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This Is Why Dogs Tilt Their Heads When You Talk To Them

We all think it’s cute - but why do they do it?

Awww
Awww



When you talk to a dog, and it puts its head on one side, like it’s listening to you, it’s one of the cutest tricks our four-legged friends are capable of.

But why do they do it?

The answer isn’t that your dog is actually listening to every word you say - they only recognise certain parts of human language.

Some experts think that the reason they do it is BECAUSE we find it cute - the dog responds to our responses, and the fact we find the head-tilt cute means they do it more often.

Others suggest it’s to do with hearing - that the dog is angling one ear towards us to listen carefully, and to work out where the sound’s coming from.

But one expert believes that it’s actually to do with watching your mouth closely.

Stanley Coren, writing in Psychology Today, says, ‘We know that dogs continually scan our faces for information and to read our emotional state. Hence it is likely that one reason why dogs may tilt their heads when we talk to them is because they want to see our faces better, and to compensate for the way in which their muzzles obscure part of their vision.’

In other words, when your dog is tilting its head, it really is hanging on your every word - whether or not it understands them.