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Would you be intimidated if you saw this?


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Does anyone believe a dog can smile? One of my former fosters (Peyton, a black Standard Poodle) is a bigtime grinner. This dog doesn't have a mean bone in her body, but some people are kind of intimidated when they visit my best friend (who adopted Peyton). She meets and greets everybody with a big smile. My best friend often has a hard time convincing people that it's really ok to come inside. There's nothing at all snarly about her; she just "smiles" a lot. Peyton has to be the least menacing dog I know.

Would you be afraid? Does anyone else's dog "smile" like this?
[img]http://groups.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetMBPhoto&ImageID=nFgAAAAoJjGPmRkF*zjRR7DoEO*ftzbQoIOjr8LMJJlO366qYrG5eyw[/img]
[img]http://groups.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetMBPhoto&ImageID=nFgAAABgJwGSb6r1HjTIcZgT3VxI*K2ijSl6bAIKFU029C37SeCumNA[/img]

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Oh what a ferocious animal! LOL

When Jackie talks, she uses growly talk. The first time my youngest nephew heard her do that he said "Jackie was growling at me!" Jackie also doesn't have a mean bone in her body. But someone who didn't understand dogs might think that she was growling (of course they would have to ignore the wiggly butt and the whirlybird tail).

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Mocha was a big time smile-er! When we saw her at the shelter, she'd do her little baring teeth thing, but her tail was wagging like crazy! After we adopted her, whenever anyone came home, she'd greet us like that, and whenever she'd get excited she would too. :lol: I never could get a picture of it though, it was very very cute. :angel:

Plus it would fend off any potential burgelers!! :lol:

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it looks/seems to me this could be a submissive grin. lots of people mistake it for aggression but (and you can't tell real well from these particular pics) the dog is really saying i am not a threat. in the second pic you can look at her lips and where the corners are (far back) and understand she is not set to bite.

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R2, I'm pretty sure it would be a submissive grin. She's about the most submissive dog I know. Very sweet dog, and submissive as all get out. I just think it's cute how she "smiles" and how many people get kind of intimidated by this big ol' grinning Poodle.

BK, it's interesting you mentiond Dalmatians. Someone on another board said the same thing. I'd never heard it before, but it must be fairly common then.

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[quote name='Horsefeathers!']

Would you be afraid?
[img]http://groups.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetMBPhoto&ImageID=nFgAAAAoJjGPmRkF*zjRR7DoEO*ftzbQoIOjr8LMJJlO366qYrG5eyw[/img]
[img]http://groups.msn.com/isapi/fetch.dll?action=MyPhotos_GetMBPhoto&ImageID=nFgAAABgJwGSb6r1HjTIcZgT3VxI*K2ijSl6bAIKFU029C37SeCumNA[/img][/quote]

It would depend on the rest of the dog's body language. If her/his ears were flattened & hackles raised, Yes, I would be intimidated. :P At least enough to not do anything stupid like approach him/her suddenly. :lol:

I've seen smiles accompanied by lots of tail wagging & friendly gestures - that's just sooo sweet to see. :angel:

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[quote name='Alan']My first thought when I saw the picture was, if I was face to face with that dog, I would be backing up lol. After I read you said he was happy, I could see it. It's kinda like those pictures that change depending on how you look at them. I could easily tell in person but is there any way to tell from a photograph if its agression or a smile?[/quote]

That's right, in a picture you can't see the rest of their body language, see how they react to your body language, hear any noises they're making, etc.

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oh whew! there for a minute i thought i was losing my mind. i am caught up now! no doubt there are pups out there that do it for other reasons. when i brush front teeth gaia holds her lips back so that i can get to her pearlies. so now i just say "teefers" and she smiles for brushing -- tho she only does it in the presence of the toothpaste canister as i have not trained it in other situations.

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