Celebrity dog trainer Graeme Hall, known as 'The Dogfather,' has revealed that dogs watch a specific part of their owner's face for visual cues. Speaking with Country Living, Hall explained that the frontalis muscle — the muscle across the forehead that raises or furrows the eyebrows — is what dogs look at to understand what their owner is thinking.
Why the Forehead Matters
"It's the muscle across your forehead that raises or furrows your eyebrows," notes Graeme, "and it's important because dogs look at your forehead for cues about what you're thinking." The TV star added: "If I could wrap up my philosophy in just one principle, it would be to try to see the world as your dog sees it."
Training People, Not Just Dogs
Graeme, who regularly shares his expertise on Channel 5's Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, says training pets is largely about understanding the owner's psychology too. "You definitely need to look at both sides of it, that's for sure. And I think that's where traditional dog training ends: it's all about training the dog. But there's a huge piece of the puzzle around training people," the Strictly star told Entertainment Focus.
He added: "Sometimes people say it's always about the owner, and there's no such thing as a bad dog. My stock answer to that is: you've not met some that I've met. Some of them are tricky, let's say. When you look at what people are doing with their dogs, that often gives you a clue."
An Outsider's Perspective
Hall gave an example of how owners' reactions can inadvertently reinforce behaviour: "So, for example, the owner will tell me: 'My dog does this weird and wonderful thing – he sings in a particular pitch to me, and it only happens to me. He doesn't do it with my partner.' And I say, 'Oh, that's interesting. What do you do when he sings?' They say, 'Well, I find it kind of funny.' So they're smiling and laughing. So I ask if they think he likes it when they smile and laugh. They say, 'Sure he does.' So the dog's doing it to them because they are the only person who responds and he quite likes a bit of attention. Sometimes, once you've sussed it, the answer becomes obvious. We can be so close to the problem that it takes an outsider to see it."
