Introduction
It’s common for dogs to sit or lie down facing away from their owners. While this behavior may seem peculiar or even rude at first, there are several possible reasons dogs adopt this posture. Generally, it is not a sign your dog dislikes you or wants to avoid you. In fact, it often indicates positive traits like loyalty, comfort, and respect. Some key reasons dogs sit facing away include guarding instincts, bonding, temperature regulation, submission, disinterest, anxiety, arthritis pain, and processing scents. With a better understanding of canine body language and behavior, you can gain insight into what your dog’s orientation may signify.
Guarding Instinct
Dogs have an innate guarding instinct that has evolved over thousands of years. As pack animals, dogs are hard-wired to watch over and protect their family members, home, and possessions. This protective quality likely arose from wild dogs needing to guard food, offspring, sleeping areas and more from potential threats. Sitting with their backs turned is a natural position that allows dogs to keep watch while also sensing what’s happening behind them.
When dogs sit facing away from their owners, they are fulfilling their guarding instinct by monitoring the surroundings. With their backs turned, they can scan exits and entrances for any unusual activity or approaching people or animals. Yet they can also use their peripheral vision to keep an eye on things behind them. This gives them a wide vantage point to notice any potential threats [1]. Though not on high alert, the dog feels protective and alert in this pose.
Some dogs may sit like this near doors and windows to watch who is arriving and leaving. Others may sit facing away while their owner is busy with an activity, guarding them from behind. So while it may seem like the dog is rejecting their owner’s company, they are actually just following age-old instincts to watch over their loved one’s safety.
Bonding
One of the main reasons dogs sit facing away is to strengthen the bond with their owner. While sitting back-to-back may seem counterintuitive for bonding, it actually shows a deep level of trust and comfort between a dog and human.
When a dog faces away while remaining close to their owner, it demonstrates that they feel safe and secure with that person. The dog is exposing their back and putting themselves in a vulnerable position. This type of body language signals that the dog completely trusts their owner not to harm them. According to wagwalking.com, “A dog that eagerly seeks out your companionship is a sign that a strong bond exists.”
Sitting back-to-back allows the dog to feel connected to their human while avoiding direct eye contact or interaction. It satisfies their social needs without requiring engagement. Dogs are pack animals, so being close to their owner helps relieve separation anxiety and loneliness. Facing away invites bonding while still allowing the dog to relax.
Strengthening social bonds is key to a dog’s wellbeing. Allowing them to sit facing away encourages trust between dog and human. It enables deeper connection while respecting the dog’s space and preference for limited interaction at times. This bonding opportunity should be welcomed, not discouraged.
Temperature Regulation
One of the main reasons dogs may sit facing away is to help regulate their body temperature. Dogs do not have sweat glands like humans, and rely primarily on panting to circulate air through their bodies to cool down. Since panting alone is not enough, orienting their bodies in certain directions can also assist with temperature regulation.
Sitting with their backs to us while facing the same direction allows air to flow across the dog’s body and dissipate heat more efficiently. The air can circulate around their entire body, including their belly and inner thighs which are areas dogs use to radiate heat. This position exposes more surface area and helps maximize heat loss.
According to this article, panting works by bringing air over the moist surfaces of the dog’s nose, mouth, and tongue which transfers heat from the blood to the air being breathed. Facing away while sitting helps supplement panting by allowing even more airflow across the body’s surface.
During hot weather, dogs will often sit in front of fans or AC vents to take advantage of the cooling airflow. Sitting butt-first forces that air to flow over their backside first, helping reduce body heat before circulating around the rest of their body. It’s an instinctual behavior for regulating temperature.
Submission
Some dogs will sit or lie down facing away from their owner as a submissive posture. This is done to avoid confrontation and potential conflict. Dogs naturally have submission rituals to show deference to more dominant members of their pack. Facing away can signal to the owner “I’m not a threat” and helps avoid direct eye contact which can be seen as a challenge. Submissive dogs aim to appease and avoid upsetting perceived higher ranking pack members. They intuitively try to avert any domineering behaviors. While dogs view their human owners as pack leaders, facing away may also simply indicate bonding and feeling secure enough to expose their back. As long as the dog is relaxed, comfortable, and engaged otherwise, this posture should not necessarily be a concern 1.
Disinterest
Some dogs will sit facing away from their owner when they are bored or distracted by something else in their environment. Dogs who are chronically understimulated can exhibit signs of boredom, which includes lack of energy and enthusiasm. A dog that sits facing away could be scanning the room for more interesting stimuli, or may simply be zoning out due to boredom. This type of disinterest is most common in breeds that require a lot of physical and mental exercise. If your dog is facing away frequently, it may indicate they need more playtime, training, or enrichment activities to engage their mind and body.
Anxiety
Dogs can suffer from anxiety just like humans. Separation anxiety is one of the most common forms, occurring when a dog is left alone and away from their most bonded human or animal companion [1]. Anxious dogs may exhibit undesirable behaviors like urinating inside, destroying furniture, and excessive barking [2].
One peculiar behavior of anxious dogs is sitting or lying down facing away from their owners. Animal behaviorists theorize that dogs do this to avoid eye contact, which can intensify anxious feelings. By turning their backs, they are attempting to disengage and minimize stressors that trigger their anxiety [3].
Arthritis
Older dogs with arthritis often find sitting facing away to be a more comfortable position (Source). The joints in their hips and back legs are often stiff and painful from arthritis. Facing away with their rear legs splayed to the side puts less pressure on these sore joints compared to sitting normally with their legs tucked under (Source). Sitting like this helps stretch their back legs into a less painful position. It can also help take pressure off swollen, arthritic joints that have been compressed during sleep. Some signs that a dog is sitting this way due to arthritis include reluctance to move after resting, stiffness, limping, and splaying their legs outward when sitting.
Scent
One reason why dogs may sit facing away is to better pick up scents and smells behind them. Dogs have a very powerful sense of smell, with up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses compared to only about 6 million in humans. This allows dogs to detect odors at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can. Since a dog’s nose points forward, turning their rear toward a person or object allows them to sniff the air currents and catch scents more easily.
When a dog sits with their back to you, they are positioning themselves to most effectively use their superior sense of smell and gather information about their environment. The air currents that carry scents are easier for a dog to detect when they are blowing directly at the back of their head rather than their face. Pointing their rear toward the source allows them to thoroughly analyze any smells behind them (Source).
So when your dog sits facing away, it is likely an instinctive move to increase scent detection. They are catching up on smells in the room and intently reading olfactory information that you cannot perceive. It is simply a way dogs explore their world using their most powerful sense.
Conclusion
In summary, there are many potential reasons why a dog may choose to sit facing away from their owner. Understanding the most common explanations can help owners better interpret this behavior when they observe it in their own pet. Being aware of a dog’s body language and signals is an important part of building a strong bond and trust between owner and dog. Recognizing whether sitting facing away is a sign of submission, anxiety, temperature regulation, guarding or just comfort can provide insight into a dog’s state of mind. While the behavior may sometimes seem peculiar to humans, it is important to remember that dogs communicate differently than we do. Taking the time to research and comprehend dog behavior leads to a more fulfilling relationship with our canine companions.