Top 3 Reasons Why Dogs Tilt Their Head To the Side

Why Does My Dog Tilt Their Head To the Side?

You’ve probably noticed your dog tilting their head to the side while looking at you. This behavior is so cute. Not all dogs do this but the majority do. If you have ever wondered why your dog is tilting their head to the side, then keep reading.

Top 3 Reasons Why Dogs Tilt Their Head To the Side:

1. So they can hear better. This is the top reason why dogs tilt their heads to the side, because they are trying to hear sounds you are making more clearly. When your dog’s head is tilted, one ear will become more exposed to hearing sounds. This is due to the ear being up and forward in position. Thus, sounds the dog was hearing before as static or fuzzy, will now become clearer to him or her. Dogs have their own language and don’t necessary understand a lot of our language. When you talk to your dog, your dog may pick up a word here and there but for the most part what your dog is understand is much like what you would pickup listening to someone speak a foreign language which you are not familiar with. Dogs, just like humans are good at pickup up on other signals such as the tone of voice which is used in speech and body language.

2. So they can get a treat. Dogs are smart. When they tilt their head, you are likely to respond by saying how cute they look. Dogs learn by experience. So in the past if they tilted their heads a few times and got a cookie, they may have learned by repetition to tilt their head so they can look cute and get a treat.

3. So they can get attention. When a dog is acting cute, it’s natural for you to notice and want to pet them and tell them how cute they are. Your dog probably tilted their head to the side a few times so they could hear you better and then the dog enjoyed how you reacted so they learned tilting their head to the side is a good way to get good attention from you. This is a learned behavior.

Whenever your dog hears a word which perks his or her interest, they are likely to tilt their head to the side in the direction from where the sound is coming from. Sometimes the dog won’t do this though and that just means your dog can already hear well enough and doesn’t need to cock his or her head.

Your dogs breed also plays into whether or not your dog will cock their head to the side. If your dog has erect ears, then they will be less likely to tilt. On the other hand if your dog has floppy ears, they will be more likely to tilt.