Grin-Tin-Tin

Dear Dog Lady,

As a fellow Dog Person (and writer), I greatly enjoy your column. But I must take issue with your position in chalking up all dog smiles to their besotted owners' fond imaginations. (See "The Shadows Of Their Smiles" in the Bones archive).

Not so fast! OK, maybe 99 percent of doggie "smiles," like the "smiles" of human infants, can be attributed to homeostasis, panting, or gas. Certainly the goofy, open-mouthed, lolling-tongued look only accidentally resembles a human smile. But some dogs really do smile.

Most notable in my experience was Pnoo, a big bright black-and-white hound, mostly pointer probably, who lived with me on a beach in Brazil some 35 years ago. Pnoo was quite independent in his habits and very, very bright, with a keen eye for human interaction. Every time visitors arrived in a car, which happened perhaps once or twice a month (the village had no cars of its own), Pnoo would greet them with the most astonishing toothy grin. He would hurry out to the car, tail wagging furiously, head lowered in respectful politesse; his ears, normally relaxed and flat to his head, would turn horizontal with the force of contraction of his cheek muscles, giving him the look of a toreador; and his upper and lower lips would draw back to reveal a perfect curve of firmly shut teeth. People who had not seen this before would cry out in astonishment; returning friends actively looked forward to it. But he did it only once per visit; it was definitely greeting behavior.

Some years later I described this phenomenon to my grandpappy, a crusty old World War I ace who had known a lifetime of dogs, and he said oh yes, it was a common thing among certain strains of bird dogs. So there you are. In subsequent decades I've always had English setters, and whereas none of them have achieved Pnoo’s full-fledged toothy grin, they have all definitely pulled back their ears and contracted their cheek muscles in greeting -- just as we do. If that isn't smiling, what is?

Kathleen, Cambridge, MA

Kathleen, all Dog Lady knows is that she smiled while reading your vivid letter about dogs and their facial expressions. We cannot ever know if Pnoo was really smiling from heartfelt emotion or heartburn, but Dog Lady takes your -- and your grandpappy’s -- word for it.

By the way, Dog Lady directs you to the Bark Magazine's gallery of smiling dogs -- for the grin of it. http://www.thebark.com/gallery/gallery1.html

Posted by Dog Lady at May 23, 2004 10:14 AM