May 05, 2011
I've noticed that whenever my wife and I get out of the bed or ready to leave the house, they shake their backs. Is this due to excitement?
Full Question:
Hello Cindy,I own two German Shepherds, one a Leistungszucht, the other Hochzucht. my question for you, if you are able to answer it for me, is that both of my GSD's are excellent dogs, well trained, well mannered, but I have noticed that whenever my wife and I get out of the bed, or we get ready to leave the house with them, they both shake their backs (You know something like when dogs leave the water they shake the water off of them), then they yawn (with a funny sound)..is this due to excitement? Or are they telling me something?
I have bought many of your videos in the past on obedience and behavior, but nothing about the above mention.
This is something fairly new to me. I mean my Leistungszucht, she just turn 2 years old this month, my male, the Hochzucht just recently turned 1 years old, and was bought here in Germany from a well known professional breeder.
Mit freundlichen Gru?
Michael
Cindy's Answer:
When dogs shake like that and yawn, those are called ‘calming signals’. People actually yawn like this too. When dogs become excited or anxious they do this to calm themselves and others around them.
We have a couple of really interesting books that detail dog body language, I highly recommend them.
Here are the links:
Canine Body Language
Canine Behavior
If you pay close attention to your dogs, you will see they do this a lot. My own dogs ‘shake’ many times a day when they are playing, usually right after it starts to get too rough. They stop, look away from each other and shake. It’s like a TIME OUT.
If you get our newsletter and you’ve watched any of the training clips of my young dog Rush, you’ll see that he also does this in training quite a bit.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
We have a couple of really interesting books that detail dog body language, I highly recommend them.
Here are the links:
Canine Body Language
Canine Behavior
If you pay close attention to your dogs, you will see they do this a lot. My own dogs ‘shake’ many times a day when they are playing, usually right after it starts to get too rough. They stop, look away from each other and shake. It’s like a TIME OUT.
If you get our newsletter and you’ve watched any of the training clips of my young dog Rush, you’ll see that he also does this in training quite a bit.
I hope this helps.
Cindy
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