3 Reasons Why Dogs Tilt Their Heads

As a dog parent, you must have asked this question a thousand times, “Why does my dog tilt their head when I talk to them?” Well, obviously their cute head tilt melts our hearts, but what are the reasons behind it?

Let’s look at a few reasons why your dog might tilt their head. 

1. Dogs tilt their head to hear better 

One explanation is that your four-legged friend tilts their heads to help them hear you better. While dogs have excellent hearing, they cannot locate the source of the sound as well as their hoomans. 

When dogs tilt their heads, their ear position is altered which helps them localize the sound by measuring the difference in how long it took the sound to reach the closer ear as compared to the farther ear. Isn’t that cool? 

Researchers from the University of York in the United Kingdom also determined that dogs are able to pick up on voice inflection and even respond to baby talk. If you notice your dog tilting their head more when you speak excitedly, they may be focusing on the tone and the pitch. 

2. Head tilts can improve their vision

Stanly Coren, PhD, has studied sensory perception for many years. His theory about dogs tilting their heads is fairly simple. Head tilting allows dogs to see what’s in front of them, (e.g. you talking to them) since their muzzle can obstruct vision. 

You can try looking straight ahead with your fist in front of your nose to understand what your dog might see. You may not be able to see everything clearly in front of you. 

The results of a survey suggested that since the larger-muzzle dogs may have their vision obstructed more, hence, they are more likely to tilt their heads when being spoken to.

3. Dog tilt their heads to empathize with you

Dogs are perfectly capable of empathizing with the tone of your language when you speak to them. A study confirmed that dogs can discriminate between emotional expressions in humans. 

So, head tilts can be used to listen to you, waiting for certain words or tones, e.g. when you say treat, or tell them it’s time for a walk. 

Doggos are interesting beings, aren’t they? Even though they don’t have the same language as us, they do everything they can to communicate with us, through body language, cute expressions, etc. 

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