We’re going to take a look at some images and identify the applicable traffic color signal. As you examine the images, remember that you might look as that dog and think the answer could be more than one color. That’s okay…just be able to justify why you selected the traffic color signal you did.\
What about these two dogs? Think about the appropriate traffic signal color and be prepared to share your thoughts.
In these images, I would put both dogs in the yellow category. For the Lab on the left, the tail carriage is lower and the body is not completely balanced. For the Great Dane on the right, his tail is up and his ears are a little unsure. Both dogs have a closed mouth. If you though green for either dog, you might have said that because you thought they had a more relaxed stance.
However, I would still notice the unsure ears and closed mouth as you’re looking at the overall picture of the dog. Remember that just because we’re saying a dog is in a yellow category it doesn’t mean he’s about to bite any second…it just means you need to be cautious and slow your approach with the intent to get the dog to green before you’re actually interacting with them.
Identify the traffic signal for these two images.
The dog on the left is yellow. His whole body is lowered, his tail is tucked, and his ears are back. The dog on the right could be either yellow or green. If you thought yellow, you should have mentioned that the ears and tail were forward in an alert look. However, I would actually have said green based on the paw carriage which looks like the dog is waiting to play.
So you’re now starting to see that reading dogs can get a little tricky. Dog language is very fluid, especially when you’re watching live dogs moving. Sometimes when I’m looking at photos of dogs, I like to think in my mind I’m pushing a play button from having the dog on pause and then see what I think in my mind are going to be the next actions which will help me to know whether it’s a green, yellow, or red state. With practice, you’re going to get better at observing dog body language.
Look at these two dogs. Identify the traffic signal.
The dog on the left is in a yellow, fearful state. We know that because of his body being lowered and especially his ears being very far back. However, approaching this dog could easily cause him to show his teeth and change to a red posture. These are the yellow states that are very important for you to recognize early, stop your approach, and see if you can make a change in your posture or the environment to get them back to green vs. going into red.
The white dog on the right is in a balanced, relaxed position and is green. Notice his open mouth.
What about these two dogs? Think about the appropriate traffic signal color and be prepared to share your thoughts.
I would say that both of these are yellow due to the slightly lower body posture of each dog. The dog on the left is hunkered down and the dog on the right is leaning back slightly. These slight body posture movements are important to be able to notice and again…work to change them to green before you continue to approach them. Often standing in place and calling the dog to you in a happy tone can cause dogs and postures like these to change back to a green emotional state.
If you thought the open mouth of the dog on the left identified him as green, you can get partial credit for that answer. However, I think the open mouth maybe more due to a type of panting that we’re going to discuss in our next lesson. So there’s still more to learn in the words of dog language! However, by now you should be starting to put it all together to make complete sentences and really identify slight differences that make up the language of dogs.