Micro-Expressions In Dogs: Reading Subtle Canine Communications

By Norma Jeanne Laurette ​

What Are Micro-Expressions?

Over the past decade, canine behaviour experts have learned so much more about canine communication and body language than ever before. Most people are familiar with a dog’s macro-expressions such as a big doggie smile or play bow but few are well versed in micro-expressions, which can reveal a dog’s emotional state through subtle shifts in body posture and facial features R1. 

The term micro-expressions refers to involuntary facial and body signals that last only a fraction of a second and reveal a dog’s emotions R2. These cues, which come from their eyes, ears, mouth, whiskers and posture are missed by most people, including a lot of dog trainers R3. 
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These fluctuations can indicate emotions such as stress, anxiety, fear, conflict, irritation, appeasement, affection, happiness or excitement and can be accompanied by other communications such as whining, growling or barking R4.

Micro-Expressions

Eyes

​The eyes can speak volumes about a dog’s emotional state. The eyes of a relaxed and happy dog will be round and hold a soft gaze. An aroused, frightened, stressed or anxious dog’s eyes will be wide with a hard stare and may show white around the eyes, known as whale-eye R8.

You’ll notice a dog’s eyes soften when interacting with people, other dogs and animals it likes and trusts. Looking away paired with slow blinks is often used to avoid conflict and ease tension R9, while the hard stare is reserved for moments before a sudden and impulsive reaction such as deterrent behaviour, lunging or biting. To learn about deterrent behaviour see our first book Blueprint To A Happy Dog R31.
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These communications are valuable when interacting with dogs because they help determine whether we should proceed, pause, turn away, blink, avoid eye contact, crouch, disengage or increase distance. Proactively supporting our dogs’ emotional wellbeing and behaviour by responding appropriately to their cues is essential to preventing stress and conflict R10.

Ears

​The movement of a dog’s ears provides subtle clues that reflect both emotion and focus. When a dog is alert, its ears will point forward and if it’s concentrating on something, they will turn toward the source of the sound. Ears flattened against a dog’s head indicate fear, while flickering ears suggest the dog is startled or investigating new sounds R11. Repeated ear twitching can signal that the dog is annoyed or mildly stressed. Ear twitching can be triggered by various factors, including changes in a handler’s tone, distractions or difficulty focusing – and can be caused by training sessions that progress longer than the dog’s ability to focus R12.
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Recognizing what a dog’s ears are communicating helps us adjust our interactions and training sessions to keep the dog relaxed and focused R13.

Mouth

​As with humans, how a dog is feeling can be easily gauged by the tension in its lips. Dogs often use involuntary tightening of the lips and lip licking during social interactions as displacement behaviours when deciding whether to approach or retreat. It can indicate appeasement, mild stress or confusion R14. This often occurs when a dog is uncertain in new situations or environments or when meeting new animals or people. If it happens during a training session it can suggest that the dog has become overwhelmed and needs a shift in technique or a break R15.

​It’s important to use this information to make responsible choices that reduce the dog’s stress and prevent escalation R16.

Whiskers

​Not only is a dog’s sensory perception enhanced by its whiskers, it can also communicate its emotional state. When a dog is relaxed, its whiskers will rest against its muzzle. When stressed or aroused, they move forward, flare to the sides and become tense, which activates their sensory abilities R17. A dog’s whiskers are attached to sensitive nerve endings and blood vessels. When extended, a dog can feel subtle shifts in air currents enabling it to sense objects, other animals, navigate spaces and track prey R27.

However, whiskers can also communicate slight changes in mood R27. When a dog becomes reactive, just before barking, lunging or biting – the whiskers may flare forward as the eyes narrow and harden and the body stiffens R18.

Likewise, as the dog relaxes, the whiskers will once again rest against its face.
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Whiskers are one more piece of the puzzle to read when gauging a dog’s emotional state, in order to predict and prevent stress and unwanted behaviours R19.

Freezing

​A micro-freeze occurs when a dog suddenly stops and holds its position for a brief moment. The freeze indicates a shift from either a relaxed state to alert or alert to calm R5. When this happens the dog is in conflict and making a choice about whether to continue engaging, stop, retreat or lunge and is an early warning that the dog is becoming stressed and could escalate to aggression.

We’ve seen this many times when dogs greet new dogs on leash. One or both will freeze, followed by play, disengaging or lunging. Because the freeze looks the same no matter the outcome, it can be difficult to predict the behaviour that will follow and know how to respond. This is one reason we avoid most leash greetings, the other being the unpredictability of the human at the other end of the leash. It’s important to put everything we know about the environment, the dog, as well as what its body is communicating into context to understand how it is truly feeling R6.
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This is key to helping handlers identify and avoid triggers that could lead to stress, anxiety, fear and aggression before it occurs R7.

The Importance Of Becoming A Micro-Expression Expert

​I can’t tell you how many times clients have told me their dog bit without warning. What many fail to realize is that there are almost always warnings, even though they don’t recognize them R20. When a dog communicates with subtle signals that it’s uncomfortable with a situation, it’s usually doing so with the intent to disarm the conflict.

However, there are also dogs that have been punished for showing teeth or growling, forcing them to suppress early warning communications and go straight to more intense behaviours such as lunging or biting R28. However, even though it looks as though the dog gave no warning, there’s often at least one brief micro-expression that precedes the behaviour. This is one reason why punishing a dog for expressing its emotional state is counter-productive. Since almost all aggression is caused by fear, these behaviours usually indicate a distressed dog attempting to cope with a perceived threat. Punishing a fearful dog only increases fear, stress and anxiety, which are the root cause of most aggressive behaviour R32 R29.

By treating the cause of the problem instead of punishing the symptoms we help the dog feel safer and more comfortable. When the dog is no longer stressed, the resulting behaviours will naturally fade. Just as with physical health, emotional health should also be addressed by treating the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms R30. The only time symptoms of aggression should be treated is when taking safety precautions to prevent bites.

For example, consider a child that’s allowed to torment or manhandle a dog. The dog may communicate its discomfort through subtle signals such as freezing, turning away, yawning, licking its lips, tightening its mouth or showing whale-eye, which is its way of saying, “I don’t like this.” If these warnings are ignored, the dog may be forced to escalate to deterrent behaviours R31, growling, snapping or biting R21. These incidents are always preventable and never the dog’s fault.

When we become fluent at reading micro-expressions, we will be able to spot stressors early and step in before they escalate to aggression, thus protecting the dog’s temperament, emotional wellbeing and potentially even its life R22. When dogs know their signals are understood, they become calmer, happier and more trusting, resulting in a deeper the bond of mutual trust and respect.

How To Become A Micro-Expressions Expert

​Like any skill, reading micro-expressions can be learned and the more you practice, the better you become.

Understand Macro-Expressions

​To become a micro-expression expert one must first understand a dog’s macro-expressions, which are much more obvious and last longer that a split second. These include: baring teeth, doggy grin, helicopter tail, lowered head with crouched body, play bow, tucked tail, wigging body, raised hackles, rolling over and wrinkled muzzle among others. R33

Understand The Breed

Because some breeds are more expressive and easier to read than others, understanding what’s normal for the particular breed is important. For example, it can be difficult to identify the facial expressions of a breed with a wrinkled face. Likewise, dogs with floppy ears may require you to focus more on eyes and body tension to read its emotions R23.

Context

Always put what you are seeing into context with what you know about the dog, the dog’s history, the situation, environment and what the rest of the body is communicating R1. There are almost always multiple forms of communication working in sync. It’s important to consider all contributing factors, including both macro and micro expressions R24.

Videotape

It’s extremely helpful to refer to video footage of playtime, greetings or other interactions. If you watch your footage in slow motion you can isolate, identify and study quick moving micro-expressions R25.
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The more video you dissect the quicker you will become adept at reading multiple communications occurring at the same time. Practice makes perfect!

Never Punish

​Never punish a dog for communicating. Instead, focus on preventing problems and addressing their root causes. If a dog feels stressed by other dogs, animals, people, situations or environments they must be able to handle – use desensitization, counter-conditioning and/or guided socialization to help them feel more comfortable. It’s just as important to protect the dog from dogs, people and experiences they should have to tolerate.

Be Pro-Active

​If you notice signs of stress don’t let it pass. Immediately remove the dog from the situation – then you can decide whether you need to avoid the triggers or treat them with behaviour modification R21.

For those of us who truly love dogs, learning about and using micro-expressions to our advantage is about respecting our dogs and what they need to be healthy and happy. Our dogs have become master communicators and read us better than we read them R26. We owe it to them to learn their language as well, in order to strengthen our relationship. When our dogs realize that we understand them and have their backs, only then can they truly relax, enjoy their lives and not feel the need to lash out in order to protect themselves. We owe them the compassion to do what it takes to turn conflict and confusion into understanding and effective communication R22.

References

​R1: Yin, S. (2009). Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats. CattleDog Publishing.
R2: Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed. Times Books.
R3: Bradshaw, J. (2011). Dog Sense. Basic Books.
R4: McConnell, P. (2002). The Other End of the Leash. Ballantine Books.
R5: Yin, S. (2009). Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats. CattleDog Publishing.
R6: Overall, K. L. (2013). Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats. Elsevier.
R7: Overall, K. L. (2013). Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats. Elsevier.
R8: Rugaas, T. (2005). On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals. Dogwise Publishing.
R9: Horowitz, A. (2009). Inside of a Dog. Scribner.
R10: Donaldson, J. (2017). Culture Clash. Dogwise Publishing.
R11: McConnell, P. (2002). The Other End of the Leash. Ballantine Books.
R12: Donaldson, J. (2017). Culture Clash. Dogwise Publishing.
R13: Yin, S. (2009). Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats. CattleDog Publishing.
R14: Bradshaw, J. (2011). Dog Sense. Basic Books.
R15: Horowitz, A. (2009). Inside of a Dog. Scribner.
R16: Rugaas, T. (2005). On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals. Dogwise Publishing.
R17: Horowitz, A. (2009). Inside of a Dog. Scribner.
R18: Bradshaw, J. (2011). Dog Sense. Basic Books.
R19: Overall, K. L. (2013). Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats. Elsevier.
R20: Donaldson, J. (2017). Culture Clash. Dogwise Publishing.
R21: McConnell, P. (2002). The Other End of the Leash. Ballantine Books.
R22: Donaldson, J. (2017). Culture Clash. Dogwise Publishing.
R23: Horowitz, A. (2009). Inside of a Dog. Scribner.
R24: Bradshaw, J. (2011). Dog Sense. Basic Books.
R25: Yin, S. (2009). Low Stress Handling, Restraint and Behavior Modification of Dogs & Cats. CattleDog Publishing.
R26: Bradshaw, J. (2011). Dog Sense. Basic Books.
R27: Horwitz, D. F., & Mills, D. S. (2009). BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Behavioural Medicine (2nd ed.). British Small Animal Veterinary Association.
Detailed overview of canine sensory systems including vibrissae structure and function, highlighting their role in spatial awareness, hunting and emotional communication.
R28: Donaldson, J. (2017). Oh Behave! Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker. Dogwise Publishing.
Explores the consequences of suppressing natural canine communication and emphasizes the importance of humane training practices.
R29: McConnell, P. B. (2002). The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs. Ballantine Books. Discusses dog body language and communication, including why behaviours like growling are essential warning signals.
R30: Overall, K. L. (2013). Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Outlines the importance of treating the emotional and environmental root causes of behaviour issues rather than simply managing symptoms.
R31: Laurette. NJ. & Ceci.Greg. Blueprint To A Happy Dog. (2019). Canine Communication Styles. https://dogtrainingcareers.com/product/blueprint-to-a-happy-dog/
R32: Ciribassi, J. (2012). Forget dominance: Fear-based aggression in dogs. DVM360. Retrieved from https://www.dvm360.com/view/forget-dominance-fear-based-aggression-dogs
R33: American Kennel Club. (n.d.). How to read dog body language. American Kennel Club. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-read-dog-body-language/

Photo By Maria Kemmett