Back in 1996 Turid Rugaas, a Norwegian dog trainer wrote a little book about what she called calming signals. which are signals dogs give other dogs and humans that denote stress. These are the dogs attempt to defuse situations that otherwise might result in fights or aggression.

In the book she explains all about what it means when dogs turn their heads, licking their lips, sniff the ground on meeting other dogs, sitting or lying down, narrowing their eyes and lots of things that we see dogs do every day.  Their communication signals are universal meaning every dog in the world uses the same signals and we, humans can also use them to give reassurance and support when our dogs are stressed, worried or just needing backup.

She now has her own YouTube channel as well as a website http://en.turid-rugaas.no/

She retired in 2018 but her work on dog’s body language continues with the thousands of people she has trained over the years.

If you are interested in learning about what your dog is saying to others. I would thoroughly recommend any of her books or podcasts.