Appeasement?

I'm a little confused about the behaviour Pen has just shown towards Louie. I think it's appeasement but I'm not entirely sure.

Pennie has just wandered up to Louie who is half asleep in the chair. He let out a sleepy grumble and then she started to lick around his mouth.

Thats appeasement right?

Correct, it is

Depends on the circumstances imo.

What happened next?

It can be appeasement, but if he was telling her to go away and she got further into his space and ignored that signal, either she was not really appeasing, or her social skills may require some work.

Ime signals are rarely simply black and white and very much depend on context, trigger and outcome i.e. you need to look at the whole story, sometimes including the learned outcome in terms of repeated, or avoided, behaviour in future.

Or he had something tasty on his lips

Remind me to post a video of it later ...

The last time Jake did this to Ailsa I went to see what was happening and she had been stung by a wasp and looked like a Shar Pei........

She then stood on the chair and licked his eyes, but then another growl and she went and laid down. She is a baby so I agree her social skills need work.

When she is around Leanne's Flynn she will get growled at and try to lick his chops too. But I was under the impression that licking chops was appeasement.

Yawning can be a sign of stress, but it can also be a sign of fatigure.

Licking lips can be a sign of stress but it can also mean the dog enjoyed its lunch.

Sniffing the ground can be a sign of stress, but it can also mean the dog can sniff a bitch in heat, food, or an interesting scent.

Context is everything.

It was before they were fed. If that helps.

Ozzie and Coco ,..


Click on the picture for video..