There aren’t many things more cute than a dog perking their ears and tilting their head at you when you speak to them. It’s almost as though they know exactly what you’re saying! There is a good chance that your dog is understanding SOME of the words that you’re saying to her, but there is also a physiological explanation for what is going on when your dog tilts her head at you.
3 Reasons Why Dogs Tilt Their Heads
Physiological Explanations for Why Dogs Tilt Their Heads
According to veterinarians, the muscles in your dog’s ear are controlled by the same part of the brain that controls her facial expressions and head movement. So, when your pooch cocks her head when you speak, she is trying her best to understand the words that you are saying.
Your dog is also tilting her head to show you that she’s attentive and very interested to hear what you have to say. Studies show that social dogs are more likely to do the cute head tilt in order to continue human interaction with you.
Getting a Better View
Dogs understand humans more when they can see their faces, since they pick up on more than just voices. They also rely on facial expressions and body language to understand humans. Some veterinarians believe that the head tilt helps a dog to get a better full view of the human face by attempting to see around their muzzle. Tilting their head actually broadens a dog’s range of vision and helps them to see a whole face at once.
Head Tilting Sometimes Indicates a Medical Problem
If you ever see your dog persistently holding her head to the side (which looks a bit different than a head tilt), have your vet take a look. Sometimes when a dog is experiencing ear pain, due to infection or other ear ailments, they might hold their head to the side and this definitely warrants a trip to the vet for a check up.
The good news is that your dog’s head tilts are probably nothing more than an indication of her love and adoration for you. When she tilts her head when you’re speaking to her, she is hanging on your every word and probably hoping that what you’re saying includes the words, “treat,” “walk,” or simply, “GO!”
Learn more about taking care of your dog in the posts below:
Can You Brush a Dog’s Teeth with Human Toothpaste?
If Your Dog Could Talk, What Would They Say?
You Take Your Dog Where? Chiropractic Care for Dogs
Author: Jenny Jurica
Jenny is a married mother of two humans, one rescued Weimaraner, and four (yes, four) rescued cats. She is a native Texan who is a columnist/contributor for several publications and enjoys spending her free time curled up on the couch with a dog and a couple of cats. Much like the poet Sylvia Plath, Jenny often finds that she, “likes people too much or not at all,” but has never met an animal that she didn’t instantly adore (except for maybe the Komodo dragon at the zoo).
