I was just going to get some casual shots of the BCs lying in the sun, when I noticed a trend. Here’s the first photo:
Followed by the next two:
Can’t miss it, can you? No matter what I did, clicking or smooching or waving my fingers, Maggie would not look at the camera lens. And no wonder. Here I was, down on my knees at eye level, with this huge, round, black eye staring straight at her. She’s much softer than Willie, and easily intimidated, and that flat, black eye-like shape was just too much for her.
I’ve seen this repeatedly over the years, and always assumed it related to dogs perceiving camera lenses as the black, dilated pupils of another animal. Dilated pupils are signs of arousal, and we all know that direct stares can be intimidating. Dogs don’t have to believe that a camera lens is really the eye of another dog, any more than we believe that a smiley face is a person–and yet still react to it with a smile of our own.
Responses to “false eyes” have interested ethologists for decades. Eye spots are seen on a large range of animals, from frogs like the one below to butterflies and caterpillars. FYI, you can read more about the function of eye spots here.
Of course, we’ll never really know how dogs perceive the big, black lenses on cameras, but keep in mind that many dogs dislike looking directly into a camera lens. It’s actually not a bad evaluation tool of a dog’s personality. Notice how Willie was perfectly happy to stare straight into the lens in every photo, while Maggie, little Miss OhGodPleaseDon’tRaiseYourVoiceEvenIfYouAreHappy Dog, couldn’t bring herself to look straight ahead. Keep that in mind when you are taking photographs–I’ve found that many owners aren’t aware of how stressful photos can be to dogs, and get more and more frustrated while their dog gets more and more intimidated during a photo shoot.
What about your dog? Oblivious to lenses like Willie, or lens aversive like Maggie?
Update, late August, 2022: Reading the line above about Maggie (“Don’t Raise Your Voice” Maggie) hit home this morning, given that Maggie has, for no discernible reason, decided that the back yard is the home of monsters. Go out the mudroom door to pee in the backyard? “WHAT? WHAT? And take my life in my hands?” That morphed into, last night, her not wanting to come inside through that door. “WHAT? WHAT? Do you NOT KNOW that there are monsters living in the door frame?” I have one wild guess about what started this. It seems unlikely, but it’s all I’ve got: Right before this started, Maggie and Skip encountered a toad on the deck right outside the door. I was thrilled to see this lovely animal, they are so rare now. Skip was enthralled but ready to bolt like a frightened horse. Maggie too looked curious, but more fearful. I told the dogs to “leave it” quietly, and we proceeded to the grass. Maggie began her THAT WAY THERE BE MONSTERS routine the next morning.
How could the toad explain it? Doubtful, but as I said, it’s all I’ve got. Remember, this is the dog who became afraid of Skip for awhile, when his play style caused us to nickname him with a word I’m not sure you all want me to use here. First she was afraid to go up the hill with him, then afraid to go up the hill, at all. It took five months of classical conditioning to get her back up the hill. And, now, as you no doubt know, they are back to being gobsmacked in love, and Maggie can play the pants off of Skip up the hill, and loves doing so. She was somewhat better this morning about the door, so maybe it’ll all just fade away. FYI, I’m not saying anything to her, just talking to Skip and ignoring her. Trying to persuade her or encourage her sweetly is perceived as pressure, so I’m pretending nothing is going on. Seems to help some. I’ll keep you posted next week.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Just back from a heavenly vacation to Michigan. Oooooo, I love what my sister calls “fat mornings,” in which you lie in bed and read and drink tea to all hours of the morning. And swimming in a silky, silver lake at a friend’s gorgeous home, eating outside, shopping at fun stores (who shops, except for food, ever, at home?), visiting with two sets of great friends, and taking some beautiful walks. Did I mention eating?
Here are good friends Dave and Julie who hosted us on Lake Walloon.
And here we are with Matt and Kelly Elvin of Tiptop Tails Training, two fantastic dog trainers (with a kick ass facility I might add), and wonderful friends we met years ago in Africa.
My favorite new photo of my handsome husband:
It was fun and relaxing and heavenly and by the end I missed the dogs like a hole in my heart. Here they are on a walk on Sunday morning.
Did you notice how the countryside around them is basically green and gold? Sunflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Goldenrods . . . yellow/gold flowers and bright green leaves everywhere. No wonder the Packers use those colors. Below are wild sunflowers and Black-eyed Susans.)
On our drive home from the walk we ran into these lovely creatures, Sandhill Cranes. They are relatively common here, but still so very special.
You gotta love these two going on a Sunday morning stroll together. Note the legs!
I hope there’s been a lot to love in your life this week. Tell us about your dog and camera lenses; I’ve found iPhones have a similar effect on lots of dogs. You?
Kat says
Falkor Bash (we changed his name to reflect his habit of greeting me after any separation–for example he went in the other room to investigate a sound and came back–with a friendly bash of his paw) couldn’t care less about cameras and being photographed. D’Artagnan is very much not a fan of having his picture taken. Unfortunately for D’Artagnan he’s a working Therapy Dog and quite magnificent which means lots and lots of people want to take his picture. Lots of people have learned a bit about dog communication as I explain why D’Artagnan isn’t cooperating. He doesn’t like it but is learning to tolerate it as “stupid human stuff a dog just has to endure.” I’m glad he’s so good natured about it and, while clearly not thrilled, willing and able to tolerate being photographed without being stressed. He seems to regard the photos the way I do hugs from casual friends and acquaintances, I’d avoid them if I could but put accept them because they clearly make the other person happy. Taking him on visits sometimes feels like traveling with a celebrity as people want to take his photo or better yet get a selfie or have someone take their picture with him. He seems to prefer the photo with someone since then he can engage with the person and ignore the camera.
Photos of D’Artagnan and Falkor Bash together look a lot like yours of Willie and Maggie with Falkor Bash cheerfully smiling full face into the camera and D’Artagnan with his head turned away. D’Artagnan has a much higher tolerance for “stupid human stuff a dog just has to endure” than Falkor Bash does but Falkor Bash doesn’t mind being photographed he just seems to regard it as another way people interact with him and he loves to have people interact with him.
Lak says
Yep…my dog does not like to have her photo taken, nor does she life to FaceTime. She has always been a bit skittish of most everything. Love the photos…lovely pictures of green and gold and nature!
Trisha says
Oh that handsome D’Artagnon! I can so easily see why everyone wants his photo, so striking! And, on another note, I have tried to say “Falkor Bash” several times in a row and can barely get it out of my mouth once without tripping over my own tongue. What do you call him usually? By the way, my first GP couldn’t keep her paw out of your lap . . .
Michelle says
Our bulldogs long passed would happily look at the camera if you said their names; my Aussie avoiding it if at ALL possible. My current, a Decker terrier, doesn’t mind my iPhone at all, but then again there isn’t much she does mind.
Kat says
Giving him his full name and title he is The Dragon Falkor Bash and he’s actually growing into a real Pyr and sometimes I have to look twice to be sure which one I’m looking at. I’m going to have another stunner on my hands.
I usually call him Falkor or Bash. We love tongue twisters at my house and it never even occurred to me that Falkor Bash might be a challenge to say. The hardest tongue twister in the English language is reputed to be Peggy Babcock (try saying that three times fast) and we play about finding out how many times we can say it before we trip up (9 being the current record) so hard to say wasn’t a consideration, lol.
D’Artagnan does the Pyr paw but Falkor Bash takes it to a whole new level. He uses his paws all the time. He even uses them to pat the cat much to the cat’s disgust.
Tammy says
Well, your post made me think and I’m not sure what to conclude about my two. Both are former street dogs.
Our 7 1/2-year-old, who we’ve had for 7 years, is somewhat anxious about things and will rarely look toward the phone lens for photos — she looks like Maggie in most photos. It was literally years before she would look me directly in the eye.
Our 1-year-old was completely feral and only caught because a car side-swiped her and sent her sprawling into a human. She’s been with us for 9 months and even a hat in an unusual place will send her skittering out of a room in fear. She, however, looks directly into the camera lens and makes direct eye contact without any apparent care in the world. I would have expected her to do the opposite. The only explanation, if we take at face value your idea that the camera lens (even on a phone) resembles an eye (seems reasonable enough), is that when our young dog was captured, the person who fostered her for a week before she came to us was someone who constantly photographed the dog. She would have had a camera in her face many, many times in her first days with a human, so maybe she just considers it a normal human thing. Dunno, but it’s all I’ve got!
Charlotte Kasner says
When I first got my Sibe at three and a half years old, he had been chained in a yard and then spent a stressful couple of weeks with a pack of sled dogs. He then had to deal with a long drive and being taken on another long journey on various forms of public transport when I took him home. He knew very little about the outside world and was like a wide-eyed puppy – on steroids.
He was utterly fascinated by mobile telephones, iPads and cameras and would home in on any one wielding one (that’s a lot of people in suburban London). His favourite trick was to pad up behind some innocent sitting on the grass playing with their device and peer over their shoulder.
I could (and have) anthropomorphised this to extinction (I reckon that he wanted to see if he was on there because he knew he was so lovely). Seriously though, I am guessing that it had something to do with the person’s intense focus in addition to the relatively novel object. He was indifferent to my computer until he learned that shutting the lid might be a cue for me doing something more interesting with him.
Curiosity only started killing cats because it had finished with the huskies.
I have more often observed the aversion though.
MinnesotaMary says
Fear reaction in dogs is an interesting topic. I’ve fostered many dozens of dogs, mostly huskies. Some are afraid of odd things (examples are manhole covers, fire hydrants, scarecrows, snowmen, etc.) I mostly ignore it if the reaction isn’t too severe. I pretend it’s a non-event and the dog usually eventually ignores it also. If the reaction is stronger than I like, it’s a good opportunity to find a spot to sit within eyesight of the object (but outside that bubble where the dog is reacting) and just “be” for a while – at least until the dog’s attention is no longer focused on the object. My older husky is a therapy dog. He isn’t as confident as my last therapy dog and can startle at new and strange things, but he trusts me not to put him in danger, and always follows my lead. Sometimes I think there’s an element of trust in the strength of the dog’s reaction to something they think is potentially dangerous. I’ve also had some dogs develop fearful behaviors late in life, which would possibly be a sign of oncoming cognitive decline. As for camera lenses, I haven’t noticed any aversion to them, but I’m not one to get within 5′ of a dog with a camera.
Beth Hollis says
Fat mornings. LOVE this – and since we are about to embark on a Sunny Day HavaPoo therapy puppy this very coming Friday – it’s all I’ve got. I USED to have Goldens and raised about 55 in order to get money for horses. But that was 312 years ago and now my husband and I have been gifted the wonder of an upcoming-to-be therapy pup to use in our practice. So reading this I too am gobsmacked by the love of Michigan (we adore St. Ignace and sleeping at a comfy spot up there) and the very idea of Fat Mornings. Those are about to become rare until our little Oliver is fully house-trained! Thank you for the post. Lovely!
Carole says
My born feral Jax refuses to look at a camera or phone directed at him. He is afraid of many things. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my old prima donna Great Dane was thrilled to have a camera pointed at her. She posed, looking for all the world as if she was saying, “Get my good side!”
Nora says
My Great Dane never ever looked into a camera. My male newf Max doesn’t like it either, while my female newf Ruby isn’t too bothered by it. Thanks to all your fabulous books I am learning a great deal on how to communicate to them and read their signals!
Lorraine says
London the whippet is not particularly comfortable looking at lenses and as a sighthound generally finds much more interesting things to watch. I can usually get his attention eventually with verbal promises of cookies, squeaky toys or walks.
He was supposed to get his eyes checked at the vet yesterday but when she started peering into his face with a bright light at close range he jerked his head away and refused to sit still.
Does Maggie tolerate an eye exam?
Mary Kaminski says
I’ve had/have 4 Cardigan Welsh Corgis. One was a true camera hound, 2 couldn’t care less and the last one… oh, I have more pics of the northbound end of a southbound Cardi than you can shake a stick at. Hundreds of them. She hated the camera. I learned to love telephoto lenses with that dog.
Margaret Tucker says
Wager’s reaction to being photographed is to run at me full tilt. I end up with a picture of his nose.
Heidi Rosin says
Neither of mine like pictures taken. On the scaredy Maggie I can relate. This summer as the sun goes down Malaki is not remotely interested in hanging out in the backyard. If he has to he’ll go down and do his business and run right back up. Jeff and I finally concluded it’s the bats flying that freak him out. We noticed them on security camera footage the other night and said aha!
Carrie V says
Booker (Catahoula) absolutely hates the camera. When I first got him at 4.5 yrs old he was ok with having his picture taken as long as there was a chicken treat in sight too. Otherwise he would look away. Three years ago he was introduced to a cell phone and couldn’t care less. Now, at 12 years, even chicken won’t tempt him to allow photos. He has recognized the cell phone (exact same phone) as a camera and does not like it either. I have to be fast and sneaky to get a decent shot of him now.
Dianne says
My current dog, 15-month-old, Kaylie, loves having her picture taken. She will do whatever I ask for posing and wait as long as necessary for me to finish. Even when she’s unhappy (such as when I brought her to the beach, only to find she hated it), she still paused her attempts to retreat while I took a picture. My last dog was the same. Maybe it’s something in the Xoloitzcuintli breed, LOL.
Bonnie Kreitler says
Love the information in this post AND the fabulous photos. As an equine journalist, have photographed hundreds of horses. Can tell you that they can have lens issues, too.
Annie B says
Beautiful photos. Loves the cranes. Love your observations, as always.
JMM says
My sweet greyhound isn’t too bad about looking away from the camera, but she presents other issues. Like when she’s laying like a sphinx with ears on alert but when I approach to get a picture she flops over on her side to get pets. Or when she’s standing at attention and I pick up the phone and she comes running over and standing as close to me as possible. 😊
Shirley says
One of my long haired doxies always growled when a camera went to my face.
rontuaru says
I’ve done a ton of dog photography, not just of my own dogs, but of many others. (Primarily herding breeds at herding events) I’ve only had one dog who almost always avoided looking directly at the camera: one of my own. (FWIW, she was a herding breed) She was also quite leery of any sort of clicking sound. For instance, she didn’t like the click of a Bic lighter or a ballpoint pen and would break eye contact if I held one of those objects and clicked it. Of the thousands of photos I took of her during her lifetime, I only have a handful of photos of her looking directly at me. Those few photos are very precious to me now that she’s gone. And at the same time I had a male Cattle Dog who would take any kind of lengthy stare as a challenge (human, cattle, goat or dog), yet he was my absolute best photography subject. He would gaze endlessly into my camera and hold rock still in any position I asked. Go figure. That said, I do wonder if there is an “eye” component with (some) herding breeds? I’d be curious if a dog who avoids looking at a camera lens would also avoid looking at you if you blocked one eye by some other means? I do know that my herding dogs constantly look to me for direction every time I stand up, looking to see if there’s something I want them to do. My Terrier? Almost never.
Deborah Mason says
Our older dog, Lab-Springer mix 6yo, is frightened of strange things. He’ll go out the doggy door, but hates coming back in it. If we ignore him as he goes out, he’s more likely to come back in it. If we encourage him going out, he’ll stand at the human door & whine for a long time. Fear of the door or wanting the personal service? Who knows. And a certain bodily function will send him according to the other end of the room if he can hear it. No idea why. The other dog, 4yo Lab-GSD-?? mix, gets fearful for us if we sneeze. Neither send you mind having their picture taken with phone or camera.
Mari Minamide says
My last shiba and my current one both do not like the puparazzi! It’s sometimes hard being a shiba. People want to take pictures of you or stop to ask what type of dog, is that a Fox or wolf pup and I love shibas. My current shiba loves people and meeting other well behaved pups. My last was a typical, aloof shiba. I don’t know if it was because they are timid or what that keeps them from looking into the camera. I have to be far away and zoom in, ha ha. The first shib never looked me in the eye and was cautious of odd things.
lin says
Mr. B is the reason I have a smartphone. When we adopted him 6 years ago, I had a hard time taking pictures of him — he would not look at the camera or would turn entirely away. One day at the dog park, someone was taking a photo of him with their phone, and B was staring intently at them (he had by then learned that people in the park often had treats). This was before multiple lenses on phones, and it seemed that the small single lens wasn’t intimidating. So I got an iPod touch to take pictures of my dog, and the rest is history.
Now you could put a telephoto lens in his face, and if he thought a treat was forthcoming (I call it the modeling fee) he’d stare into it. But when I tried to use him as a beta Paws to Read dog on Zoom, he completely freaked about looking at the laptop screen and left the room.
Samantha says
“Fat Mornings” is going into my list of favorite phrases.
Pamela Macleod says
I have a red BC rescue who’s a complicated girl at the serif times. Fearful, reactive, vocal, definitely a ‘don’t make me pee outside when the owls are hooting’ type of girl. She has hated me taking pictures on my iPhone from day 1 with me .. lies flat down, head down and turns away… I only have to reach for it on a walk and she’s away. I’ve had many rescues and never encountered this before … such an interesting article ..thank you.
Trisha says
Love hearing about horses too Bonnie!
Trisha says
Lorraine: Tolerate is the correct word!
Trisha says
Good luck to you Beth! So exciting about the pup. And yes, you’re mornings are going to get very skinny!
Gayla says
OMG you all look so CUTE!
Spooked by the toad encounter seems like the most reasonable assumption. Betcha she’s over it soon – unless it happens again… in which case, Jim can move the dog door, right?
Have you ever invited blog followers to post pics of their dogs? I hope I didn’t miss it if you have.
Sharon DeBliek-Anderson says
When outside in my backyard, I would try to sneak a picture of my camera shy Aussie mix, and she would run away looking so afraid. That was at quite a distance. Just the sound was enough to trigger her to go hide behind some bushes. I was her second home, so not sure how it got started it all. It was sad for me since she was such a pretty girl.
My other dogs that I’ve had over the years ( all different breeds), have never had an issue with having their pictures taken.
Trisha says
Gayla, Maggie is indeed all over it. I think the toad is the answer. Too bad, I adore them! There’s no way for readers to post photos on the blog, but they can on my Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/PatriciaMcConnellPhD
Geri Yaccino says
Our 9 year old Golden, Tanq, is scary smart, has an amazing understanding vocabulary, and is becoming a tad neurotic. There are several doors to the back yard and it’s a crapshoot to choose the one he is willing to agree to use. Part of me thinks he enjoys goofing with me. But I think there is a reason in his doggy mind and I have yet to discover the source of his monsters.
Margaret says
Nina always got worried when I tried to take take pictures on my phone. I assumed she was picking up on my irritation, since I didn’t usually have my reading glasses and it was hard to see what I was doing.
I have a couple of beautiful professional portraits, done the day she finished her CDX by someone who is very gifted at getting expression on the face of a black dog. Nina showed no fear at all of that formidable camera and lens.
Kate and Tilly have no issues at all, and the only problem I have with Tilly is getting something besides a Keeshond-shaped blur.
Linda B says
Just ran across this post. Oh boy, my dog Enzo hates having his picture taken and will turn his head every time. He’s a pit bull/American bulldog mix, meaning he has a large mouth, relevant in this case. Once so straddled him to take a selfie. Guessing with my arms on either side of his face, he felt he couldn’t move his head. I squatted down and snapped our photo just as he let out a large yawn. You can see clear down his throat. One of my best photos to date.
Margo Yagid Patrick says
Did you notice that in the sunflower/field photo, Maggie is still true to form? Looking wary?
Mireille says
Shadow does not like to have his photograph taken. But he is not a skittish dog- quite the contrary. Spot did not mind it – and he was skittish and scared of strange things. When looking at Shad’s face, it is more disgust than fear. I do get a better reaction if I hold my iPhone low and make contact with him over the phone. Here a link to the ‘pic that says it all’ ; please no more selfies https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ3tbdflV-u/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Barb Wright says
Sophie the mini aussie hates having to pose for pictures. If she’s running around playing or doing agility she doesn’t care. Parker the sheltie gets very excited when the camera and tripod come out. He’s posed for many pictures and will leap on the “picture table” and offer behaviours that might earn him a picture and a cookie. He doesn’t mind wearing hats or costumes either!
Solveig says
I have shoddy photography skills at the best of times, and I’ve all but given up photographing my mutt. Taking pictures with my phone makes him uncomfortable. However, he is fine with my daughter taking photos using a normal, digital camera!
Barbara Briggs says
I have wondered about the theory that the camera lens looks like an eye staring at them, and it kind of seems logical. But for many years now I haven’t owned a camera. My smart phone has one lens, and it is nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the back of the phone. It isn’t raised or obviously black, and I really wonder if is a perception of a lens as an eye that is really the problem. I think it might really be our my change in body language, breath, speech volume or cadence, or any of a zillion other cues that may only arise then trying to take a photo with my phone. Holding up any small rectangular flat item and pointing it at my dog is going to be the experiment of the week! (By the way, my experience with all the dogs I have lived with is mixed, with about 2/3 not caring, and 1/3 avoiding looking at me.)