I’m fairly certain my dog and I will break the language barrier some day but, until we do, I expect many more of my most meaningful monologues to be answered with nothing but the most adorable of head tilts.
Let’s be real, we all talk to our pooches. Have you ever been mid-conversation with your pup and they suddenly tilt their head to the side as if to say, “O man, what’s mah crazy hooman going on about now?”
According to the results of a survey conducted by Dr. Stanley Coren, that super-cute, #omgthefeels head tilt may have more to do with improving your dog’s sight than their hearing when it comes to understanding you.
Dogs constantly scan our faces for visual cues, so an obstructive muzzle may be the key to the head tilt. Coren found that only 52% of the brachycephalic dogs (breeds with flatter faces like Pugs and Boston Terriers) tilted their heads when spoken to, while dogs with a more pronounced muzzle showed a 71% tilt rate.
Whatever the science behind it, we ruv a good puppeh head tilt gif… don’t you?