Calming Signals:
Listening When Your Dog Whispers
Dogs tell us a huge amount with their bodies, including a special set of signals called calming signals. These small behaviors help a dog calm themselves, calm the dogs and people around them, avoid conflict, and let us know something feels stressful. This flip book walks through what calming signals are, how to spot them, and what to do when you see them.
Start with the Canine Ladder of Communication
Before we get to calming signals, it helps to understand how dogs escalate when something is unpleasant. We use a simple human comparison: whispering, speaking and screaming.
At the bottom of the ladder are the whispers: yawning, blinking, lip licking, nose licking, turning the head away and walking away. If those go unnoticed, a dog may start speaking more loudly by creeping with ears pinned back, crouching with the tail tucked, going stiff, staring or freezing, then barking and growling. At the top are the screams: snapping, lunging, snarling and biting.
When we listen to the whispers, our dogs don't need to climb the ladder. And if they do need to turn up the volume, they're doing their job by telling us exactly how they feel.
Never punish communication
Punishment suppresses behavior, but it doesn't remove the discomfort underneath it. If a dog is corrected for growling, barking or snapping, those steps can disappear from the ladder. The next time that dog is uncomfortable, they may skip straight from stiff to biting. Growls and barks exist to tell us, loudly, that something needs to change.
What calming signals look like
Calming signals live in the whispering and softly speaking part of the ladder. Norwegian trainer Turid Rugaas identified at least 30 of them, and all dogs use and understand them. They serve four main purposes: communicating stress, relieving stress, showing they're not a threat, and resolving conflict.
Some of the most common include arcing or curving around someone instead of approaching straight on, closing the mouth, flattening the ears, freezing, looking away, licking the lips or nose, lying or sitting down, moving slowly, panting when not hot or active, lifting a paw, rolling over, scratching or grooming suddenly, shaking off, sniffing the ground, splitting between two dogs, stretching, turning away, showing the whites of the eyes (whale eye) and yawning.
A closer look at lip licks and yawns
Lip licks are often one of the very first signs of discomfort, stress, anxiety or appeasement. Yawns are another. If your dog yawns when they're clearly not tired, there's a good chance you're seeing a calming signal.
Context is everything
A single signal doesn't tell the whole story. Look at your dog's eyes, ears, tail, muzzle, stance and how stiff their body is, then put the clues together. Family Paws calls this being a Doggie Detective™. The more you practice, the better you'll get at reading your own dog.
What to do when you see calming signals
Think. What's happening right now that might be uncomfortable? Who's around? How close is your dog to whatever might be bothering them?
Act. Give your dog distance from the likely stressor. Sometimes that stressor is you. If so, step back and give your dog some room.
Plan. How can you prevent this situation next time?
The flip book includes practice photos, including a dog showing early signs of guarding a resource near a baby, a dog lip licking during a hug, and a dog with an injured paw who can't easily move away from what's bothering him. In each case, the answer starts the same way: create space and watch what the dog does next.
Rules of thumb
Be proactive. Learn your dog and prevent discomfort when you can.
Create space. If you see discomfort and aren't sure what to do, distance is a great place to start.
Be safe. When in doubt, err on the conservative side. If your dog wants to be close, she'll come back to you.
Dogs and babies
If a dog and a baby are in the same space, a parent or other trusted adult must be between them. Dog and baby safety is one of our passions, and Wiggle Butt Academy is a Licensed Family Paws Educator. Reach out to learn more.
Need help reading your dog?
If your dog is showing signs of stress, fear or reactivity, we can help with in-home behavior consults across Dallas, training at our Plano location, and board and train programs for fearful and aggressive dogs.
Email: info@wigglebuttacademy.com
Scheduling: 469-444-1474
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Content and illustrations by Nicole Kohanski, CTC, CDBC, CSAT, CBCC-KA, and Wiggle Butt Academy. Photos courtesy of Bethany Rose Photography (bethanyrosephoto.com) and Depositphotos. Calming signals list from IBPSA. Doggie Detective™ is a trademark of Family Paws. Source: Rugaas, T. (2006). On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals. Dogwise Publishing.