# Smiling dogs. Ever met one? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954 "2004-01-17T17:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Daikona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Daikona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daikona)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/21 "2004-01-18T04:53:29Z")
My father has a border collie who smiles. It’s the funniest thing. ---
**Author:** ![Stephi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stephi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/22 "2004-01-18T07:01:07Z")
Yep, both Goldens I’ve known have done this. And it wasn’t nearly as scary looking as that greyhound pictured in the link. And when they smiled, they really were very happy! [Here](http://www.finux.org/gallery/album01/aaq) is a picture of Tigger, she is smiling! ---
**Author:** ![Kiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiger)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/23 "2004-01-18T13:45:45Z")
Yes! Here’s my dog smiling. [Happy](http://home.comcast.net/~blancm3/images/snow8.jpg) [Happy and smiling at the other dog](http://home.comcast.net/~blancm3/images/snow18.jpg) [Not so happy…](http://home.comcast.net/~blancm3/images/swimmin.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/24 "2004-01-18T14:01:22Z")
My cat appears to smile too. When she’s in a receptive mood to being groomed or stroked, the corners of her mouth turn up. It’s quite subtle, and I don’t know what the cause actually is, but I like to think it’s because she’s happy. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/25 "2004-01-18T16:11:18Z")
My lab-chow doesn’t seem to smile, but when we play rough - she’ll run around the room and leap on me - she’ll growl and fiercely bare her teeth. She’d never hurt me, but it’s still kinda unnerving. I’ll have to get a picture someday. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/26 "2004-01-18T16:17:29Z")
Having looked at some of the pictures **Stephi** and **Kiger** posted above, I’ll amend that - Princess does smile. A lot. She downright grins all the time. She just doesn’t bare her teeth unless she’s feigning wanting to tear my throat out. (Or fantasizing about it. I suppose I’ll never know.) ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/27 "2004-01-18T17:19:09Z")
My gradma’s family raised Scotties and they had a few litters of “mimics” - the pups would see something that stuck in their minds and they’d imitate it. eg/ One pup watched kids play in a wading pool, then get out and wrap themselves in a towel. So the pup tore across the yard lept into the wading pool, slid to the other side, hopped out and rolled himself up in a towel like a sausage. Typical of those few litters. They would “do what human do”. So my grandma got one of the “mimic” pups, and at some point it seems he must have noticed a human smile or laughter and tried to imitate it. Whenever he was _thrilled_ and joyously happy, he would jut out his bottom jaw to show off the white of his bottom teeth, the corners of his mouth would curl upwards and he’d snort, snort, snort in a raspy “huff, huff, huff” sound (my grandma suspected he might actually be trying to “laugh”). It looked _nothing_ like a snarl so no one balked at the sight of him when he did it. And it looked nothing like a dog’s standard “happy face.” In fact, it was a pretty weird expression. ---
**Author:** ![SuperNova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SuperNova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNova)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/28 "2004-01-18T20:12:00Z")
> [@Hup the Fool](#): > > I know two people that have Dalmatians and both dogs smile all the time. It’s a little freaky the first few times you see it. I have a Dalmatian that smiles all the time. Very distinctive, looks like she’s barring her teeth at first glance. Unsettling for people who don’t know what she’s doing, but for me it’s one of her cutest traits. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/29 "2004-01-18T20:16:43Z")
Our Yorkie smiles when we greet him. Totally cracks us up. Full tront teeth showing and his ears and down happy as hell that we’re home. I think it’s a learned response because when we come home from work, we are smiling with our teeth showing, greeting and telling him what a good dog he is. I believe he’s mirroring our behavior. He’s learned that this is his pack’s way of saying hello. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Kate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Lady\_Kate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Kate)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/30 "2004-01-18T20:16:55Z")
Ouf family had a Golden Retriever when I was growing up, and he smiled quite a bit. It really freaked out my grandma - she just knew he was baring his teeth at her, even though his tail was wagging 90 miles an hour. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LabRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LabRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LabRat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/31 "2004-01-18T22:06:02Z")
Apparently this is a lot more common than I’d thought. Have any of you seen a smile given to another dog? ---
**Author:** ![BraveNewSquirle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@BraveNewSquirle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraveNewSquirle)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/32 "2004-01-18T22:28:27Z")
Holy Crap That’s Wierd!!! ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/33 "2004-01-20T04:04:47Z")
My friends have a Rottie that does something like this. If you scritch him in the right place, he makes this happy growly moan and bares his teeth. If you don’t know him well, it seems like he’s growling and snarling, but the tone is completely different from his real growl. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/34 "2004-01-20T04:06:24Z")
> [@LabRat](#): > > Apparently this is a lot more common than I’d thought. Have any of you seen a smile given to another dog? No, I haven’t seen two dogs smile at each other; and if my theory is right, I don’t think it’s likely either. In the age-old language of doggie ancestors, baring one’s teeth is tantamount to saying, “Get the hell outa Dodge, puppy, or I’ll whip your butt into next Tuesday.” I believe they only do it to us because they’ve learned it from us. ---
**Author:** ![LabRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/898d66/32.png) [@LabRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LabRat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/35 "2004-01-21T20:30:21Z")
Sorry about dropping out for a while. I blew my power supply and can only post from work. I’m thinking the same thing that you are Ruby. It kinda makes me wonder how a smile is being interpreted by the rest of the dogs out there. **Kiger** Cute pooch. What breed is she? I’ve seen the expression on your dog’s face before and it’s what I would normally think of as a “dog smile” or laugh. But what I’m talking about is an actual grin or the closest thing they can approximate. Think “say cheese” and you’ll get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![deb2world](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@deb2world](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deb2world)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/36 "2004-01-21T21:55:50Z")
My mom’s dog smiles. He is a 75 lb pound puppy, a shepherd cross. What really makes him happy is to steal my dog’s toy (common y’all have heard numerous times about Sasser) then run away from her and play “keep away”, While hold the toy in his mouth he somehow also is able to smile. Sasser, being if a more serious nature, has to chase him which leads to much play battles, never serious though. The only picture I have of him has a smile in it, I would post it, but I am not good enough to be able to do that. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/37 "2004-01-21T22:17:40Z")
My border collie Presley smiles. It make him sneeze. It’s fun to get him to smile while giving him a belly rub, since he doesn’t like to sneeze lying down. Lie down, get comfy, smile, stand up, sneeze, lie back down, get comfy, smile… rinse, lather, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/38 "2004-01-22T07:14:37Z")
We had a Golden that smiled. I think he laughed too. He would start with the smile, then duck his head and make sneezing sounds, all the while wagging his 150 lb. body. ---
**Author:** ![leesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/db5fbb/32.png) [@leesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leesha)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/39 "2004-01-22T09:26:46Z")
my border collier/heeler mix smiles all the time. My horse also smiles at me by lifting his lip and showing me front teeth. He looks silly. ---
**Author:** ![Kiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiger)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954/40 "2004-01-22T12:28:21Z")
> [@LabRat](#): > > **Kiger** > Cute pooch. What breed is she? > I’ve seen the expression on your dog’s face before and it’s what I would normally think of as a “dog smile” or laugh. But what I’m talking about is an actual grin or the closest thing they can approximate. Think “say cheese” and you’ll get the idea. He’s a Shiba Inu: [Another pic](http://mywebpages.comcast.net/blancm3/images/BOBwin.jpg) He doesn’t show teeth, but he definitely smiles. I don’t have any good pictures of him doing it unfortunately. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smiling-dogs-ever-met-one/224954.md?page=3)