Most dog owners are familiar with the behaviour where a dog lowers its front legs and sticks its rump in the air, known as a play bow. They can also identify a dog’s body language with its tail tucked between its legs, typically indicating fear or discomfort. But dog body language is more than that. It is important to be able to read our dogs’ body language.Understanding your dog’s behavior and body language can be quite intuitive, but there are also some subtle cues that may be challenging to interpret.
Although we will discuss why dogs put their ears back, remember to look at your dog’s body language. What their eyes are doing, whether their facial muscles are tense or relaxed, and their centre of gravity can tell a lot about their attitude. Like Bloodhounds, dogs with long, pendulous ears face a potential challenge when flattening their ears against their head. Due to the nature of their long, floppy ears, these types of dogs have limited ability to adjust the position of their ears compared to dogs with shorter or perkier ears.
Why do dogs put their ears back? That’s the main reason we’re here. Your dog’s ears can change based on emotions, and it can put them back for various reasons. By looking at other signals your dog is giving alongside its ear position, it can become easier to determine what your dog is trying to tell you. That being said, here are some reasons your dog may put its ears back.
Contentment
Some dogs’ ears are not naturally pointed, so they are laid back in their natural position when relaxed. They may be content if your dog’s ears are back but not pinned flat against their skull. Your dog is not scared, frightened, or even alert in this state. They are just in a neutral state.
When your dog feels relaxed, you might observe a facial expression without furrowed brows or lip curling. Their body language will include a loose and relaxed stance, with their tail down but in a relaxed position, not tightly curled between their legs.
However, a dog’s position can change depending on what happens next. For example, if you show your dog a playful gesture in this state, it will immediately get up and play.
Fear/Nervousness
This is one of the most understood meanings people tend to know when a dog puts its ear behind it. It is possibly the better-understood meaning, as it is known to signal that they are fearful or at least wary about something. This can be true, especially if you see this gesture and other ‘fearful’ body language.
A fearful or anxious dog may also lip-lick, avoid eye contact as they avert their eyes or even completely turn their face away from you, open their eyes so wide that you can see a sliver of the whites of the eyes, crouch down low, and place their tail down between their two back legs.
Warning
The position of a dog’s ears, especially when they are flattened and held back, can be a sign that the dog is feeling threatened or aggressive and may be preparing to bite. This sign is often coupled with other fearful or aggressive body language. Other signs that a dog is being pushed towards biting may include growling, snarling and lip curling, giving hard stares, and you can even see the back fur standing. Most dogs that bite do so out of defence, needing to protect themselves.
While this can be disheartening, worrying, and stressful, it is important to never punish your dog for growling or snarling. Scolding a dog for giving a warning about their feeling of fear or discomfort can cause them not to give any warning before biting, and it doesn’t solve the reason why they are showing these behaviours in the first place.
Instead of punishing the growl, you should try to understand what is causing your dog to feel this way. Then, using positive reinforcement training, you can work on helping your dog feel more comfortable around strangers.
Illness/Injury
When dogs are in pain, they may instinctively pull their ears back as a protective response, indicating a fear of further harm if approached. In certain uncommon situations, a dog experiencing a severe ear infection might keep its ears pulled back due to the discomfort and pain it is experiencing. The dog might be holding them back from advancing to prevent them from sustaining additional injuries.
The ears of your dog have a high number of blood vessels, making them very vascular. If your dog scratches or shakes its itchy ear vigorously, it could rupture a blood vessel inside the ear pinna. This can lead to the accumulation of blood within the ear flap, which may require veterinary attention to address. When this happens, the pinna will fill with blood, causing aural hematomas. Unfortunately, this requires veterinary medical attention to drain the pooled blood’s ear pinna and then treat the ear infection that gave rise to it.
Listening
You may have noticed your dog moving its ears back and forth when it hears a strong noise or sound. Sometimes, a dog may flatten its ears against its head to better capture and locate the source of a sound coming from behind it. You might notice this if you are in the garden with your dog and a strange sound occurs suddenly or someone calls their name.
Certain canine behavioural cues can be fairly straightforward to understand.Ear placement, among other characteristics, can be more subtle and detailed. Sure, a fearful dog will put their ears back, but not all dogs that put their ears back are fearful. Talk to a qualified canine behaviourist if you want more information on decoding your dog’s body language.
FAQs
Why is my dog’s ear swollen and floppy?
Ear infections are the leading cause of swollen ears in dogs. They can be caused by bacteria, yeast, or even ear mites. At times, ear infections may discharge a foul-smelling odour, and you might notice your dog shaking and scratching its head more.
How far can a dog ear?
The length a dog can hear from varies, but on average, dogs can hear 4-5 times as far as a human can.
Can dogs hear what humans say?
Studies suggest that dogs can read our body language and listen to our tone.Our canine friends process this information to comprehend our behavior and communication.
Leave a Reply