Happy Healthy Pets

Dog Head Tilt: Why Do Pet Dogs Do This?

Most people have seen a dog or two that have turned or cocked their head slightly when they’re being spoken too.  Although this is very cute, there are some very good reasons for the “cute” behavior.

The most practical reason for a dog head tilt is:

A dog will often cock or tilt their head slightly in order to simply hear better. This simple re-positioning of the head positions the head and ear in a way that will create a wider, more open ear canal that, in turn, helps them hear better.

Another common reason that dogs will cock or tilt their head is:

Dogs will sometimes turn their head to receive a reward?  What kind of reward, you’re asking?  Well as mentioned above this “cute” behavior will sometimes lead to someone around this dog to go “Aawww look at that cute dog” or something along those lines.  So when a dog receives this type of response the dog is getting positive reinforcement that the turning of their head will not make them hear better, but will make them feel better.

Trying To Absorb Every Sound He Can

Dogs can understand part of our human language, but most of it is just a fuzzy blur to them. Almost like when a human hears a foreign language. Dogs cannot take in everything we say. But canines are very good at observing and becoming familiar with human tone of voice, body language as well as eye movement. Dogs can understand these things pretty well but when they are interested in something they will be looking for anything and everything to absorb including any and all minute sounds to help understand what is going on.

Different breeds of dogs also have different ear shapes and therefore every different dog type will hear sounds better from different positions.  This can lead to certain breeds of dogs tilting there heads more often than other breeds.

Tweet This Post 

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.