Have you ever seen your dog cocking his head to look at you? Or does your dog do it all the time? These can be normal – and endearing! – ways for a dog to communicate. But the can also sometimes mean something’s wrong that needs looking into.
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Normal Behaviour
Although we may think that animals act in a symmetrical way, you may be surprised to hear that often they prefer one side. And in fact, asymmetrical tail wagging and paw preference have been observed in some dogs. When you say your dog’s name, you will notice that they turn and look at you in order to receive visual clues about what to do next; they look at your facial expressions, eye movements and hand position amongst other more subtle signs in your body language. Scientists believe that a dog will turn its head to the left if they recognise a command; whereas, it will turn its head to the right if the stimuli are meaningless to them.
Another movement that you may notice your dog performing is the head tilt
A study has been performed to identify why and when dogs tilt their heads. The study used dogs that are able to learn the names of objects, known as gifted word learners. Each dog went through a process of months of learning the names of different objects or toys before being challenged. On the day that the dogs were challenged, it was noted that when a dog tilted their head, it did this more obviously when it recognised the word; suggesting that the dog was paying more attention to the owner and trying to access information from its memory.
The study also found that each dog had a preference over which side they tilted towards and then consistently tilted their head in that direction, indicating that like humans, they can be left or right-dominant.
Abnormal behaviours
Despite a head tilt being a normal characteristic for many dogs, sometimes it can be associated with disease. If you notice that your dog is consistently holding their head to one side then this could indicate that there is a problem. And it may be associated with other signs such as abnormal eye movements, falling over and circling. It is important that you contact your vet so that they can perform an examination and get to the bottom of the cause of these signs.
Ear disease
When a dog has an ear infection, it can be painful, causing them to shake their head and scratch their ears. They may even hold their ear at a different angle or tilt their head to one side. In some cases, an ear infection can involve the middle ear, causing damage to the nerves and other structures within the ear, resulting in the dog feeling off-balance, which is why they hold their head at a different angle.
Vestibular disease
The vestibular system, which consists of the inner ear and the connected brain regions, is responsible for maintaining balance and head position. If the vestibular system is disrupted by something, such as inflammation, infection or tumours, it can cause the dog to become off-balance, resulting in a head tilt, falling over and flickering eyes.
Brain tumours
Unfortunately, dogs can sometimes suffer from tumours in their brain. They can put pressure on areas of the brain or destroy brain tissue, resulting in the dog showing neurological signs, such as a head tilt, circling, falling and blindness. The best way to diagnose this condition is by performing an MRI of the head.
Carefully monitoring your dog so that you know what is normal for them is very important, that way, if they start to show some unusual signs, you will recognise it straight away and can get them the treatment that they need.
Further reading:
- Sommese, A., Miklósi, Á., Pogány, Á. et al.An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs. Anim Cogn 25, 701–705 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01571-8
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