For the Love of a Dog (54 page)

These dogs look sad to us because their eyes are large and soft, and they’ve raised the inner corners of their eyebrows, just as people do when they are sad.

All of these photos illustrate fearful expressions, signified by the retracted corner of the mouth and the rounded eyes.

Compare the face of the dog Gus in each of these photos. In the top photo, Gus’s mouth is open and his face looks relaxed and full. In the second photo, when Gus was tired after playing, Gus’s mouth is closed and his face is losing its fullness. In the bottom photo, in which Gus is tired and cranky after a long day’s outing, his face is drawn and tense, just like the face of a tired and cranky person.

In a perfect illustration of “whale eye,” this dog has turned his nose away from the visitor, but he can’t take his eyes off her. The combination of a rounded eye, “whale eye,” and a closed mouth is like a blinking neon sign that says, “Don’t pet me!”

This dog is staring straight into your eyes with eyes that are fixed and rounded. (The pupils are constricted because of bright light.) This dog could be fine, but because the mouth is closed, she’s looking straight into your eyes and is restrained by a short chain, you shouldn’t risk petting her.

To heck with Botox, wrinkles are good. Look at how both the dog and her human have crinkly, squinty eyes as they express their mutual affection.

Who looks happier in this picture, the girl or the dog? The girl has an open mouth and squinty eyes, while the dog’s mouth is closed and his eyes are showing “whale eye.”

Here’s another sad-looking (or worried?) dog, because the eyes are soft and the eyebrows are lifted at the corners. Notice how dogs often have different-color fur on the “eyebrows,” the better to show their facial expressions. (Sometimes this pattern of fur may lead us to think that a dog is sad when he’s not, especially when he’s lying at our feet, looking up at us.)

All of these photos show dogs who are “tongue flicking,” expressing either low-level anxiety or an appeasement gesture to an individual with more social status. You can tell when your dog is a bit anxious by how often he or she tongue flicks.

Some of these dogs appear to be expressing ambivalent emotions or motivations. The dog on the left has the rounded eyes and crouched posture of a frightened dog, but his direct stare is a clear offensive threat. One of the dogs on the right shows a fear grimace and a tongue flick, but he’s standing squarely in front of the other dog and looking directly into her eyes.

The dogs in the photos above may be showing teeth, but the close-mouthed dog below might be the one most likely to bite you. His body is extremely tense and his head is being held in a stiff, unnatural position. His tail is tucked far under his belly, his mouth is closed, and he is looking directly into the eyes of the person holding the leash.

Ask yourself: What’s the key feature on the white dog’s face? He may look “aggressive,” but the retracted commissure tells you that he is nervous. (His fur is also pilo-erected over his shoulders, indicating arousal.) Notice that the dog on the right doesn’t appear to be nervous: Indeed, right after this photo was taken the dogs played well together.