Mary Allen
An important part of understanding a dog’s body language is the position of its ears. Which feelings our four-legged friends want to communicate with them can be learned with a little practice.
Dogs communicate primarily through their bodies. To be able to understand this language correctly, the entire dog must always be observed. Here we focus on a small detail of body language, the ears.
The position of the ears can tell us something about a dog’s intention and motivation. You could also describe it as a kind of “mood barometer”.
Read Mood From Ears?
“Oh grandmother, why do you have such big ears?” cried Little Red Riding Hood. – “So that I can hear you better with it!”
Even for Little Red Riding Hood, the ears were the first indication that something was about to happen. If she had already reacted here, the fairy tale would have been different. It’s often the same for us dog owners. We can recognize sticky situations by small changes in the dogs’ body language. If we react promptly, we can often easily free our dogs from situations that might otherwise have escalated. But first, you have to be able to interpret the body language correctly. The ears are often the first indicator that is relatively easy to recognize for the person at the other end of the leash.
Dog Ears – Different & Yet the Same?
Floppy ears, prick ears, extremely hairy ears, very heavy lop ears… Purebred dog breeding has produced many different types of ears. This also means that communication always looks a little different. Dogs with prick ears can usually be clearer in their communication than dogs with floppy ears. Dogs with cropped ears can hardly communicate with their ears anymore – misunderstandings are inevitable!
Nevertheless, one can recognize some “standard variants” and thus generalize some points about a dog’s ear position. The dog’s ears usually point to where it directs its attention. If the dog’s attention is directed forward, the ears are also directed in this direction and placed forward. This happens, for example, when hunting or when making offensive threats.