Dog Body Language and Social Interaction Breakdown: Moo, Adira & Lily
Background: Adira (mostly black) and Lily (black and tan) are a pair of rescues, hailing from Northern Manitoba, Canada. Adira & Moo are Meg's personal dogs, and Lily is currently being fostered with Pawsitive Steps Dog Rescue. Adira is described as goofy, and having a “short fuse” (which we’ll take as “quick to achieve arousal”); Lily, diagnosed with generalized anxiety, is described as sweet and timid. Moo was also described as previously fearful/ shy with a lot of training experience under her belt.
This breakdown was taken from a series of videos taken by Pawsitive Steps Foster Coordinator Meg Delaney on her property, where Lily has visited several times.
Let’s get into it!
*(TS = time stamp)
This video starts off (TS 00:00:00- 00:00:10) with both girls in close proximity, but head turning away from each other, watching Meg as she moves away from them.
At ~ TS 00:00:11 seconds, Meg recalls Adira (“Adi”), which is immediately met with Adira’s response and decreased proximity towards Meg. All the while, Lily remains in place, watching Adira from a safe distance.
As Adira moves away from both Meg and Lily (towards Moo, beige LSD perched on platform) at ~ TS 00:00:17, Lily watches, maintaining her distance. Both Adi and Lily’s tails are held over their topline (spine), which generally speaking, can indicate arousal. However, it’s important to note two things: 1) Adira’s tail is naturally curled, so it’s held over her spine even at her baseline; 2) Lily’s tail is more “flag in the breeze” at the tip. This would be more indicative of alertness rather than any kind of problematic arousal at this point. As you watch, you can see Lily’s tail drop in elevation, indicating decreased arousal/ slight relaxation (not to say she is relaxed, but that she loosens the tension in her tail, i.e: the emotional barometer).
At ~ TS 00:00:22, Lily gives another quick head turn as she watches with forward facing ears the interaction between Adira and Moo.
While it’s a little tough to see behind the garden, at ~ TS 00:00:23, Adira jumps onto the platform which was occupied by Moo. At a glance, Adira’s body looks to be a bit rigid, but at this distance, it’s hard to say if she is, or if that’s just her neutral.
Moo’s response to the intruder is beautiful, at ~ TS 00:00:25- she simply shifts her position on the platform, giving what I can only assume is a displacement stretch/ bow (again, camera a bit obscured here). Given the context, a displacement stretch/ bow would be an indicator of Moo’s attempt to diffuse any tension- which would be inherent with such a quick approach from Adira.
At ~ TS 00:00:30, the camera is largely focused on Lily, so accurate readings from the other two girls’ would be difficult. However, just before, at ~ 00:00:25, Lily gives a brief, loose wage of her tail, accompanied by ear shifts and another head turn (arguably towards Meg, who gives verbal permission for Lily to go investigate the platform area).
At ~ TS 00:00:29, Lily’s tail is back up over her topline, as she approaches the platform at a slight angle (non-direct), with a cautious pace and a lowered head. Arguably, she might be getting in a few displacement sniffs and head turns along the way (although we cannot rule out that the head turns towards the camera are not also just forms of engagement with Meg, here).
At ~ TS 00:00:35, Lily gives another series of ear shifts and head turns away from the camera, just as Moo comes into view, who is also not making direct eye contact and has her own head turned. Lily makes a full stop in her approach at ~ TS 00:00:38. These pauses, ear shifts and head turns are subtle ways for our dogs to communicate to one another that their approach is not a threatening or emboldened one- indicative of peace keeping. This is a much different approach than the direct approach of Adira, previously!
The camera is obscured/ moving from about TS 00:00:40 to 00:00:44, so we can’t see what each dog is doing here. However, when the camera focuses back onto Lily at TS 00:00:44, we can see that she is maintaining her standing position with erect ears and an alert, flag in the breeze tail. Again, this flag in the breeze position of the tail is indicative of alertness- Lily is waiting for cues on how to approach.
Despite Meg’s recall cue (which was an invitation for Lily to approach Meg, not necessarily the platform), Lily turns her head back toward the platform where the other two girls are.
As an aside, it would make sense that Lily hesitates with the cue here- if she were to move quickly towards Meg (who is parallel to the platform), the other dogs could perceive that fast motion as something unacceptable, and could therefore react. Fast moving approaches or advances are not always welcome in a group of dogs, even if the approach isn’t directly at the other dogs themselves.
At ~ TS 00:00:47, Lily drops her ears and gives a nice, loose, east to west tail wag towards the girls on the platform. This would also indicate Lily’s peaceful intentions, which makes sense in response to Adira’s stiffened body posture and direct eye contact seen at ~ TS 00:00:48.
From ~ TS 00:00:49 to about 00:00:54 Lily continues a series of head turns and remains at her current proximity; to advance at this time (with Adira’s more direct signals towards her) could ensue a reaction from the platform girls that Lily is ultimately trying to avoid (although, Moo, bless her heart, still seems disinterested with the entire interaction when she is seen on camera).
When the camera focus’ back onto the platform girls (at ~ TS 00:00:59), Adira has now turned her body away from Lily and gives a series of lip licks. Moo also gives a very subtle lip lick, paired with soft eyes as Meg reaches out to pet her- arguably just an insecure greeting, though could be indicative of discomfort. Given the solid relationship history between Meg and Moo, I suspect it’s probably the former.
At ~ TS00:01:05, Lily is seen approaching the platform slowly, non-directly almost perfectly parallel), with her tail held high. She’s still being cautious in her approach, and at ~ TS 00:01:09, comes to a full, parallel stop with a loose wagging tail and head turn.
All three girls remain in their respective positions, all maintaining no eye contact/ head turning, Lily giving some lip licking (at ~00:01:15), until about 00:01:20 when Lily gets in some displacement sniffs as she approaches the platform closer.
Adira rises from her seated position, increasing some tension in her body/ ears at ~ 00:01:23, while Lily maintains her parallel positioning. Moo also rises from her down position, but maintains neutral body positioning (no real tension at all, though arguably a slight head turn away from the dynamic between Adi and Lily at ~00:01:27).
At that same TS (00:01:27), Lily can be seen sitting, turning her head, licking her lips and displacement yawning in the face of Adira, who briefly gives her own head turn before jumping off the platform and heads directly for Lily.
Adira’s approach is direct but she does make an attempt to diffuse this through a very pushy, possibly displacement brand play bow. While play bows are meant to signal to the other dog that the approach is non-threatening and not meant to be taken seriously, Adira doesn’t give Lily much of a chance to even respond/ accept the invitation! That’s what can make these types of approaches difficult- it’s less “would you like to play?” and more “ready or not, here I come!”
Meg did a great job interrupting this, because Lily’s body posturing away from Adira, her tucked tail, head turns, and overall more crouched body would indicate that Lily was, in fact, not ready for Adi’s advances!
At about TS 00:01:33 though, something really sweet happens. Adira does withdraw her approach- even if it’s just briefly! This give Lily a chance to reevaluate, and when Adi approaches again at 00:01:36, she appeasement licks Lily’s mouth, crouches down (technically, a self-handicapping) before standing back up to sniff Lily’s face. Both girls give brief, loose tail wags here, but there is still tension in both girls’ bodies. Lily in particular can be seen giving soft eyes towards Adi.
As another aside, soft eyes are another way of diffusing tension, especially in very close proximity to another dog.
The tension lingers for a bit here, and Meg did a great job in attempting to break this awkward interaction up verbally; also great job noticing Lily’s very brief paw lift at ~00:01:46! However, at ~ TS 00:01:47, Adira gives another play bow before finally moving away from Lily. At this time, both girls’ bodies become much looser, which we can see with loose, wagging tails. Of course, Lily is still giving some head turns here, again, signalling her intentions of peace. Lily does a beautiful shake off at ~ TS 00:01:50, which would indicate that she’s attempting to let some tension in her own body go (think: she’s shaking it off!).
Another aside: generally speaking, it's a great sign when we see dog’s shake off; whether it’s navigating context changes, letting go of tension, or decreasing arousal levels, shake offs are a somatic attempt from our dogs to bring themselves back down to their baseline- it’s self regulation! Now, of course, there are such things as displacement shake offs, but given the current context with these girls, Lily is likely shaking off the tension of her previous interaction (which, was a lot, in her defense).
When Adira approaches Lily directly a second time at ~ TS 00:01:56, she is much quicker and softer with her play bow. Of course, Lily isn’t terribly convinced yet, keeping her body parallel, tail low and ears back.
There is brief posturing (tension, head held over the topline of Lily) from Adira at ~ TS 00:01:58, but Lily’s tail is still fairly loose (some tension at the base, but flexion in the tip), and Adira quickly lowers herself and self-handicaps in response. This gives Lily the chance to get a quick sniff before Adira tries her hand (or mouth, perhaps) at some quick jaw sparring at about TS 00:02:03.
Between 00:02:03 and 00:02:10, Adira and Lilly are engaged in what I would call some awkward play- we see some boxing from Lily, short hand play bows from Adira, head and body turning, evolving into a parallel stance from both girls. They are both kind of into it, but not quite sure of each other (or at least each other’s play styles), yet!
At 00:02:10, Lily gives a quick retreat into the garden (proximity increase) and a full body turn, and super brief paw lift- all of which would be indicative of uncertainty. She is almost trying to give some shake offs (starting with a head turn) at the TS 00:02:11 to 00:02:12 mark; she doesn’t really have time to commit to them before Adi short hand play bows and advances again.
Another aside: generally, when I see a dog attempt shake offs like this, I’m cognizant of the fact that there is tension that dog is holding onto, but for whatever reason (usually environmental circumstance), they don’t feel ready to commit. Good to be mindful of this because a dog who doesn’t let go of tension/ arousal is a dog who might be hard pressed to make good decisions. Of course, it’s more important to understand the dog in front of you rather than apply broad strokes to everyone!
Thankfully, this situation is under controlled circumstances, and actually, Lily does a great job at holding her own with a brief boxing, then simply increasing distance from Adira. Unfortunately, despite Adira’s short hand play bow at 00:02:16 and quick advancement forward towards Lily in the following second, Lily isn’t quite ready, and signals so with a very overt body turn. This would be a “no, thank you!” between humans. Adira still advances but becomes slightly softer, continues her short hand play bows to indicate her peaceful (albeit emboldened) intentions, and Lily is still doing a great job holding her own, despite her caution.
Adira does a decent job at giving Lily moments of proximity withdrawal, which is really important in sustained play- generally, you want to make sure your play partner is on board with the game at hand…otherwise, it won’t last very long! However, I think Meg did a good job in physically intervening at around the TS 00:02:21 mark.
The thing with consent is that if it’s not an enthusiastic “yes!” it’s automatically a “no,” (true for human beings, too)! Despite Adira’s resilience, Lily’s “yes” wasn’t all that enthusiastic- best to play it safe! For folks with less dog/dog confidence, this would have been a good moment to really increase distance between the dogs, let them both have a sniffy break (~5+ mins), and then try again. However, the interaction is fairly benign, so I can understand why Meg let them try again so soon after intervening!
At ~ TS 00:02:27, Lily did get a better shake off in before Adira advanced and continued her play. At around this same time, Adira turns her body to be parallel with Lily, which is another way of signalling peaceful intent.
Adira gets some fairly lax zoomies (frenetic random activity periods, or F.R.A.Ps, is the technical term, purely for trivia) at the ~ TS 00:02:30 mark, characterized by short hand play bow slaps, flexion in her body, and overall bounciness. Lily keeps her tail held high (flag in the breeze), and seems to manage Adira’s advances by physically elevating herself into almost boxing formation, with some soft jaw sparring, and soft, short hand play bows (~ TS 00:02:37 mark to end of video). Again, both girls are giving the approach- withdrawal action pattern indicative of play, albeit Adira is a lot more confident than Lily.
Overall, as the handler, I think Meg did a great job advocating for Lily!
Thank you Meg & Pawsitive Steps for providing this video, and for all the hard work you do!
For anyone interested in adopting and/or supporting Pawsitive Steps Dog Rescue, please check out their website: Pawsitive Steps Dog Rescue and Training Services – Pawsitive Steps Dog Rescue and Training services specializes in the rescue and placement of abused, neglected, abandoned, and injured dogs of Ontario and other
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