I keep seeing this (on facebook) of a dog taking a toy onto an bed thing and floating across a swimming pool. It's cute - but.... The dog is licking its lips repeatedly. It doesn't look like it's floating away from all its trouble etc. as per the comments. It looks like this has been trained, and the dog is not all that happy about it! http://imgur.com/gallery/TpZF6F1
I agree definitely trained although I'm not sure about the lip licking. In my experience of stressed dogs, and I've had five years of it , lip licking because of stress is more of a repeated quick flick of the tongue on the lips rather than a big roll around the chops which could be because the dog has just let go of a big toy. However if the footage went on longer and it continued to do that then yes it could be stressed. I doubt it's particularly happy though and would do it out of choice.
The lip licking in this video looks like the lip licking you see in a young dog that has just handed over a bird and isn't quite used to the feel of the feathers in his mouth, rather than nervous lip licking. A bit like what we do after getting rid of a hair in our mouths. The whole calming signals thing needs more study I feel....
Ah, interesting. Maybe it's the toy. Charlie doesn't lip lick, apart from when he's slurping sardines etc. so I've never seen it on my own dog.
It is more of a slurping/cleaning lick of his lips, I don't think he was nervous, probably has been trained to do that, but you never know!
I agree it does look a little contrived, he is not exactly leaping into the lido with enthusiasm and a carefree demeanour. The lip licking doesn't look like the quick nervous licking of lips, but also may indicate he is not so comfortable or even familiar with the soft toy.
I agree. I don't think we really know what lip licking, yawning, narrowing eyes, head turning etc really mean.
Context is everything though, isn't it? I think interpreting anything a dog does depends on the context. I always remember Charlie and Barbara's Riley the first time they met, standing staring at each other (both on lead), they were both really staring, and both thinking wanna play, wanna play, wanna play - let off lead and they ran round in a big play hoolie. So is staring always an aggressive thing? Definitely not.
