Story #1 – Bows When I Come Home
I have a very peculiar but adorable dog that stretches as soon as I get home from work. I read that dogs may stretch when they are excited (which is nice). I just want to double-check that my dog isn’t stretching because of something negative.
8. Sniffing ButtsA dog’s way of saying, “Hello, nice to meet you,” to another dog is to sniff the other dog’s butt. In the human world, this behavior could land you in jail. In the dog world, this is a socially acceptable form of greeting. But still, why sniff butts? A dog’s ability to smell is 10,000 times better than ours, and, well, there are a lot of revealing aromas that come from a canine’s rear end.
9. Humping You, Objects or Other Dogs Does this scenario sound familiar? Everyone’s having a great time at the dog park until Buddy starts mounting another dog. Buddy’s owners are so embarrassed and apologetic. “But he’s fixed,” they insist. Humping — whether it’s on other dogs, on your leg or on an object — is usually not for sexual reasons. And it’s probably not an attempt to dominate. More likely, neutered and spayed dogs hump because they are excited or seeking attention – we frequently experience this with our dogs in the car on the way to the park. To prevent this embarrassing behavior, ignore it, try to redirect it with a treat or toy or just shout ‘No Humpies!’ until everyone around starts laughing at you.
10. Eating Poop This habit is just plain gross. Many things can cause coprophagy (the medical term for consuming feces). Your pup might be hungry. He could like the smell and taste. It’s possible he’s missing key nutrients from his diet. He might just think it’s fun. It’s not a behavior we want to dwell on, so for everyone’s sake, we’ll just say that if your dog is fond of eating you-know-what, ask your veterinarian for help.
3. Cocking Her Head Whistling, speaking in a high-pitched voice or even making funny noises can cause one of dogdom’s cutest and most amusing behaviors: head tilting. Exactly why dogs cock their heads to the side remains uncertain, but behaviorists speculate that canines are trying to make sense of what they hear. They also might be trying to pick out a key word like “walk” or “fetch” to find out if what you’re saying will lead to something fun or rewarding. Another reason your pup might tilt her head is to more accurately determine the location of a sound. If she’s consistently holding her head to one side without an obvious trigger, she might have a medical issue and should see a veterinarian.
Fifi sure looks like she’s having fun when she vigorously shakes her stuffed squeaky duck. But the truth is, she’s manifesting one her most primal instincts: killing. OK, we’re being a little dramatic. Out in the wild, thrashing is how Fifi would kill her prey. At home, she’s just exhibiting innocent play behavior.
Do Dogs Stretch When They Are Happy?
You are witness of this special treatment almost every day when getting back home. Your dog will lean back and stretch his forelegs in front, which is also known as the greeting stretch or greeting bow. (Oelze, 2021)
You should consider yourself quite happy if your little fella` is greeting you in this fashion. Most dogs won`t perform this special greeting stretch for anyone. It`s best to acknowledge this as a sign of special bond. (Bucher, 2021)
My Dog is Stretching a Lot What It Means and What To Do
Who doesn’t love a good stretch, right? That absolutely fantastic, seemingly Reed-Richards-like extension of the limbs and the feeling of calm that settles over you—no matter the time of day, a good stretch is always welcome.
As it turns out, you’re not the only one who welcomes a good stretch—your beloved pooch does too! Stretching is an extremely common behavior in dogs, with a plethora of reasons behind the behavior. Here’s all that you need to know about the topic. Table of Contents [
Dogs stretch quite a bit and in varying positions. From stretching on you to around you to even pushing you away while stretching, they do it all!
But why do dogs stretch so much? Do they stretch to wake themselves up or just as a pleasurable indulgence, as their hoomans do?
Primarily, dogs stretch as a form of greeting. The position where your dog stretches out his front legs while leaning back on his haunches, with his head up, is a greeting stretch, especially common if you’ve been away from your pet for some time.
For the pet parent, a greeting stretch should be seen as a thing of privilege, since dogs will only do this with folks they are comfortable with.
However, dogs, being the expressive creatures that they are, can also use their stretch to communicate certain things with you, such as the need for attention or the feeling of boredom and the consequent desire to play.
Here’s a more in-depth look at the different reasons behind a dog’s stretching, whether on you or not!
This is an extremely cute position where your dog stretches out his back legs, resembling a roast chicken (albeit a cute one!). This position is extremely common in French bulldogs, though the OG sploot-ers are the corgis.
This stretch can have both hind legs outstretched, or one stretched and one tucked. Sometimes, this stretching can be accompanied by crawling forward with the front legs.
As awkward as it may look, dogs usually sploot on cool surfaces to cool their bellies and groin areas against it and to give their hips a good stretch.
Since it requires quite a bit of flexibility, splooting is more common in younger dogs, especially puppies.
Sometimes, your pooch may also sploot on grass—a very clever way to enjoy a good underbelly scratch. However, make sure that the itch isn’t a result of any grass allergies; relieving the itch by scratching on the grass can obviously make things worse.
Just like you, your doggo will stretch after they’ve just woken up in the morning. It is believed that this is an instinctive behavior inherited from their primal ancestors, who stretched as a way to ready their bodies to roam their domain.
A good morning stretch gets the blood flowing, strengthens the rear muscle, and prepares the body to run.
The contraction and lengthening of the muscles also results in the activation of the brain-muscle connection while relaxing the dog’s body and mind to better achieve the task ahead—a necessity millennia ago for all the hunting and brawling.
Today, the morning stretch is performed by dogs to get their muscles warm before any sort of physical activity, such as a walk. You may see such behavior when you bring out the leash or harness, which are objects that they’ve come to associate with walks.
As mentioned earlier, greeting you is one of the most common reasons behind your dog’s stretch. This posture, with the rear in the air and the front legs stretched out, looks like your dog is bowing down to you, and is sometimes accompanied by a toss of the head and a yawn.
This is one of the stretches that your dog will commonly do on you to ensure that they have all your attention. The closer to you that the stretch is performed, the more driving the need for attention, so stretching on you is the ultimate attention-seeker!
Dogs may also stretch on their owners to indicate that they want to play. A play stretch is similar to a greeting stretch, but the tail wag is more exaggerated in this one, often to the extent of the whole rear wagging instead of just the tail!
Your dog may also prod you with their paws or press them on your legs if they’re feeling extra chirpy or they want to convince you to play with them.
This action is your doggo initiating playtime, with the ideal response being you continuing playtime, either by tossing them their favorite toy or standing up to play with them.
Sometimes, your dog could be stretching for pain relief, especially any sort of abdominal pain (canine bloat is a common cause). If your dog is stretching excessively and also exhibits other signs of distress, such as aggression or drooling, you should take them to the vet right away.
Another pain that dogs hope to relieve by stretching is joint stiffness, especially common in older dogs. However, dogs who have been stationary for a while also tend to stretch to relieve stiffness.
Sometimes, the only reason to stretch is that it makes you feel good! Dogs are just the same, stretching to feel good when necessary.
Does it mean something more if your dog is stretching on you instead of on the ground?
As mentioned earlier, stretching on you is a call for your attention. The closer your dog is to you while stretching, the stronger the need for your attention.
Additionally, dogs define personal space differently than their hoomans. So, where you would ask someone to politely give you space, your dog would simply stretch on you—he lacks the ability to tell you to move out of the way so that he can stretch, in any case.
Many times, it’s also just your dog being lazy! They’d just rather stretch on you than take the effort of moving away to stretch. However, such behavior is only exhibited with people they’re really comfortable with, so it is something to feel good about if your dog should choose to stretch on you.