Does Your Dog Turn His Head When You Speak To Him?

We go to the room and give our pet an order. The dog immediately turns his head and we automatically think that he is paying attention to what we are saying … How many times has this not happened to us?

Most of the owners associate this gesture with the gesture that we ourselves do when we do not understand what someone is saying to us: Something like “What do you want to say?” They do it and it seems very human.

What is the cause of this cute doggy gesture? Actually, there are two theories that seek to explain why the dog turns its head when you speak to it.

Scientists disagree

The phenomenon is being studied by scientists specialized in biology, veterinary medicine and neuroscience. However, there is still no proven answer, and researchers have disagreed.

Although it may seem incredible, dog head tilt is a topic that generates debate and controversy in current science. Basically, there are two positions that try to explain this behavior and both are opposed to each other.

Let’s see the approaches of both scientific positions …

Does the dog turn its head to hear you better?

According to some experts in canine psychology, dogs turn their faces to position their outer ear so that they can more clearly and accurately capture the modulations of our voice.

It must be remembered that dogs are able to recognize more than 160 words of human beings. Some species and specimens exceed this margin significantly.

For this reason, it is not uncommon for dogs to turn their ears to keep an active listening when we address them.

The other hypothesis: The dog turns his head to see you better

According to another group of researchers, dogs perform such specific gestures because it allows them to see our mouth while we speak to them. What prevents them from doing this from the front? The answer is simple: the muzzle.

That would explain why dogs with larger and longer noses are more likely to adopt this facial posture.

It all depends on the training

Let us not forget that the reaction of the dog to our orders depends to a great extent on the effectiveness of the training that we have achieved in them. When dogs seek to identify what we say through sight or hearing, it is because there is a significant degree of attention and interaction.

According to this theory, tilting the face is an action with which dogs seek to give meaning to what we say to them. Regardless of whether it is through sight or hearing, evidently his intention seems to be to understand us.

Added to this, perhaps we ourselves have encouraged this type of behavior in our animals.

Timed response?

Most owners tend to think that dogs turn their faces as a sign of attention and obedience.

Without being aware of it, after a gesture of turning our pet’s head, we respond with a caress. The consequence of this is that we are used to pets to repeat this action over and over again to get positive stimuli.

Everything in excess is bad

If the dog turns his head frequently and with little control, we must pay close attention. In the least of the cases, an otitis could be affecting one of the ears of your faithful friend.

We must remember that any disease in the auditory organ will affect the balance of the dog, causing him to repeatedly tilt. If our friend only turns his face when we speak to him, it is a good sign. The normal thing is that it recognizes the voice of its owner and that is a warning that everything is in order.