(RNN) – Dogs are telling us quite a bit, it turns out.
All the wiggles, nudges and squirms mean something, a new study says.
Researchers from the University of Salford in Manchester, England, have spent a lot of time with our canine friends and have discovered 47 gestures or actions dogs use to communicate with us.
The information was recently published in the science journal Animal Cognition.
Of the gestures scientists observed, they’ve translated 19 of them.
And guess what? Most of them have to do with scratching, feeding, playing or letting them out.
Here’s a doggy dictionary so you'll know what your pooch is trying to tell you.
These actions mean “scratch me”:
- Rolling onto one side of the body and exposing the chest and belly
- Pressing nose against you
- Licking you or an object repeatedly
- Lifting a paw and placing it on you
- Gently biting your arm
- Short shuffles along the ground while rolling over
- Lifting a back leg while laying on side
- Rubbing head against you while leaning against you
These mean “feed me”:
- Using snout and head to move your hand on to its body
- Holding one paw in the air while sitting
- Turning head from side-to-side, looking between you and another object
- Standing on hind legs
- Holding toy in mouth and throwing it forwards
These mean “play with me”:
- Briefly touching you with a single paw
- Diving headfirst under you or object
- Reaching a paw towards an object of interest, like a ball or toy
- Wiggling body under you or object
These mean “open door for me”:
- Lifting both paws off the ground and placing them on you or a nearby object
- Jumping up and down off the ground, human or an object, usually while staying in the same spot
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