Q. When my dog first greets someone, she shows all of her teeth and “smiles.” Some visitors mistake this for aggressive behavior, but she’s just very excited and happy. What is she doing and how can I explain it to people who visit?
A. It sounds like your dog is displaying an appeasement gesture, called a submissive grin, to show you and others that she’s no threat. Submissive grins are a way for a dog to show deference to another individual. Usually submissive grins are associated with increased movement and a body posture that is lower than the dog’s normal stance. There are other signals your dog likely uses, along with her submissive grin, to show deference, such as lowering her tail, lifting a paw, licking you, licking her lips and looking away or squinting her eyes.
The submissive grin is a tactic dogs use to shut off aggression from another individual, either human or canine. This behavior is commonly seen in greeting situations where the dog is actively soliciting attention in a nonthreatening manner. Often the submissive grin invites interaction from others, but it’s also possible that your dog is trying to increase distance between herself and others if she feels threatened. It’s likely that your dog has continued “smiling” at you and your family because it’s gotten her a lot of attention in the past. You can actually turn your dog’s smiling into a trick by clicking and treating her every time she does it and adding a word to it, such as “say cheese,” just as she starts to smile, which will encourage more of her smiling if this is a behavior you enjoy seeing. It would be helpful to explain to visitors before they meet your beloved canine that she smiles as part of her greeting sequence but is nonthreatening. You can even channel her greeting behavior into another outlet, like a game of ball or a quick series of tricks she’s asked to do, such as sit and down, as a way to redirect her energy away from greeting mode, where she’s likely to smile, and into a different mode, like play or food acquisition. If you doubt that your dog is smiling as a greeting behavior to show appeasement, or if there is any possibility that there may be aggression involved in her behavior, contact your veterinarian, who may refer you to a veterinary behaviorist or a certified professional dog trainer.
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Because the teeth showing was always in greeting and because their dog seemed about as threatening as a butterfly, I suspected that the dog was smiling, but I needed to know for sure (a babyâs safety depended on my assessment of the situation). I had the family step into the hallway with the baby for a few minutes, then return to my office. Thatâs when I saw it: a friendly smile by a friendly dog. It was accompanied by a loose body, a gentle but enthusiastic tail wag, a relaxed face, and what I can only describe as an adoring gaze. And, just as when humans do it, his smile involved showing some teeth.
Karen B. London, Ph.D., is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and Certified Professional Dog Trainer who specializes in working with dogs with serious behavioral issues, including aggression, and has also trained other animals including cats, birds, snakes, and insects. She writes the animal column for the Arizona Daily Sun and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University. She is the author of six books about training and behavior, including her most recent, Treat Everyone Like a Dog: How a Dog Trainerâs World View Can Improve Your Life.
If dogs do indeed learn to smile from people, then that means they have a strong connection to us and are capable of mimicking our behavior. It also accounts for the smileâs vaguely awkward presentation â kind of like kids who are asked to smile for a photo but havenât figure out how to do it naturally yet.
Tooth displays, on the other hand, are usually performed by a dog whoâs fairly stiff and still in both body and face. The showing of the teeth proceeds more slowly, and the expression can last for several seconds or more. Tooth displays are often an indication that a dog has been pushed past their comfort zone, perhaps by the approach or touch of another dog or a person, when they have a treasured object, or when theyâre exhausted/in pain and want to be left alone.Related article
What most of us call a dog smile is really a grin â a happy, open-mouthed face of a jolly dog. In this âhappy grinâ kind of smile, which can last for minutes, the lower jaw hangs open and the corners of the lips are pulled back in a relaxed way. Sometimes the tongue hangs out, or is at least visible inside the mouth. Though the bottom teeth often show, the top teeth arenât likely to. The second type of smile (the one discussed above) is a retraction of the lips that reveals the top and usually the bottom teeth as well. Because it resembles an aggressive expression called a âtooth display,â it can freak people out. However, this kind of smile has absolutely nothing to do with aggression. In fact, itâs a social expression.
How to Respond
If your dog is baring his teeth at you or someone else, take a look at his other body language.If you are uncertain of the cause or it appears that the teeth are bared in an aggressive manner, you should carefully remove yourself and/or your dog from the situation. Then seek the help of a dog professionals which may include a combination of a dog trainer, behaviorist, and veterinarian to rule out a pain related/medical issue. Its important you act quickly before your dog bites someone.
If you are unsure whether your dog is exhibiting a submissive smile or becoming aggressive when he bares his teeth, your best bet is to call in the help of a professional dog trainer or behaviorist. These experts are specially trained to detect the most subtle clues in your dogs body language and behavior. Its always a good idea to put safety first.
If you feel absolutely certain that your dog is simply smiling and his body language otherwise appears submissive, you probably dont need to be alarmed. However, it is important that you keep watching your dog determine if he becomes uncomfortable or nervous in his current situation. You should also keep observing to make sure you are not misreading the signs.
Dog smiles – THAT’s what it really means! ✅
You and your pup have a special connection—one that’s built on love and trust, and that makes for a happy dog. And if she’s happy, it only makes sense that she would smile, right? But is dog smiling really a thing?
Most dog owners probably have more than one picture of their dog smiling or doing something that appears to be eerily akin to a human smile. Whether it happens when your pet seems to be enjoying something, or it’s totally out of the blue, pet owners who see their dogs “smiling” are probably pretty pleased with it. But can dogs smile, really?
We should probably be asking, “Why do dogs smile?” rather than if they do. “I believe that yes, dogs do smile, but the pictures of pets showing their teeth as a smile, I don’t think those are always a sign of a happy, relaxed pet,” says Stephanie Liff, DVM, medical director of Pure Paws Vet Care of Hell’s Kitchen and Clinton Hill. In fact, if your pet is happy, Dr. Liff says your dog is probably more likely to have his mouth slightly open and to be panting gently. When it comes to dog communication and pet behavior, the action of showing teeth takes on a different meaning than it does for humans. While flashing those pearly whites is a sign of joy for people (mostly!), dog smiling could actually mean the exact opposite in terms of dog behavior. “If dogs are baring their teeth, that’s often a sign of aggression,” said Dr. Liff. “But there are a few dogs that may actually retract the lips back without having aggressive intent.”
So how will you know if your dog is happy? As you may have already found out, it probably doesn’t take much. “I think that most dogs are happy and content most of the time,” says Dr. Liff. Pay attention to other signs of satisfaction in your dog’s behavior—like relaxed body position, relaxed ears and a mouth that’s slightly open and panting, like mentioned above—to understand the times when your pet seems to be happiest, and what’s going on in his surroundings when he is. “Happy dogs also have a calm appearance to their eyes, and they’re usually in a neutral position with their tails either wagging or neutral,” says Dr. Liff. “To me, this is also the equivalent of smiling in a dog.”
Of course if you haven’t noticed your dog smiling before and now you’re dying to see it in real life, some of the old standbys—treats, reuniting with a certain beloved toy, a soothing belly rub or scratch behind the ears—are almost guaranteed to earn you a smile.