about their reactions...give a hug to pip from us as well.
    stella rose

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  20. Our dogs just say what they want.

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  21. Mom found this very informative!! I have a certain "look" that I give her when it is time for me to get my evening bone. It's kinda of a "can you feel my eyeballs boring a hole in your brain woman! Give me my bone!" look.
    hugs
    Bailey, Hazel & Greta

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  22. MOWZERS! We'd look disapprovingly at a bath too. Can't wait for tomorrow! Are there kitteh mini me's? We've seen Austin's!

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  23. Hey Miss Mollie - if you want to submit some photos we can do a painting for you on canvas board - it is much cheaper to post then the stretched canvas.

    You look like you had a rough night - to much catnip by the look the bloodshot eye

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  24. My dogs do a great job of communicating. However, most conversations are the same....FEED ME!

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  25. OMD, that is the cutest display of doggy communication I've seen!

    Rita's most common communication is "I'm bored! When are we going to do something fun around here???"

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  26. Humans are finally getting it! Me-Ommmmm

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  27. OMD.... Mini Pip and Molly did an amazing job of demonstrating the expressions.

    BUTT those folks DID leave out the best one... that is where we show our TOTAL displeasure of peep behavior by... putting our BUTTS in their Faces!!!

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  28. hahaha - GREAT!!! The Bath time position is exact the same as mine. Thanks for a great lesson in "doglish" or "earlish" - I hope our humans can learn something. Have a great monday, Molly!

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  29. I LOVE that mini you!!!!!! Now I have to be sure I start looking at Dakota's ears!

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  30. Boy, these lessons are great! The things we're learning! Who knew? Purrs....

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  31. We think our human could learn a lot here. But we also know that she can read our ears and tails very well. Wish we could hide some of those messages:)

    Woos - Phantom, Ciara, and Lightning

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  32. Very interesting, informative and beautifully illustrated post. But what about the tilting one's head to the side 'cos we pups know that humans find it cute and so are more likely to give us treats.
    Works for me anyway.
    Toodle pip!
    Bertie.

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  33. I seem to remember reading a post about various dog expressions and what they mean awhile back that had a lot of the same information as this post. It's interesting how animals are so similar in a lot of ways, yet all have their own personalities. Just like people, lol!

    Love those mini-me's! Lynne really does a great job with them!

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  34. Well, Mom's computer died on Friday and she just now got the new one running.... so here we are to say Happy Monday!

    - Lola, Zeus, Tut & Sophie

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  35. One of the neighbor's huge dogs almost broke TW's nose last week. He wanted to jump on her but his person said NO so TW went to pet him. At that moment, he jumped up anyway and his snout landed hard against TW's nose. She said she'll never pet him again. I guess he was happy to see her.

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  36. Now that was pawfectly demonstrated by your models!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  37. Oh Molly

    Where did you get those models? They were pawfect at demonstrating all the emotions and very funny too!

    Have fun,

    You pal Snoopy :)

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  38. Excellent info and the world needs to read this so there is a general understanding. Thank you Molly. The models were outstanding.


    LOveys Sasha

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  39. Hey Molly!
    Wow, I'm not sure I want my peeps to know everything I'm thinking! Leave a little mystery for them to wonder about. BOL I definitely use my big radar dish ears to say a lot. Love the mini's!!
    Grr and Woof,
    Sarge, Furiend

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  40. Thanks for educating our humans. Lee and Phod

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  41. I can totally tell Shiner's facial expressions! When I was working at the vet clinic, it was very important to read the animal's facial expressions too. Dogs and cats are the easiest of course.

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  42. Great re-enactments with the stuffies, Molly :)
    Stewey

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  43. I love the silly looks of those stuffy dogs. They have personality plus!
    love
    tweedles

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  44. Great lesson! Have a great night.

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  45. Oh Molly, this is a most informative post. You have helped us to better understand our canine friends. The ones who aren't our friends yet tend to jump up and down and bark a lot.
    We love your mini-me stand ins.

    Purrs,
    Cindi Lou & The Kitty Krew

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  46. Your mini-me's are awesome! Such great expression models. :)

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  47. Mom read the article on the Daily Mail online (she reads the DM every day while she has lunch).

    Those are pawsome illustration / model thingys Mol - they just brought your entire post to life for us.

    xxx

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  48. What a great way to illustrated dog body language!

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  49. Ha roo roo roo! Oh, that bath one cracked me up! (And is spot on!)
    Play bows,
    Zim
    PS: I love the mini-mes of you and Pip!

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  50. Mini Molly is an excellent actress! I could practically smell the squirrels when she acted out the "happy dog" =D

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  51. What a brilliant way to use the mini mes. Thanks for the mini lesson. I love how you drew Molly's tongue in go express her happiness when she spotted the squirrel :)

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  52. Lynne's figures of you and Pippin are adorable, Molly, and it's so cute that she made a little squirrel for you! We agree with most of these interpretations of dog body language. I see the lifted paw sometimes if I'm asking Wrigs to pose for a photo in an odd place (like on top of a boulder).

    Susan and Wrigs

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