Mirrored Motion (Dogs at Peace)

In our continuing efforts to notice dog language based on what we learned from Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide by Brenda Aloff, I shot these two photos of the dogs sitting inside one of our sliding doors in the sun. Both looked at me, then looked away in unison. I love these pics of my golden-eyed pair, sharing a dog bed in the sun.

They probably are squinting more from the sun than as a calming signal, but it’s a definitive face placement. The head turn could be in response to me and the camera being so close, but I swear they moved like a flock of birds, in perfect harmony and timing.

Notice Ginko’s neutral/happy flying-nun ears. That’s what we see most often from him. Lilly’s ears don’t bend like that. She has many ear positions, though:

• tucked back, which can mean super relaxed or really worried (depending on the situation)
  
• mid-mast (like above), which is relaxed
• mid-mast, but tipping forward or back, which means she’s worried
• full-mast, which means she’s alerted to something or is getting ready to be bossy