There’s a name for that!

We’re using the famous “Sammy smile” to illustrate that the parts of a dog’s mouth that unites the upper and lower lips on either side are called “commisures.” Commisures are a revealing body part in a dog’s body language, but few people know how to read them. When the commisures are pushed back, they indicate a fearful dog, while a tense dog whose “fight or flight” response could go either way will have commissures pushed forward. Learn to read your dog!  A great source on how to do this is Turid Rugass, a Norwegian dog trainer who has been studying dogs since 1969. She has identified some 30 calming signals to explain the communication of dogs and is, in our estimation, the expert on the subject.

Photo by Achim Herzog/Wikicommons