Field Guide · Glossary
Appeasement signals
Body languageBehaviors such as lowering the body, licking toward another dog's mouth, rolling partly over or turning side-on, which trainers describe a dog using during a tense social moment with another dog or a person.
How it works
The word appeasement comes from the study of animal behavior, where it names actions thought to lower the chance that another animal escalates. Trainers group under it a crouched or curved body, ears pulled back and flat, a tail carried low with small quick wags, licking at a familiar dog's mouth, squinting, and looking away. The behaviors are easy to see. Whether the dog intends them as a message is harder to establish. In the one direct test, dogs were approached by a person walking either in a threatening way or a neutral way, and several of the smaller behaviors often grouped here, such as nose licking and blinking, did not increase under threat. They went with dogs who stayed calm and did not bark or growl, and the authors concluded that an appeasement function cannot yet be confirmed. What can be said is that a dog showing these behaviors is uneasy and, at that moment, is not escalating.
What it looks like
A young dog meets an older dog at a friend's house. The young dog approaches low, body curved and tail swishing near the ground, licks toward the older dog's mouth, then turns side-on. The older dog stiffens for a second, sniffs, and relaxes.
Commonly confused with
- Calming signals
- Calming signals is the list described by Turid Rugaas, presented as signals sent to calm another party, and it centers on subtle moves such as head turns, curving and lip licks. Appeasement signals is an older term from the study of animal behavior covering a broader set that includes more obvious lowering postures, rolling partly over and licking at another dog's mouth. Both describe what a dog does under social pressure, and both carry the same open question about intent.
Related terms
Sources