Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads When You Talk To Them? It’s Not Just About Looking Cute…

by pawbuzz on in Dogs 978

The adorable move seems to say, “I'm listening,” but what's really going on when dogs' heads tilt in response to a sound? Apparently it's all to do with our pooches' ability to empathize with humans and pick up on our emotions.

Here are a few possible explanations for why they do it!

• They’re trying to hear better
Dogs have movable earflaps that help them locate the source of a sound, but they also have brains that can compute time differences between the sound reaching each ear. A slight change in a dog’s head position supplies additional information that the canine can use to judge a sound’s distance.

• They’re trying to understand us
The muscles of a dog’s middle ear are controlled by a part of the brain that’s also responsible for facial expressions and head movements, so when a canine tilts his head, he’s trying to perceive what you’re saying, as well as communicate to you that he’s listening.

• They can’t see our faces easily
In an effort to understand us, dogs not only use our words and inflection, but also facial expressions, body language and eye movements. Because of this, it’s important for them to see our faces, so Dr. Stanley Corren reasons that when dogs cock their heads they’re trying to see us better.

• We’ve taught them to do it
When dogs tilt their heads when we speak, it’s undeniably cute — just check out the video below — and we have a tendency to respond to the behavior with positive reinforcement. Perhaps we say “aww” in a pleasing tone of voice or offer the dog a treat.

To read more about these reactions or expressions, that cute little head cock, go to Mother Nature Network. It will give you more information as to why the experts think our dogs do what they so cutely do!

Let’s see, head tilt or digging up the back yard. Which would we rather have your dog do? Head tilt!

It doesn’t get any cuter than this!! These adorable trio of pugs – Mabel, Max and Minnie – seem to be captivating people everywhere… Watch the video below and you’ll see why!



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978 thoughts on “Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads When You Talk To Them? It’s Not Just About Looking Cute…”

  28. Catherine Woolford Hoffman

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    Our Boston Terrier started doing this the day we went to pick him out. In fact, this is one of the reasons we chose him over his siblings. We jokingly asked him if he was confused and it has stuck. He stopped doing it a couple of years later. One day I was. Curious and asked him if he was confused, out of the blue, and low and behold the tilt was back. Not a week goes by in our house that someone is not asking him and every single time it is the cutest darn thing.

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