Can You Read Your Doodle’s Body Language? Take the Quiz & Find Out!

🎁 FREE QUIZ: Think you can read dog body language? Put your skills to the test → thedoodlepro.com/body

Your Doodle is talking to you all the time — through their eyes, ears, tail, and posture. The question is: are you catching what they’re saying? 🐾

In this first part of a special two-part series, I’ll walk you through the subtle signals Doodles use to show stress, excitement, fear, and over-arousal — and how learning to “speak dog” can change your relationship forever.

✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode

✔️ Why Doodles communicate differently from other breeds
 ✔️ How to read stress and anxiety before it escalates
 ✔️ Subtle signs of fear vs. excitement (and how to tell the difference)
 ✔️ Tension cues you might be missing at the dog park
 ✔️ Why speaking dog = a calmer, more connected bond

💬 “Once you’re fluent in dog body language, you can’t stop hearing what the dogs are trying to say.” — Corinne Gearhart

🎧 Hit play now — then test your new skills with the FREE Dog Body Language Quiz → thedoodlepro.com/body

👉 And don’t miss Part 2 in Ep 40, where we cover the most misread Doodle signals and how to advocate for your pup in social settings.

Corinne Gearhart is the founder of The Doodle Pro®, a science-based training platform helping Doodle parents raise calmer, well-mannered dogs using positive reinforcement. She is the host of The Doodle Pro® Podcast and author of Your Doodle’s Daily Schedule Blueprint™.

📘 Get the Doodle Schedule Blueprint:
https://thedoodlepro.com/doodle-schedule-bonus/

🎧 More episodes:
https://thedoodlepro.com/podcast

Transcript

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[00:00:00] Doodles are often described as picked on at dog parks or daycares. And some dogs just don't seem to get them or communicate with them as easily as some other dogs. Trainer Emily Martin, and I are going to dive into why that is and how we can better interpret our doodles body language as well.

[00:01:18] Congratulations to Lauren in Cleveland, Ohio for your doodle Crosby winning doodle of the week. Enjoy listening to Crosby's mom. Explain why he's so deserving. 

[00:01:30] My name is Lauren. My doodle name is Crosby and he's a golden doodle. He's currently 16 weeks old. We recently rescued him. He's awesome. We're still learning a lot of training. But his. Awesome. Most funniest thing is he just loves to lay on his back and just sprawl his legs out completely.

[00:01:52] I hear that's a doodle thing a lot, we also have an Italian Greyhound, chihuahua, and. Crosby likes to jump on top of him all the time and just like pounce and PR on him and get Mo to get a reaction and play with him. So the interaction between both of them is really great they have a lot of fun with each other, which is awesome. And Crosby brings a lot of energy to Moe cuz Moe is about 11 years old, so he enjoys it. I'm so excited to have Crosby and my family, and I hope you pick them for Doodle of the Week. Thank you so much.

[00:02:24] Do you have the most special doodle around? Nominate them for doodle of the week. Visit the doodle pro.com/doodle of the week. And send me a quick voice message telling me why they're so special. 

[00:02:39] I'm so happy to welcome back the guest who was on one of our most popular episodes of the doodle pro podcast. Emily Martin. Owner and head trader for positively pets. In Denver, Colorado. You might've heard Emily and I chat. On an earlier episode where we talk about how to stop doodle jumping. 

[00:03:01] Emily. And I joined forces again, to talk about how to read your dog's body language. And what makes reading doodles body language so different? We have such a good time together. I couldn't trim all of the fun and put it into just one episode. So this interview is going to be divided in two parts, enjoy part one today. And next week you can enjoy the second half of Emily and my discussion about reading your doodles body language 

[00:03:32] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I'm going to share a quiz that Emily and I have worked on. So if you think that you know how to read your dog's body language, you could take this quiz before listening to this episode, and then by the end of the interview, feel free to take it again and see how much did you really know and test your knowledge on decoding your dog's.

[00:03:54] Body language. 

[00:03:55] . Thank you for joining me us. Emily . Hi. Oh, 

[00:03:58] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: I've got 

[00:03:58] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: my friend joining us too. Teko. Yeah. Is that 

[00:04:00] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Mosh? This is Tani. 

[00:04:03] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Oh, I love . Tell us a little bit about Tani. 

[00:04:08] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: She likes to talk a lot.

[00:04:10] Yes. She's a, good body language dog. And we'll, definitely be talking about my love for Northern breeds and how they're one that speak very differently actually. And some love it. And some people are like, you crazy for owning 

[00:04:23] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: them? And they literally do with their vocalizations too, right? 

[00:04:27] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: A hundred percent.

[00:04:28] Absolutely. Yes. , 

[00:04:29] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: In specializing with doodles. I don't get to work with northern breeds too much. They're across that people don't do very often. So Emily, I loved talking with you in our last interview about your background and when I was recently at the San Diego Zoo with my kids, I was texting you thinking about you . So I love your background working in zoos. Can you share with our listeners some of the animals and species that you use to work with?

[00:04:55] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Yeah, absolutely. I think I get a lot of questions about my background and even at another trainer and I were talking the other day and she was like, I Reid your bio, like I forgot you were also a dog musher. So it's always good to learn and share. So I worked with a variety of species I've worked with.

[00:05:09] I think it's like my counts like 120 different species. Awesome. So talk about body language across species. It's a lot. Yes. It definitely focused a lot in. And specifically with new world primates. So like capuchins and spider monkeys and squirrel monkeys, like the smaller base versus the gray apes of orangs and chimps and bonobos, which that's a whole nother topic to talk about. Body language and like teaching them how to really speak. And then I also worked with a variety of animals for educational purposes. So animals that went out and did shows and programs. And that was everything from cockroaches, spiders, , birds. One of my very first jobs I was doing shows with a tarantula, a scorpion, and a cockroach, and I had to do like a whole show about it. 

[00:05:59] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I'm from Florida, so those are my phobia. they're, two, they're too 

[00:06:03] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: plentiful there. . Worked with a lot of reptiles and mammals as far as like porcupines and ant eaters and then birds of prey.

[00:06:13] And it, it is really cool to learn and learn about the body language and yeah. A little personal story to bring it back around is I was very fearful of snakes and I still am pretty kind of a baby with snakes. But I've had to work with them throughout my career and learn to get to know them and read their body language.

[00:06:30] And it wasn't until I was really in the core of my exotic animal training degree that I was like, this is why I struggle with snakes. And I think a lot of people, this is maybe some of their fear Yeah. Is their body language is so hard to read and so unique cuz they don't have eyelets. Oh, so you can't Oh yeah.

[00:06:49] Tell. If they're sleeping, awake or awake just to start with. So if you open their enclosure, you're like, are they sleeping? So if I startle them, I that's, an expected response back to get if somebody starts with me when I sleep. Yeah, but you can't tell with the snake . 

[00:07:04] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Oh, I didn't even think of that.

[00:07:06] So when people are struggling with training their doodles, I found it so reassuring that you've worked with all these different species and now that you specialize in pet training, that you validated sometimes our doodles are harder. Can you explain that 

[00:07:24] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: a little for our listeners? Yeah. And I, often say that because I know what to expect of, like I worked with mountain Lions quite a bit too, so if I were to do something or they're having a hard day, like I know what that natural instinct is for a large cat or a primate.

[00:07:40] But with our dogs, we are shaping behavior every moment of the day. . Yeah. We are reinforcing bad and good behavior all the time. So our dog's behavior is morphing and changing a lot more than what a wild animal will say that we don't have as much interaction with. Or they have more natural instinct than our dogs do, per se.

[00:08:03] So I think that's what's harder. And I don't think owners think about that big picture of oh yeah, like if to Connie right there she jumped up on me and I pet her. Now that's a behavior I. Yes. But that's something that I have reinforced and that is in her eyes, a natural behavior and gets reinforcement.

[00:08:20] So I'm shaping that behavior versus she jumps on you. You can't tell her off because that's an allowed 

[00:08:26] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: behavior. if we think about our expectations of our pets compared to the species that you were working with, we're not asking the mountain lion to go to the cafe and stay in a down stay while the waiter walks up.

[00:08:40] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Yeah. 

[00:08:41] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And play with all these different animals all the time. And be good with our cat. Yeah. And the hamster the kids bring home and yeah, 

[00:08:49] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: our expectations and. For dogs are huge. Now, I will say some of the stuff I've done with exotics, they've had some really big expectations. I've traveled across the US with animals.

[00:09:00] I've flown within a bald eagle and an alligator and all these animals, and I've done shows and there's been times where I have to also wanna talk about this with dogs. I have to be an advocate of there was one this was a long time ago, kangaroo, and there was a really big event and he was not feeling well.

[00:09:18] And I was like, no, he's not gonna go do this show like I am sorry we're out. And they're just like we're paying you and we're doing this and that. I'm like, no, it's for the better health of the animal. And he is telling me he is not comfortable or he is not ready. Same with like people petting them.

[00:09:33] Some of the, work I did do we do a lot of meet and greets. Yes. And we'd have to look at those animals too and be like, can they handle this? Are they enjoying this? Are they trying to retreat? Then we need to actually. Advocate and help that, even if it's just a skin, a pre hensel tailed skin, like they have a harder time showing their No, but they're they, can show, I'm not comfortable. And so again, looking across that big 

[00:09:56] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: picture. . I think that's an excellent example for advocating because we feel social pressure when especially with doodles, we're walking around with what look like walking teddy bears and people are drawn to them like magnets and there's 

[00:10:12] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: a So yes, 

[00:10:14] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: of course, and people.

[00:10:17] There's a social pressure to say, sure, you could pet my dog and not check in with your dog first. Yes, I you have a friendly dog. Who's not going to bite them today probably. But still checking in. Do they want this interaction? Are they comfortable? Do they feel safe with this interaction? And you were literally flying across the country and getting paid to have the kangaroo in that scenario.

[00:10:43] And you still put the kibosh on it when you saw that wasn't going, my 

[00:10:47] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: boss wasn't very happy with me about it, but I had to, deal with those consequences. The opposite side. But yeah. And with dogs I had a client recently say this to me and it sometimes I love it when I get really vulnerability from my clients.

[00:11:00] Yeah. Because sometimes when we're in the field, we just, we know what to do, but we have to realize our clients, she. I just thought part of dog ownership was always saying yes. So if somebody wants to pet my dog or another dog, I thought you just always were supposed to say yes. I was like 

[00:11:15] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: no, It's the friendly thing to 

[00:11:16] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: do. Yeah. And I was like, absolutely not. Yeah. There's things in life you don't like or people you don't want. If somebody is a big hugger and you're not comfortable with hugs, you're probably gonna stop them and we need to also help our dogs. they have feelings.

[00:11:29] And I think sometimes that kids can get overlooked and be like it's just, it's a dog. Or This is what's normal and you should love everybody. I'm like, I don't love everybody. I don't expect to dog, I don't to love everybody. . 

[00:11:39] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: When I go to a cocktail hour, I have my certain friends that I am drawn to and there are certain people that I can say, Hey, and then I walk past just not cuz they're good or bad, or I'm good or bad.

[00:11:52] They're just not my cup of tea. Yeah. And dogs have the same feelings. They start as puppies being really open and every, it's just like our little kids where they go to the playground and they could play with anybody once my kid's, 13, he has more of an opinion as to who's his speed and who's his vibe.

[00:12:11] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: And, I joke that sometimes too I've been interviewing some pet sitters and I'm like, my dogs will tell me who's right and who's wrong. I also trust their opinion a lot. And I trust their opinion a lot on are they comfortable? And some of that's gonna be by the human's body language.

[00:12:29] So this goes in twofold about learning our dog's body language, but also the humans having appropriate dog language to make your dog feel more comfortable. And I have two two of my dogs are pr they'll back away if you come over their head to pet. And so things like that, I always watch the human to see what they're gonna do as well.

[00:12:48] And then of course I, try to instruct too. So I say, here, give 'em a tree and then scratch under their chin like that. Yes. But after that you can tell pretty quick who knows, who understands dog body language and who maybe needs a little bit to listen to this podcast, . 

[00:13:03] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And you see often with little kids, their parents will be like, come on, let's say hi to the puppy.

[00:13:08] And you'll see the apprehension in a child as they're pulling away. And so oftentimes it's a great time to say, do you wanna see them do a trick? And you can toss them the cookie. And now everyone's comfortable cuz you've given that child a buffer as well. We keep talking about how we're gonna talk about body Lakers, our topic today.

[00:13:32] What is the importance to you that you like to convey to your clients as to why we want to read their body language? 

[00:13:42] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Oh, that's a big loaded question. I, think that. People need to learn how to speak dog. We are living with these wonderful four-legged friends every day, and if we aren't speaking their communication and having a trusted relationship back and forth, there's something missing there.

[00:14:03] Dog ownership has changed a lot over the past couple decades as well. I see. And I know this doesn't go against across the board because there are working dogs and farm dogs and things like that. But if you have your dog as part of your family member and in your home and have that relationship and bond, then we need to be speaking their language and we need to be listening to them and communicating with them fairly and honestly.

[00:14:28] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And it isn't something that you should expect to be intuitive or I should just be bored knowing this. I love dogs, so of course I should speak their language and you don't need some woowoo whisper. Like title, it's something that's studied and that you watch for, right? Yeah. Like you really need to learn 

[00:14:47] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: it.

[00:14:47] And a lot of dog owners, especially new dog owners, so I see a variety of clients, but a lot of my dog owners that have never had a dog, or maybe they had a dog as a kid, but this is their first adult dog. They, know some basics, but when you really get into it, especially with my like , my activity clients, they, we teach a lot body language when we have behavioral modification, and they're always like, oh my gosh, I never knew this.

[00:15:11] I, wow. Yeah. He's telling me so much that I was just missing. I was just watching his tail and his tail's happy, so he's happy. And things like that. Huh. You're not alone. If you feel like, oh, I got this, and then you listen to this and you're like, There is more. They, speak with their eyes, their mouth, their nose, their hair, their tail, their stance.

[00:15:36] Ears, so many different body parts speak and not all dogs speak the same as well. And so might have a dog that speaks more and we'll get more into this with their ears. One that's more with their tail cuz not all dogs have tails, things like that too. So yes, there's like I said, you're not alone.

[00:15:52] I highly encourage everybody to learn a few little things. And I think we're gonna have this in the show notes. A really simple book of doggy language. I love it. And it's in multiple languages, is it? Oh, that's awesome. Yes, It's by lily trans doggy language. If you go to her website, doggy drawings, you can learn where you can buy it, you can get it on Amazon, you can get it on dog.

[00:16:17] It is proud. I, every client I say, please get this book. And it is amazing how many bounce back to me and go, ah, I've learned so much. And this book is great for all ages. It's good for kids, it's good for adults. It's not like a boring read. It's pictures and little descriptions. So please go out and buy this and let's all up our skills a little bit

[00:16:40] And 

[00:16:41] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: it's a great book for before you even get your dog, if you are on a list for a litter and you're prepping and buying all the cute toys and stuff, it's something that you and your family can read together so that you're ready before your dog even comes home to watch for those cues. And if you're.

[00:16:59] inclined to not wanna have a dog that's barking and lunging on a leash that's leash reactivity or isn't growling or snapping. Those are their louder, more vocal ways. Their bigger ways of trying to communicate to you. After all the body language, their quiet messages have been ignored.

[00:17:17] And if you can't read them, you can't listen before. It's a big loud show and they're pushed that far. 

[00:17:22] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Huskies , yes, unless they just love to talk, they start to talk. Yes. They just vocalize agree with that. With, re activity or bite cases, sometimes I get, Hey, there was no warnings at all.

[00:17:35] And there are those dogs out there. Don't get me wrong. There are some dogs that precursors have been eliminated. Sometimes they're eliminated due to them being punished, so they will hold them in but we also wanna pay attention to those precursors because sometimes they're very quick or they're very subtle.

[00:17:56] And we also never want to punish precursors. So if our dog is growling or showing you a little bit of teeth or lip lick, like those are all precursors that we need to pay attention to before we get to those louder, like you were mentioning, those louder body language signals. 

[00:18:14] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And if we punish those out, we've taken away their warning and that's when you get, they bit me out of nowhere.

[00:18:19] Yes. So they're doing us a service by giving us they've already probably shown us beforehand with more subtle cues before they get to the teeth and the growl. So we're talking about how different species have different sorts of body language. How do different breeds speak differently? 

[00:18:40] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Yeah.

[00:18:41] So this is something to think about too, and definitely something to think about when maybe you're just starting to think about getting a dog as well. Doing some first research into the breed and understanding how they speak. I, laugh because again, I have loud dogs and I love it, but there's sometimes when I'm watching dogs or I'm at clients and I'm like, this dog is it doesn't talk.

[00:19:04] It talks, it just doesn't vocally talk. And I don't think I'm used to it. I've had mal Husky for 14 years and I love having conversations on sing alongs. Yes. That is not for everybody. 

[00:19:17] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I never have that at my house, ever. I love our 

[00:19:20] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: singalongs to Connie thinks I'm a horrible singer, but that's okay.

[00:19:25] So first researching breeds to know okay, I like a loud dog, I like a, I don't know different, things like that to understand boxers play differently than doodles. I like a dog that's gonna be more playful with their hands, things like that.

[00:19:42] They're paws. But the biggest thing is, how I explain this is all dogs speak body language. All dogs speak, yes. But there's different routes they take. So if we look at like the, our languages even English, we have American English, and then there's like proper English. Now I can understand proper English.

[00:20:01] There might be some words that I'm like, huh, that's different. I don't know what that is. Yes. Or what are they referring to? Even in Australia, they're English. They use some different words than we use. And we have to think about that. And that's the same for dogs. They all speak dog.

[00:20:16] Yes. But there's gonna be some differences in the way that they speak and the way that they communicate. 

[00:20:23] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: And I remember taking my, late standard poodle to a puppy class, and this was a while ago that instructor didn't have a lot of experience with poodles and doodles then . So you could tell that was a while ago,

[00:20:36] And the poodle was really pause up a as they do and as doodles do. And she was like, that is rude behavior that other dogs will not tolerate. You need to teach her that when she's playing her paw stay on the ground. That to me is the different dialects. 

[00:20:56] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Agreed. Dialect. Is that what I was looking for?

[00:20:59] Thank you. No worries. 

[00:21:02] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: But when you go to a huge dog park and you've got everyone speaking these different dialects of dog body language, some people will say, my doodle gets picked on at the dog park. And to me that's well threefold. One, I might be under socialized and not have polite. behavior. Two, they might be playing differently, they might be speaking differently.

[00:21:26] And a lot of dogs don't like the bouncy pause up behavior. And then third, it's hard for other dogs to be able to see their language. It's harder Yeah. To be able to read that. Do you agree with any of those as to what I do. 

[00:21:43] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Absolutely. And I think like when we talk about doodles too, I think that's definitely the bouncy is a big characteristic.

[00:21:50] Bouncy, playful kind of in your face. And then I also noticed, and I, not all doodle breeds, but doodles are also, a lot of 'em are very barky. And I don't think people think about that. Again, going back into our breed, research. Standard poodles are barky chatty dogs. Yeah. And so we get a lot of that too.

[00:22:08] And then when we look at playing. . I always tell everybody, not all people get along. Not all dogs are gonna get along, period. Like it's just the way the world works. And again, I think's ok, people have a really hard time with that. They're like, but they're dogs. I'm like, yeah, but like we all have different play styles.

[00:22:24] We all have different hobbies. Same with our dogs. They have different activities and different agendas a border colleague's gonna want to chase and nip versus the chihuahua that's just kinda I'm just gonna cruise and get my s sniffs or whatever it may be. So when we're looking at that, I think keeping that in mind and dog parks, there's a lot going on there to be it's, a really big topic and I'm not hard one way or the other.

[00:22:53] We do go and I know it's always a risk. Dogs speak differently. And sometimes that can cause a riff. So it's something to keep in mind. My biggest thing when I'm looking at dog interaction and dog playing is I'm looking for a little bit of consent. Yes. If a doodle comes bounding at my oldest girl, Mira, which to be honest, she's not a fan of doodles.

[00:23:15] And I know that she's never been a fan of doodles, but I know is She's 14, right? She's 14, yeah. Yeah. 

[00:23:21] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: So the energy 

[00:23:22] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: level, no matter what now especially, but now she tolerates it more cause she's just Ugh, I'm over it. when she was young, she's just whatever, I don't even have time for you. But I know, if a doodle comes over to her and bounces in and it's what are you doing?

[00:23:39] She does have the right to say no thank you. And no thank you appropriately. There's appropriate and inappropriate. And she can say, no thank you appropriately. What I'm looking there for is, can the doodle say, oh, okay. She gave me, bo told me no thank you, or body language. , which body language in that case might look like.

[00:23:59] The dog comes up to Mira and Mira turns her head and looks away from the dog. Yes. Looks away, lowers her head, relaxes her body language saying, no, thank you. I'm good. I'll pass. I'm gonna look for that respect and I want a communication to happen. And that's where some of the body language, those dialects are the same in that sense that a dog should be able to understand a look away, a dog should be able to understand a head lowered, a relaxed body language, things like that.

[00:24:27] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: That's a no thank you. It's a polite, no thank you. Yes. Without needing to be more gruff 

[00:24:34] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: or more courage. I do have huskies that tend to use their voice sometimes, either with or first. So that's another, a breed char characteristic, where. Mira, she cracks me at 14. Yes. She still loves to play sometimes and when she wants to play, she comes charging at you go whoa, And it scares so many dogs. I'm like, that is her. That is how she plays. Like she is happy, Gol lucky and she's telling you about it, but it's not reciprocated for a lot of 

[00:25:05] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: breeds. And it's the same with the barky. I actually find them the most with the poodles more than the poodle mixes, but the barky I wanna play with you.

[00:25:16] Yeah. I mean they could do it right in their face with the come on. And that is really unpleasant for a lot of other dogs. 

[00:25:25] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Yeah. Yeah. So I look at for consent. So then if Mira said, Hey, do you wanna play? Her body language is gonna change. So if that doodle comes up, Now, I know she's not gonna play with Doodle, but let's, pretend here so that Doodle comes up and Mira does wanna play.

[00:25:41] What I'm gonna look for and, her body language back is maybe a play bow, or I call it a booty bump, where she spins and throws her booty towards the other dog. Yeah. Or a flirty look and say, Hey, kiss me. I'm gonna look for this totally different body language. And that's what we're looking for when we say we're at the dog park.

[00:26:01] Now, if the no thank you happens and I need to interject and, help a little bit, I'm just gonna call Mira off and call her back to me too. I'm not, I don't always make a big deal of it, things like that. But you have pretty, pretty clear body language in there. , playback, booty bump, a rotation in play, so rotation in chase or wrestling, things like that. Those are all dogs that are communicating nicely back and forth. I think another thing we see a lot when dogs meet and, you mentioned this and this kind of spurred some of this, was hackles.

[00:26:35] Yes. When dogs, hair stands up on their back and my dogs it definitely, you can see hackles and hackles are over. Certain times over arousal. So they're overexcited. They don't always go up. Sometimes they don't. But on doodles and dogs you can't see it.

[00:26:55] They can't see it. And I was thinking about that cause my dog's hair, they have a lot of hair and it's long. Yes. But you get a full on, like if they're up, you have the shape changes. Yeah. And you get it on their neck and you can even get it on their butt. So working with a lot of different reactivity and things like that.

[00:27:11] It's always interesting to see butt hackles or neck hackles. But on doodles, I started thinking about that and I was like, I don't know if I've ever seen hackles on a doodle. If 

[00:27:21] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: you think with the curls. Yeah. And the loose, either it's really curly or it's loose and floppy. You just can't see the 

[00:27:31] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: movement.

[00:27:32] And I wonder, I, this is where I'm like, I wanna get geeky and figure out like the difference also between hair and fur. Cause I, there's also some skin in there too, but I don't know enough about that to see. Is it some of that play a role too of just like the texture of the hair versus fur, the way it moves, things like that too.

[00:27:53] If 

[00:27:54] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: you see a really shortcut, yeah, you can see the tension in the skin when you see the skin more. When it's a really shortcut. And you'll notice when your dog, after they get a shortcut, you'll notice a lot more cues than you could see when they have that teddy bear look. But if we think of lip curls, if they have a beard , like how much of a curled you'd need to even even if they're just doing a little curl of their lip to say, I don't like this.

[00:28:27] It's hard to see it. The tension in the muzzle if they have a beard, you can't see if somebody has a traditional doodle cut and the eyes are really buried in to these big brows and everything. even seeing whale eye and that's the white around their eye. You have to be paying really close attention to being able to even catch 

[00:28:50] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: that and seeing eyebrows.

[00:28:51] Where are their eyebrows? Oh yeah, that too. So yeah, one of the doodles I'm working with she'll probably listen to this, but I always love talking about her cuz she sent me a picture recently and she's been grooming him and he stayed with me for a while and he's got a lot of fear and he looked adorable, but he couldn't see yes, his eyes, his cut was cute, but like his vision.

[00:29:12] So there we are losing that right off the bat of you can't, I can't see his eyes, he can't see very well. So I was like, okay, he needs to be kept short so at least we can have that eye contact visual and see like that. But yeah, the doodles, there's a lot, of hair there. . Yeah. That lays difference than other breeds per se.

[00:29:33] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: It does. And if you think about how sometimes those cuts are, it's almost like a horse's blinders when you know they're driving a carriage or something. And if you're already feeling anxious and on guard and you're a little barky, then you don't even know when something's coming until it's right next to you.

[00:29:51] Yeah. So a shorter cut might be appropriate for a dog like that? Yep. Yep. We, recently had Krish Mair from a calm canine academy on, and they were sharing with their standard poodle who is prone to being really reactive after they gave them a really short haircut because they had trouble with grooming.

[00:30:14] They said I didn't realize how many emotions you had. I couldn't see all of. 

[00:30:19] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: Yes. Yeah, that's same with Howie. Is it? It was just being hidden and, no, like I said, not on purpose. It's just you don't realize it until you cut back and you're like oh, okay. So yeah, that's something definitely to think about too.

[00:30:32] When we talk about some breed differences is their coat. Even tails are all different, right? We have curly tails, straight tails, dog tails, bob, all no tails. Things like that. Different face shapes as well. When we talk about things like that, short dog nose versus long dog dough, sometimes there's a lot of discrepancy there.

[00:30:55] I hear it every once in a while that, hey, my dog has a really hard time with Frenchies or bulldogs, and that's not. super uncommon. Yeah. Because if you look at 90% of dog breeds, they have a long snout, noses at the end, eyes are set back, things like that. And then here comes this Frenchie who's black first off, right?

[00:31:16] Yes. And everything's just smushed together, . So for our 

[00:31:21] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: shitzu and, like Havanese cross, they, they're not able to show the tension in the face the same way, right? Yes. What do you look for differently with 

[00:31:33] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: them? So I'm again, learning to speak Then that breed we're gonna look at, you said Shihtzu and what was the other one?

[00:31:40] Your 

[00:31:41] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: havanese 

[00:31:41] often have some of the flatter, it's not as flat as the 

[00:31:45] What is Your Doodle Trying to Tell You_ How to Better Read Your Dog_s Body Language: shasu. . 

[00:31:46] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: So another thing, but it's also hard, is looking at ears, but they're ears too, depending on the groom. Might be harder to read too. The full fluff. So I'm gonna, yep, the flip flop. But if there's a lot of fluff off of 'em, sometimes it's hard to see if they're back and forward, things like that.

[00:32:02] So I'm gonna look at ears. I'm gonna look at tail. I'm also gonna look at just tension in their body. Dance and dance as well. More than just face stuff. But you can also look for whale eyes. Lip flicking is a really easy thing to start paying attention to. Yawning is another one. So you're still gonna get, and those two shock people.

[00:32:25] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Yes, I know, I thought they were tired or hungry, but actually they're more likely. 

[00:32:31] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: It can be. That's the hard part, right? Like it can be a little bit of everything. And you will have them yawn when they're tired. But if you are out working in a stressful situation, you'll see a yawn, the lip lick, even kissing.

[00:32:45] So if your dog likes to give you kisses, there are nervous kisses, and everyone's oh, my dog loves him. I'm like, no, there is a hundred percent that, that is like a soothing tactic, that they are nervous and uncomfortable and those aren't endearing kisses. 

[00:33:00] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: I, say this all the time because my kids love getting the kisses.

[00:33:05] I actually am not fond of being licked. It's a personal preference. And I'll say no, that's a kiss off. Like they this is a stressed kiss, versus they're relaxed and enjoying their belly rub and for showing 

[00:33:22] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: affection. That is where I think the blanket of I understand body language to.

[00:33:30] Oh, I'm actually missing up a lot of body languages. I think people have a base, but then when you dig a little bit deeper, they're like, oh my gosh, I had actually had no idea that's, that. Those could mean that as well. And a little bit on this topic is I have a hard time, being a doc trainer can be really hard when you go out into the world and you see everything.

[00:33:51] And I wish I didn't, I wish I wasn't good at reading body language sometimes. Yeah, like airports are really hard for me sometimes restaurants, sometimes dog parts. Cause I see so many stress dogs and I'm just like, is it, are, is the owner doing it just because they want their dog with them?

[00:34:09] Things like that. And I have a hard time, that's a, bigger topic as well about is it in the best benefit of the dog or not? But social media as well. Social media is very tough at times. There's a lot of dog body language on social media that goes viral and it is very uncomfortable to watch.

[00:34:29] It is a very stressed out dog. A dog that's being put in a very uncomfortable situation and it blows up. and people are all, it's cute. 

[00:34:38] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Look how cute. Look 

[00:34:39] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: how cute that is. This dog's doing that. I posted one recently of a, of, I think it was a poodle, a mini poodle, okay. That was rolling over, so belly up, right?

[00:34:50] Looking like it's wanting belly rubs. And the owner's hand was teasing I'm gonna get you like the, teasing claw. I'm gonna get you, I'm not gonna get you. And everyone's oh, give her the belly rubs. She wants belly rubs. But if you looked at the dog's body language, she was giving whale eyes, no blinking.

[00:35:10] Eyes were like open and she couldn't like, not relax. She was licking her lips. Ears were back. Tail was tucked. Oh goodness. And she even rolled over more, which was submissive like, please don't eat me. End this. And everybody was like, please give her belly rub. She's just begging for them.

[00:35:33] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Oh gosh. So if you watch two dogs play and one is. or wants it to end, think of what they do. They roll on their back in the position and freeze and as humans and freeze. And we as humans are like yeah. And it's looking at the context I think it was Mel Gibson had a movie of what women want or what women they or something.

[00:35:54] Yeah. If you could hear the voices of women, like in their minds, and I almost think of once you're fluent as you're describing this, I feel like you're the Mel Gibson in this scenario. And once you're fluent in dog body language, you can't stop hearing Oh my God. Yeah. What the dogs are trying to say to you.

[00:36:12] Yeah. Or to whoever they're around. And it's impossible to ignore what they're saying once you know it. 

[00:36:19] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: And even, like I said, I think it's for sure a catch 22 is, I'm glad I'm very fluent, but yes. I've had some branding photo shoots done and all of my dogs speak.

[00:36:29] differently, even though they're all very similar lines. They're just personalities even lead them to speaking a little bit differently. And Tani, who has these beautiful eyes, she's the worst. She hates pictures and cameras. Yeah. And all of that. So even if you watch my social media, like her body language, she hates the camera.

[00:36:50] She's fine. As soon as you put up that phone, her body language changes. And it's hard because it's I wanna video her, but I know she doesn't like it. Or you can see the stress. Yes. You can see the stress. And then Mira, my senior, has this beautiful smile and there is a stress smile, and there's a happy smile.

[00:37:08] So even that, and it is hard to tell unless but I know her well enough. And so like our last photos, now that she's a senior, she has a harder time new environment. And so we did some photos and they're beautiful, but like I see a stress smile at it. I'm like, Emily just let it go. , I have 

[00:37:27] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: the same experience.

[00:37:28] I'll see some, I'll see like a kennel or daycare's, pictures and people will be like, oh my God. Look how happy they are. And I see that it's panting. Yeah. Or a yawn, mid yawn. Yeah. And the dog might have exercised and that might be the reason for panting, but based on the other pictures. Yeah, I was gonna say on 

[00:37:47] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: surprised.

[00:37:48] Yeah. Yeah. And that is lady instead. It is hard from a picture because to Connie, sometimes the pictures look, she looks very stressed, but they're not always It was the, yeah, she was just out running and she's panting. Yes. So there is, can you see a looseness? 

[00:38:04] Corinne Gearhart- The Doodle Pro™: Yeah. It's different once you know the dog and stuff.

[00:38:07] Like you see the looseness. So if we were to go to that viral video, or you're trying to tell does my dog like this consent testing is my go-to? Yes. Can you share a little how you use that and 

[00:38:23] Emily Martin- Pawsitively Pets: what that is?

[00:38:23] Enjoy learning more about how to read your doodles body language and what it means for reactivity. And their communication with other dogs as well as us humans catch it on episode 40 of the doodle pro podcast

[00:38:40]