Body language at the vet's

We had another check-up with the ophthalmologist last week, and I took my camera along to document Dragon's body language.



It's a real shame that this picture came out blurry, because it's a nice shot of him looking excited but not stressed. His mouth is open in an excited pant, with the tongue resting comfortably within his teeth. His eyes are soft, not completely round. His ears are out and back a little in a relaxed position. His tail is high over his back and the fur is going in different directions because he was wagging it very quickly.

We went into the exam room, and his expression changed to this:



Wide, round eyes. Mouth open with tongue hanging out and flattened. Some people call this "spatula tongue", and it's a sign of stress. His ears are pull together at the top of his head. His tail is still high but it is no longer wagging fully and loosely.



On the exam table: more spatula tongue, and round eyes, though less dramatic than before.



I pulled over a spray bottle for him to check out and get treats for being brave. He's sniffing it, but look at his front legs: he's keeping as much of his body as possible pulled away from the bottle as he stretches his neck forward to sniff. His center of gravity is lowered so that he can move out of danger more quickly. He's suspicious of the bottle.



After the initial exam: more stress panting, and ears pulled high and back. With all dogs, reading ears, tails, and eyes is a matter of recognizing their baseline and measuring degrees. I can recognize this ear position as meaning that Dragon is stressed, but on another dog that might not be so.



I asked him to do some tricks to give him something to do and help him be calmer. His pupils have dilated due to the medication he was just given. His ears are now together and forward, on alert. His mouth is tightly shut as he concentrates.



I also tossed him treats to find, a great calming game.



He is calming down and now looking at me with a closed mouth and ears up and forward.

We got home and he rolled around in happiness.





Then he shook off, a common way for dogs to relieve tension/stress. He looks like a demon because his pupils are still artificially dilated.


Good news: his eye is healing slowly but nicely. He no longer has blood floating in the back or bottom of his eye, although there's still a bit in the front, just behind the lens. We are weaning him off the last of his medication, and recheck is in three months. What a relief for this ordeal to be ending.