-
Read the BEET – Facial Expressions – Follow up Post
What a fun time we had together, looking at body language today. We had 70 participants learning to “Read the BEET”. ????
We had some good observations and questions – it seems like Expression was the most difficult to read, so I thought I’d drop some samples here for us to discuss…
Take a look at these 4 photos.
- Look at their eyes and the muscles around their eyes.
- Look at the space between their eyes.
- Notice the muzzles (and teeth!)
- How about those nostrils and whiskers…
What do you think these dogs are expressing? What is common and what is different?
Hint: I would pet every single one of these if they came up to me….
I can’t possibly tag 70 people, but I hope some of you will chime in!
@jenz @ClaudiaRida @Cyn @doggonespecial @pawsup @Tavela @LUNAMOON @denny @CarolynMassaro @MinneapolisHeather @Pteet1 @loveyourdog2014 @JoJo @beamer
-
13 Replies
-
Great presentation! It’s always good to hear from an expert to learn new things or solidify our knowledge!
-
Thanks Carolyn – glad you could make it!
-
-
Thank you so much for the session today, @catherine . It was super informative and educational!!
I think what they all have in common are squinty eyes, and they’re all showing their teeth in some way.
The one in the top right is, I believe, displaying a submissive grin, and the bottom right is clearly loving life 🙂
Bottom left looks like an agonistic pucker to me, but you said you would pet him, so… now I’m unsure.
The one on the top left I don’t know how to interpret. I see a lowered head, commissure pulled back, and – are those airplane ears? Is he a bit worried?
-
@ClaudiaRida – thanks for your kind words!
An agonistic pucker will look like an O or a C with the lips pushed forward. You’ll see no back teeth. You’ll usually see whiskers pushed forward. This Weimaraner was probably mid-bark, but you can see the pucker expression. Does that help?
-
-
Three of them have relaxed eyes. The Aussie (?) has a harder look. Before the webinar I would have been more worried about the bared teeth, but the bottom two don’t worry me. The goofy guy in bottom right is adorable. I’m not sure about the top right. The face seems tense, but eyes are relaxed.
-
Good observations, @Cyn – Question for you… if that Aussie’s eyes were a different color, do you think it would make her softer looking?
I think yellow eyes, and blue eyes too, can be misleading. Maybe it harkens back to an archetype of a glinty, evil wolf… what do you think?
-
-
Interesting. I’ve never thought about that. It does seem more ominous with dark eyes. That could get us in trouble both ways. Misjudging a soft dark gaze, or, misreading an angry dog with light eyes.
-
@Cyn – oh, funny… you think the dark eyes are scarier? I am just the opposite. I grew up with dark-eyed goldens and shepherds and my first few experiences with light-eyed dogs gave me pause until I learned to really look at the eye muscles, the pupils and whether there was white showing.
What does everyone else think? Which look most friendly vs unfriendly?
-
For me I look at muscle too. I’ve grown up with dark and light eyed pets. ???? But they were not all dogs, lol, mostly rabbits. But I use the same technique, looking at muscle and body language. ????
-
-
-
I’m reading through our chat discussion file from yesterday – ya’ll were SO ON IT!
Great observations and participation. So much collaboration!
We had some good questions arise too, which I’ll be pulling out and posting for further discussion. Watch for them! ????
-
Thanks for all the participation!
All 4 of these dogs are showing a friendly smile, often labeled “submissive grin” or “appeasement”.
How can you tell? By asking what’s NOT there.
- There’s NO tension between their eyes.
- There’s NO pinned ears.
- There’s NO hard stares.
- There are NO dilated pupils indicating high arousal.
- There are NO whisker beds pushing forward.
Here’s another post showing dogs with quite opposite expressions, for contrast.
-
The top left dog is leaning forward, ears back, head down with teeth showing and retracted top lips- doesn’t look too friendly, the bottom right looks contented with a happy face and soft eyes, the bottom left dog has squinty eyes, but teeth showing. His body looks relaxed on the grass despite his teeth showing. I would wonder what he is reacting to and looking at to make any judgement. The top right I can’t see thru this response. Maybe this reply should not cover the 4 pictures ( if that could help)
-
Good job, @denny Take a look at my reply, above, for more in depth analysis of the four photos- and here’s a neat thing… while you are replying, you can click over to the original post and see it, then hit the reply button and your response will still be there. Just don’t navigate away from the post itself.
-
Log in to reply.