Sure, we know that dogs tilting their heads are adorable, but have you ever wondered why they do it?
I would love to keep thinking that dogs tilt their heads at me because they are simply trying to earn my love and adoration which they do every single time, but that really isn’t the real reason. The real reason is even cuter.
According to Mental Floss, dogs are actually tilting their heads in such a way to empathise with you, or at least try to. Which makes sense. Most of us who have had dogs in our lives know that they are particularly good at reading how you are feeling.
You know when you’re sick and your dog will cuddle up with you? Or when you’re crying and your dog is the only one there for you and they’ll whimper at you as if to say, “Your sorrow is MY sorrow!” That whole “sixth sense” in dogs is really real -they just obviously have to express themselves in different ways.
When a dog tilts his or her head to the side, they are simply conveying that they are listening and empathising with you, silly human.
Additionally, Mental Floss reports that a dog’s head tilt may also be related to the mechanics of a dog’s ear. We probably all know that dogs hear at a much better level than human beings do, but we might not all know that dogs have a different process in figuring out where a noise is coming from. By tilting its head, a dog may simply be adjusting their outer ear to find exactly where that pesky noise is coming from.
Because ultimately, your dog wants to know what’s happening in order to protect you best. Because they are the most loyal and also just the best. No really, that’s a fact. Plus, having a dog as a BFF has been scientifically proven to boost our mood and make us feel way less stressed. And they also encourage us to exercise more, because they want the very best for us.