It’s not just barking or growling: Your dog also communicates with you by blinking, according to experts

Dog body language is complex and not straightforward for their owners to interpret. Dogs communicate non-verbally, by using their ears, tails, eyes... to tell us how they are feeling. That doesn’t mean we can’t communicate with them - by understanding a few of these subtle signals, we can get an idea of their emotional state and react accordingly.

Canine friends on the blink

One of the ways dogs engage with us that is so subtle it is often missed is by blinking. According to canine behaviorists, dogs blink at us more than we realize. They usually use it as a calming device, almost as a peace offering, or sometimes, it’s a polite way of them to let us know that they need their own space.

Evolutionary biologist, Chiara Canori from the University of Parma in Italy conducted an experiment to understand why dogs blink at us, at each other and what it says about their emotional state.

A total of 54 domestic dogs took part in the experiment. They were made to sit through three different movie clips, sat with their owners. The videos showed other dogs blinking, nose-licking, and being attentive while still.

Dogs blink at humans and at each other

Their reactions to the stimuli were noted and their heart rates monitored. Canori’s team found that dogs blinked significantly more frequently while watching the clips of other dogs blinking than the nose-licking ones. The blinking videos did not prompt a stressful response in the dogs.

“In dogs, blinking has been considered as an appeasement behavior used to express non-aggressive intentions towards conspecifics,” Canori explains. “Reciprocal blinking in dogs might help to facilitate conspecific social bonds, cope with frustration and communicate non-aggressive intentions, as already shown in the interspecific context with humans.”

In a way, it’s a similar mimic response to humans when we yawn - we instinctively copy each other. So we can deduce that dogs, either consciously or subconsciously, are communicating something when they blink - we just don’t really know what it is!

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.