Oh, happy news: Chance smiles. He really does. Whenever I get home and let him out of his room, or let him out of his room in the morning, he raises the back part of his mouth so high I can see his back teeth on both sides. At first I thought he was baring his teeth at me, but then I noticed that he wasn't growling and otherwised seemed really happy and his body was in the playing position. Well, it turns out dobies are a breed known for smiling. Not all of them do it, but more are likely to than other breeds. I love this dog. He is giving me gray hairs, I can barely manage my house now, but I love him. How endearing is that? I mean, you cannot miss the smile b/c the skin above the mouth has to wrinkle up so noticeably and the teeth are VERY noticeable (okay, a little scary when you don't know he is actually happy and not being aggressive). I told my ex this and he told me, oh, yeah, I know. I said, what? He said, yeah, he did it to me when I picked him up for you from the breeder. I couldn't believe it. I asked him, why didn't you tell me? I spent a whole week thinking he was getting ready to turn on me b/c I had never heard of a dog really doing that and I thought he was baring his teeth at me in anger. It wasn't until my girlfriend suggested he was smiling once she saw him and his body position. She said the neighbors dog Jimmy did the same thing. She said when she first met Jimmy, he did it and she backed away b/c she thought he was going to attack her but the neighbors explained he was just smiling. And my ex said that he had a dog as a child that did that. I never really knew a dog actually smiled, I mean, physically and undeniably LIFTED the muscles of the back corners of the mouth to expose it teeth, mimicing a human smile, when happy to see you or meet a new person.
Have you seen this? Does your dog do this? What do you know about this phenomena (sp?)?
Have you seen this? Does your dog do this? What do you know about this phenomena (sp?)?
