28/11/2025
🐶📚 Why Flat-Faced (Brachycephalic) Dogs Struggle With Facial Communication — What Science Tells Us 📚🐶
Many people know brachycephalic dogs face breathing challenges—but fewer realise their facial anatomy also affects how they communicate. Here’s a clear, evidence-based breakdown:
🔷 Skull Shape Changes Muscle Structure
Studies show that shortening of the skull physically alters key facial (mimic) muscles.
➡️ Muscles may be shortened, repositioned, or partially obscured by skin folds.
🔷Reduced Facial Movement
Automated motion-tracking research finds brachycephalic dogs display less movement around the eyes, mouth, and ears compared to longer-snouted dogs.
➡️ This limits how many expressions they can produce and depth of expression
🔷Humans Often Misinterpret Their Expressions
Because their faces move less, people frequently assume “happy” expressions even when the dog is stressed, fearful, or uncomfortable.
➡️ Misreading can increase risk during handling, vet visits, or unfamiliar situations.
🔷Other Dogs May Misread Them Too
Wide eyes, nasal wrinkles, and limited lip movement can accidentally mimic signals of tension or threat.
➡️ This can lead to misunderstandings in dog–dog interactions.
🔷Breathing Effort Further Restricts Expression
Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) forces many flat-faced dogs to focus on breathing, reducing their ability to use subtle facial cues.
🔴Why This Matters for Welfare…..
Communication is essential for social bonding, emotional expression, and safety.
➡️ When a dog can’t express clearly—or others can’t read them—stress, miscommunication, and behavioral issues can follow.
🔴Why it matters for owners…..
Many owners misread their dog’s stress cues—like slight panting, eye rubbing, or restless movements—as “cute quirks.”
This can lead to:
- Overexertion in play 🏃♂️💨
- Ignoring early signs of discomfort 😣
- Unintentional reinforcement of anxiety or defensive behaviours ⚠️
❤️ How Owners Can Help…..
• Learn whole-body language, not just facial cues
• Recognize signs of stress (panting, head turning, avoidance)
• Support breeding for moderate, healthier facial shapes
• Advocate for better welfare standards
🔴 Why This Matters For Veterinary Professionals…..
🐶🩺 Limited facial expressivity has direct, practical consequences for veterinary professionals—especially when assessing behaviour, fear, anxiety, stress (FAS), and pain. Here is how these anatomical and communication limitations impact clinical work:
😖Pain Scoring
Most validated pain scales (e.g., Glasgow CMPS, Colorado Pain Scale) rely partly on facial movements.
⚠️ Result:
Pain may be underestimated because dogs cannot produce typical facial pain indicators OR overestimated because chronic respiratory effort looks like distress.
Limited expressivity + exaggerated “default” facial features (wide eyes, wrinkled forehead) can be misleading.
For example:
-“Whale eye” may appear even at baseline.
- Lip retraction or tension may be impossible to detect.
- Panting may be respiratory, not emotional.
- Staring or wide eyes may be anatomical, not behavioural.
⚠️ Result:
Clinicians may misjudge levels of fear or arousal, leading to:
1) insufficient fear-free adjustments
2) increased need for physical restraint
3) missed early warning signs → greater risk of escalation and biting
➡️It is possible that chronic BOAS clinical signs can mimic pain.
BOAS produces:
1) increased respiratory effort
2) open-mouth breathing
3) neck extension
4) grunting/snorting
5) restlessness
These overlap with behavioural flags for:
respiratory pain
- anxiety
- heat stress
- cardiac distress
⚠️ Result:
Brachycephalic dogs’ noisy breathing can “mask” clinical deterioration or confuse pain assessment.
👁️Typical warning signals—like micro-expressions or subtle eye changes—may not be visible 👁️
Consequences:
‼️harder to detect pre-emptive warnings before escalation
‼️higher bite risk during handling, blood draws, nail trims, or oral exams
‼️reduced clinician confidence in reading behaviour accurately
➡️ Brachycephalic dogs are more likely to be misinterpreted as relaxed, happy, “smiling” because people read flat faces as “cute”infant-like (“baby schema”).
⚠️ Result:
Pain, fear, or agitation may be missed because staff assume the dog “looks fine.”
Conversely….
They may appear “suddenly aggressive” when in reality they lacked the ability to warn properly 😓
Implication:
Clinics should use:
✔️slower introductions
✔️minimal restraint
✔️muzzle acclimation
✔️heavy reliance on body posture and behavioural context, not facial cues alone
✔️low-stress handling and cooperative care methods
☀️🥵FINALLY do not forget environmental factors that come in to play. Environmental factors can significantly influence the behaviour of brachycephalic dogs, often interacting with their inherent physiological and morphological constraints.
Environmental factors don’t change the inherent morphology or respiratory limitations of brachycephalic dogs, but they modulate behavioural expression, often amplifying stress, frustration, or misinterpreted signals.
❤️ The same dog in a well-ventilated, calm, socially structured, and medically supported environment may appear much calmer, more sociable, and less reactive than one in a stressful or physically demanding environment ❤️
