What is my dog telling me?

My yellow lab dog is wonderful, but sometimes she does what I show in the picture attached. What does it mean? Is she trying to tell me something?

She seems to be ignoring me, thinking _ if I ignore him, maybe he will go away . Of course I never go away.

I get a similar response when I ask her for a kiss!

She is nine years old and we have had her since 10 weeks. You could not ask for a better member of the family.

Answer

Hi!, from what I can tell from the picture, you dog is giving you two strong and clear
Calming Signals.
These are body signals to tell other dogs (or people) to calm down in a mild stressful situation. They can also help the dog calm itself down too.

Most dogs don't like to be hugged or kissed. They certainly don't like it when we stare at them for a long period of time or if we point at them with a scary object (like a camera).

So, it is very common that they display these types of signals during those situations. In the picture you can see two:

- Head turn (the dog turns the head to look somewhere other than into your eyes).
- Squinting eyes

Both of them are signals that also help the dog avoid making eye contact with you. In the human world, eye contact is very important. However, in the dog world, staring another dog into their eyes is not, it can actually be a threat.

I would recommend you do give your dog some space when she shows these signals to you. Let her come to you when she is ready and try to give her affection in a way that she prefers (rub behind the ears or under her chin).

She is beautiful!