--- title: Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A dog cannot say «I'm scared» or «let's play», but it says both all day long with its tail, ears, eyes, mouth and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growl… # Reading a dog: tails, play bows, growls and staying safe Lesson 194 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 15 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/0/) — A dog cannot say «I'm scared» or «let's play», but it says both all day long with its tail, ears, eyes, mouth and whole body. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/1/) — Watch two dogs in the park: one drops its front legs to the grass with its bottom in the air, and the other bounces off after it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/2/) — That bow means «this is a game, it's all fun». - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/3/) — The same body can also say «stop»: a tucked tail, a yawn, the whites of the eyes showing, a stiff body or a growl are polite warnings that come before any bite. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/4/) — A wagging tail is not always friendly; you have to read the whole dog, not one part, and if a dog is telling you it is uneasy, the kind and safe thing is to give it space. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/5/) — A loose, wide wag with a wiggly bottom is usually friendly, but a stiff, high tail that wags fast while the dog stares can mean the dog is tense and ready to act. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/6/) — The play bow, front legs down and bottom up, is an invitation to play, and dogs also use it to say «still a game» after a rough moment. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/7/) — A dog that yawns, licks its lips or looks away when the vet comes close is usually not tired but uneasy; these are called calming signals. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/8/) — A tail tucked between the legs means the dog is scared, and a frightened dog that is cornered may bite, so it needs space. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/9/) — When a hugged dog shows the whites of its eyes, often called whale eye, it is uncomfortable; most dogs do not like hugs, and many bites to children come from dogs they know at home. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/11/) — A growl is a warning, not bad behaviour; a dog punished for growling may learn to skip the warning and bite without one. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/12/) — If a strange dog runs at you, the safest thing is to stand still like a tree, arms in, looking away, and not run or scream, because running can make it chase. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/13/) — Always ask the owner before stroking a dog, let it sniff your hand, and stroke its side or chest rather than reaching over its head, because a hand coming down over its head can feel like a threat. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/14/) — Dogs sniff each other's bottoms to say hello, because special scent glands there tell who the other dog is, a bit like reading an identity card. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/194-reading-a-dog-tails-play-bows-growls-and-staying-safe/15/) — Fur standing up along a dog's back is called raised hackles; it shows the dog is very worked up, which can be fear, anger or just big excitement. - ← previous: [How a dog thinks: a world of smells, sounds and faces](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/193-how-a-dog-thinks-smells-sounds-and-faces/) - next →: [Training a dog with rewards and patience](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/195-training-a-dog-with-rewards-and-patience/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)