It is very important know the expression of the face in your dog, in order to communicate with this, which is caused by the amount of muscles that this area has, where these muscles stretch and / or contract according to the orders that the dog constantly sends to the brain, as it perceives and reacts to everything in its environment.
So expressive is a dog's face that even many UK researchers have developed a system known as "dog facial action coding system" Or simply "dogfaces”, With which they seek to identify and encode each of the facial movements that dogs make, and then study the emotions that are linked.
Learn to communicate with your dog
This system has important multi-level applications, although it is mainly applied in the study of canine behavior and communication. So in this article we are going to talk about some of the canine language cues, which will help you to know how to establish communication with your pet.
The dog's mouth is essential to understand its language
When talking about canine language and expression on dogs' faces, the most important thing is to pay special attention to the mouth, since it provides the necessary information to know how your pet feels and / or what are the most immediate intentions it has, be it to attack, play, submit, hunt, etc.
The main indicators about your dog's mouth that you have to look at to achieve detect what their intentions are, consist of the following:
Open or closed mouth
Open mouth means a relaxed mouth, but if it is closed it is because the dog is in a state of alert or in tension.
If he shows his teeth
If the dog shows its teeth by raising its muzzle as a sign of aggressiveness, it must be taken into account that the more they show their teeth, the threat tends to be more imminent.
The corner of the mouth is retracted
If the dog shows its teeth at the same time it growls, this is because something scares him and that is why he considers it a threat.
The smile of dogs is part of the canine language
There are dogs that show their teeth at the same time that they retract their muzzles as a sign of joy, such as when they do it when they meet their owner again or with an individual whom they know previously and who is to their liking.
Many of the people who own a dog find it quite funny that their pets do this when are happy and / or excited, but it's real, what your dog is doing is smiling at his owner.
Another expression where you can perceive the canine smile, It consists simply of the relaxed expression that is shown in the dog's mouth, this expression is usually much more normal than the previous one and it is when the dog's mouth is open and stretched to the sides and its ears are flattened back .
A curious fact that you should know about what your dog wants to tell you
Did you know that a dog's smile actually it is a canine expression, that dogs never use each other, but only with people, especially if they like them?
Interestingly, dogs don't smile at other dogs, although they tend to smile at people and it is that several specialists indicate that smiling only at human beings is an effect that occurs as a result of domestication.
This really seems wonderful, since it means that both dogs and people have managed to reach establish a communication channel between both species, which is far above anything other animals have managed to do.