4 reasons why your dog is shaking his head

There are many reasons why you should know your pet's body language, but one of the most important is to monitor their health.

Dogs can’t talk. They can communicate, they can express themselves verbally, but unfortunately they will not verbalise if they have a problem. This is one of the reasons why their condition seems to deteriorate from one moment to the next. Unfortunately, no matter how much we study them, we cannot yet read everything just from their body language and reactions. But there are some problems we can suspect from a few movements.
One of these when a dog shaking his head. We’re not talking about whole-body “shaking”, we’re talking about, when a dog just shakes his head several times a day. There may be a medical reason for this, so it’s always worth seeing a vet to get an accurate diagnosis and help for your beloved four-legged friend as soon as possible .

A few words about full-body “shaking”

We have mentioned that it is worth separating this moment (i.e. the “shaking” of the whole body) from just the shaking of the head, and we will now explain why. The former is not a health problem, and not necessarily something to be confused about. You may know the feeling when your pet shakes from head to toe, or even tail to tail. The exact meaning varies depending on the context. For example, if your dog shakes after stretching in the morning, it is unlikely that there is an underlying meaning.

Nor do we mean when he shakes off the water after a good swim, or an unavoidable bath. It is usually thought of as a release of tension, a kind of self-soothing moment (dogs also often “shake off” after playing).
If the situation is stressful or simply too much or intense for the dog, it may resort to this as a form of self-regulation.

When dogs shake their whole body with their head, it may be related to a phenomenon called “shaking off”. This is a technique that dogs use to reset themselves after any tense or stressful situation

– declared Georgina Ushi Phillips.

We may all be familiar with this “shake off”. Some of us instinctively shake our hands, perhaps wiggle our fingers or wiggle our legs before an exam, job interview or just a major event…These may not be as effective as breathing techniques or as intense as full-body ‘shaking’ of dogs, but some people do it to calm themselves.

4 reasons why a dog shaking his head

So, we have learned why dogs shake their whole body in some situations, but we haven’t talked about why they shake only their head. While the former had more of an emotional reason, the latter may have a health reason.

1.) Earwax accumulation

Perhaps one of the most common and innocent causes of head shaking is that the dog’s ears have not been cleaned for a long time and earwax has not been able to drain properly. This can be quite uncomfortable, but in good cases it is not painful and in most cases can be treated at home. We usually point out that it is worth checking your pet’s ears often and cleaning them occasionally using the correct technique. Ear buds should not be used.

2.) Ear infection

It’s much more unpleasant if your pet’s ears are inflamed. While the former can be treated at home, ear infections require a visit to the vet. Often, a plant part (such as a tocolase) or some other irritant or injury-causing substance gets into the dog’s ear, so these should not be ruled out. The following symptoms may indicate that you have an ear infection:

• Constant picking of the ear. The dog scratches its ears, or shakes its head, or tilts it, typically in one direction.
• If you look closely at the affected area, you can see that the inside of the ear is red, visibly inflamed, irritated.
• Foul smelling, smelly discharge, usually brown or yellow.

Ear infections are serious and can lead to hearing loss if not treated properly, so even if you’re not absolutely sure it’s an infection but your pet is notoriously picking at his ears, it’s still worth getting a check-up. The sooner you get it treated, the less discomfort your pet will have to go through. You can read more about different ear infections and ear diseases in this article.

3.) Allergy

Excessive licking of the paw, rashes, scratching, diarrhoea, shaking of the head… these can all be signs of allergies. The topic comes up quite often these days, so this possible cause may not have surprised many people at all. However, it is important to mention it because it is very common in dogs and can be very unpleasant for them and can have a major impact on their quality of life.

4.) Neurological lesion

Head posture may also indicate neurological lesions. Tilting the head (apparently unintentionally) or shaking it, or hanging or leaning on it, may indicate a neurological problem. These may be accompanied by loss of balance, strange gait and many other symptoms. Neurological abnormality is more of an umbrella term here and may present slightly differently in each affected dog. Not as common as the previous causes, but worth knowing about.