My (nearly) 6 month old has recently started lifting his top lip and showing his teeth when greeting people. We visited his breeder a few weeks ago and she noticed it, apparently his mum does it as well, she reckons it's smiling There's no aggression in him at all, he loves saying hello regardless if it's me or a stranger and his tail is going a mile a minute. It's actually rather cute. Any theories on what this could be, anyone have a dog that does the same?
Hi @Stew, any possibility of a short video. One needs to observe a number of different aspects of the dog's body language rather just looking at the mouth, as you well recognise from your comment about the tail. But it matters where the tail is being held more than the observation that its moving. If video not possible, I suggest you look up Stan Coren's work who has many drawings of dog emotions. Laughing is normally viewed as a relaxed open mouth rather than just raising an upper lip. Maybe your dog and mother have their own language.
My childhood Dalmatian would do this - I think it is a breed trait with them. It was known as "grinning" in our house. I've seen it described as a "smarl" in the internet. It was, indeed, cute.
Hi Stew, it's sometimes referred to as a 'submissive grin' - accompanied by a full body wag, it's considered to be a sign that a dog is friendly and unthreatening.
