You may have noticed that when
your dog hears a strange sound or
when you ask him if he'd like to go
for a walk, he cocks his head to the
side.

The adorable move seems to say,
"I'm listening," but what's really going
on when dogs' heads tilt in response
to a sound?

Here are a few possible
explanations trying to hear better.

Dogs have movable earflaps that
help them locate the source of a
sound, but they also have brains that
can compute time differences
between the sound reaching each
ear. A slight change in a dog's head
position supplies additional
information that the canine can use
to judge a sound's distance.

Essentially, tilting the head can help
the animal more accurately locate
the location and distance of a sound.

They're trying to understand us
According to Steven R. Lindsay's
"Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior
and Training," when a dog listens to
your voice, he's trying to identify
familiar words or tones that he
associates with a reward, such as
going on a walk or receiving a treat.

The muscles of a dog's middle ear
are controlled by a part of the brain
that's also responsible for facial
expressions and head movements,
so when a canine tilts his head, he's
trying to perceive what you're saying,
as well as communicate to you that
he's listening.

They can't see our faces easily
In an effort to understand us, dogs
not only use our words and inflection,
but also facial expressions, body
language and eye movements.

Because of this, it's important for
them to see our faces, so Dr. Stanley
Corren reasons that when dogs cock
their heads they're trying to see us
better.

He says that dogs with longer
muzzles have difficulty viewing a
person's entire face and compares it
to how our vision is obstructed if we
hold a fist to our nose and view the
world as a dog does.

Corren suggests that dogs may tilt
their heads to view a speaker's
mouth and aid in understanding what
is being communicated.

He hypothesized that dogs with
flatter faces, such as pugs, Boston
terriers and Pekingese, might tilt
their heads less because they don't
have to compensate for prominent
muzzles.

Corren conducted an Internet survey
to test his theory. Out of 582
participants, 186 had dogs with
flatter heads. Seventy-one percent of
the people with large-muzzle dogs
reported that their dogs often tilted
their heads when spoken to, while 52
percent with flat-faced dogs reported
frequent head cocking.

We've taught them to do it
When dogs tilt their heads when we
speak, it's undeniably cute — just
check out the video below — and we
have a tendency to respond to the
behavior with positive reinforcement.
Perhaps we say "aww" in a pleasing
tone of voice or offer the dog a treat.

Reacting in such a way encourages
the activity, and the more a dog is
praised for cocking its head, the
more likely he is to repeat the
gesture in the future.

http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/why-do-dogs-tilt-their-heads-when-we-speak

Hmm