6 Reasons Your Dog Is Tilting Their Head in That Adorable Way

As a dog mom of two, I pride myself on being able to resist most of the adorable behaviors my beloved mongrels keep in their arsenals. Those big, round puppy eyes at the dinner table? Nope — not falling for it (or handing over my steak). Those soft little cries when I open a bag of chips? Take them elsewhere! But there’s one move that will always melt me to my core — a maneuver so charming, that I’d hand over the world on a silver platter if I could. I’m talking, of course, about when they tilt their little puppy heads to one side.

Few canine behaviors are so universally recognized and beloved as the head tilt. If dogs from the Paleolithic Era had left behind cave paintings, they’d surely include a Stone Age hound with a sideways head sitting atop a big throne, with hordes of subservient humans bowing in fealty below. But what are our dogs actually trying to say when they strike this endlessly endearing pose? Does it depend on the pooch? Here’s what science (and a professional dog trainer) have to say.

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Curiosity may have killed the cat (metaphorically), but it made the dog’s head tilt.

The specific reason for dogs’ head tilting can depend on context, but according to Mississippi-based dog trainer Rayanne Craven they generally do it out of curiosity. In fact, they often do it to gather sensory information. You know how dogs tend to cock their heads in response to strange or faraway noises? Sometimes, they’re doing it to hear better.

They just can’t hear or see so well.

While our human ears can perceive sounds that come from any direction, VCA Animal Hospitals points out that dogs’ ear flaps act as a sonic barrier, blocking noises that come from certain angles. That’s why you might notice your dogs cocking their heads or adjusting their ears when they hear, say, the faint sound of kibble being poured in the kitchen. 

“It can be that they can't hear it well, especially if the dog is known to be hard of hearing,” Craven says. “Or it can be that they are trying to pinpoint exactly where the sound is coming from.”

Similarly, dogs might also maneuver their heads to one side to see better. Human noses don’t interfere much with our vision, but dogs’ snouts are a lot bigger. Sometimes, dogs tilt their heads to get a good look at the source of a noise or training cue. To better understand what your dog is dealing with, VCA Animal Hospitals suggests balling your hand into a fist and holding it in front of your nose. Also, if you have a long-haired dog who seems to tilt their head a lot, they might just need a good bang trim.

They are trying to pay attention.

Beyond trying to better perceive their surroundings, science suggests that dogs might also cock their heads when they’re concentrating. 

In 2021, a study published i n the research journal Animal Cognition examined 40 dogs’ head-tilting patterns when asked to fetch a familiar toy. Of those dogs, 33 were labeled “typical” — meaning, they were your usual family dogs who, like most pets, were not particularly good at learning the actual names of their toys. And seven were labeled “gifted,” meaning they could learn the names of multiple toys. (Unsurprisingly, the canine Einsteins were all Border Collies.) 

The results were both stark and fascinating: After dozens of trials, the researchers found that the “gifted” dogs responded to cues by cocking their heads 43 percent of the time — far more often than the “typical” dogs, who tilted their heads only two percent of the time. Based on that, the researchers suggested that the dogs who cocked their heads could be processing the name of a familiar toy and perhaps even matching it to a visual image in their minds before retrieving it. So fetch! (Sorry.)

They are turning toward where the sound is.

The direction of dogs’ head tilting might also depend on the stimulus. A 2014 study published in Current Biology found that depending on the type of sound they heard, dogs were more likely to turn their heads in a specific direction: they tended to tilt their heads to the left for familiar spoken cues and to the right for unfamiliar sounds.

They like the attention.

But dogs don’t only angle their heads to take in and process information. In some cases, they’ll strike the pose because they know that we like it.

If you tend to get excited when your pups do something you think is cute, they could do it again just for attention. Craven confirms that all the ooh-ing and aah-ing dogs get when we see them cock their heads can go straight… well, to their heads. As she puts it, “What gets reinforced, gets repeated.”

Something is physically wrong with them.

As with most behaviors, there can also be a medical reason for your dog’s head tilting. Canine head tilting is usually as harmless as it is cute, but if your dog’s doing it more than usual or can’t seem to stop, you should consult a vet. 

Craven says that a prolonged head tilt could be a sign of vestibular issues similar to vertigo in humans. Other symptoms might include trouble standing or walking. In other cases, the issue could be more serious.

“If you see these symptoms, immediately take your dog to the vet,” Craven says. “Often, if it is purely due to something like vestibular issues or an ear infection, it can be remedied with medication, but sometimes it can be a sign of something more serious like a pinched nerve.”

If you suspect a medical issue might be at the root of your dog’s angled cranium, call a veterinarian immediately. Most of the time, however, you can rest easy in the knowledge that they’re simply engaged in some active listening — and hoping for a little treat as a reward.