What’s Your Pup Trying To Say?
Like most of their gestures, dogs headbutt when they want to communicate with us. Common reasons for headbutting are that canines are expressing affection; want to cuddle; are telling us they are hungry, anxious, fearful or ill; or they’re showing dominance or irritation. Dogs also headbutt to initiate play, herd us, say hello or to mark us. That begs the question, how can you tell what your pooch is trying to convey?
Affection
Dogs can’t speak our language, so a little headbutt may just mean, “I love you; please pet me.” If the pup headbutting you seems happy and just trying to get your attention, he could be nudging you to receive a bit of love.
Want To Cuddle
Your dog might notice how comfy you look lying on the couch and think that you (and he) would be even cosier if he were up there with you. That’s definitely a headbutt moment.
Food, please!
We all know what happens when Fido is hungry. She knows that it’s mealtime or even time for a snack, and you obviously need a reminder. Checking the time can usually confirm that you’re being headbutted because of hunger.
Anxiety
If your dog is nervous about something, he may likely give you a headbutt to let you know he needs reassurance. This could happen at the vet, during fireworks or a thunderstorm or if you’re on a walk or at the park and a big dog approaches.
Fear
Fear’s similar to anxiety. Your pooch wants you to protect her and let her know that everything is alright.
Illness
If you’re sitting at home having a typical day, and your dog headbutts you (especially if she normally doesn’t), she might be suffering from a physical ailment. Observe to see if she’s licking a particular part of her body, holding a paw up and not putting weight on it, looks tired, is not eating or drinking, not playing, crying, hiding, shaking, is vomiting or has diarrhoea.
Dominance
As cute as they are, canines are pack animals and think in terms of dominance. If that headbutt feels like you’re being tested or bossed around, you might need to work on establishing that you’re in charge. Here’s a video about teaching a dog that you’re the alpha.
Irritation
You’ve done it now, you’ve irritated your doggy. If you didn’t give him a snack or let him out of the house, or maybe he’s not quite ready to leave the dog park, you might get a headbutt. Dogs sometimes express frustration with a little butt of their head.
Play With Me
If you’re reading, watching telly, on the phone, speaking with someone in person or engaged in any activity that doesn’t prominently feature Rover, he may headbutt you to remind you that you should be tossing a ball for him to fetch, playing tug of war with a toy or something else that he enjoys.
Herding
Your dog can’t tell you that you need to retrieve your cat because she snuck into the garage and you locked her out of the house when you closed the door, that his toy is stuck under a piece of furniture or other situations that require your immediate attention. Herding dogs like Great Pyrenees, Border Collies, Australian Cattle dogs, Sheepdogs and German Shepherd dogs have been headbutting animals since they were domesticated tens of thousands of years ago.
Saying Hello
There’s nothing like a headbutt to say “hello.” Especially if you’ve just returned home, and Spot can barely contain himself and wants to show how much he’s missed you. Their excitement to see us merits an enthusiastic headbutt. It’s easy to identify a greeting headbutt.
Marking Us
Dogs find many ways to leave their scent on people and things. Licking, rubbing their body on someone/something and headbutting are all effective methods of ensuring that other dogs know what belongs to the marking pup.
Should You Allow Headbutting?
Your decision could be influenced by the size of your pooch. A big dog’s headbutt could knock someone over or hurt a frail person. You might not want your dog headbutting little children or strangers.
Headbutting as a greeting, to get your attention, to say “I love you,” to suggest playing, as a reminder to be fed, to request protection, to gently guide you to a place where you need to address a situation or to notify you that she isn’t feeling well are all rather innocent—unless your dog is a behemoth and the headbutts are making you fly across the room. Even marking you with her scent isn’t harmful.
However, you don’t want to encourage dominance headbutts.
How To Train Your Dog To Stop Headbutting
Don’t reinforce the behaviour if you want to eliminate it. If you do whatever your dog requests immediately after you are headbutted, she will be conditioned to continue. You need to encourage a different way for Fifi to communicate, minus the headbutt. For instance, if your dog headbutts you when she wants to be let outside in the yard, you could set up doggy bells that she can jingle to notify you.
One strategy is making sure that you dedicate some time to playing with and doing training exercises with your dog, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes of quality time each day, so he feels like he’s having bonding time on a regular basis.
If the headbutting occurs predominantly when there’s a thunderstorm, try getting a Thundershirt (some models even come with music and aromatherapy built-in), essential oil or CBD Oil. You can also set up a safe, quiet place like under the covers in your bed or on her bed. Turning the telly or music on loud can sometimes drown out loud sounds.
Conclusion
Headbutting is a normal dog behaviour that you can allow or eliminate with training. Most of the time, dogs headbutt to communicate about something important–fear, anxiety, illness, hunger, or to herd you somewhere that you need to go–and some headbutts are kind of sweet–love, attention, play with me and big greetings.
As long as the headbutting isn’t painful or causing harm, the main headbutting reason that should not be encouraged is dominance. Not rewarding headbutts and rewarding replacement behaviours can eradicate headbutting.
