Your Dog May Be Hurting Right Now and Not Showing It the Way You Think

Dogs are among the most expressive creatures we share our lives with, yet when it comes to pain, they have spent thousands of years becoming remarkably good at hiding it. In the wild, showing vulnerability meant becoming a target. That instinct did not disappear when dogs moved into our homes and onto our sofas. It simply went quiet, tucked beneath the tail-wags and the dinnertime enthusiasm, leaving the signs of genuine suffering easy to overlook.

The trouble is that most dog owners assume they would know. Dogs can be very good at hiding their pain, and paying close attention to changes in their daily behaviour can give clues as to how they are feeling, with signs including licking a particular spot, drooling, or panting while at rest. But the earliest warnings rarely look dramatic. They tend to look like a slightly off day, a quieter mood, a meal left half-finished, and that is precisely the problem.

A peer-reviewed study published in PLOS One found that fewer than half of dog owners correctly identified subtle behavioural changes as likely indicators of pain. Researchers at Utrecht University showed that owners were no better than non-owners at recognising pain in its subtle form, with discomfort proving far easier to identify once it changed how a dog moved, but staying much harder to spot when it altered sleep, attachment, or daily habits. The gap between what dogs feel and what owners notice can stretch into weeks.

Among the behaviours that participants most reliably linked to pain were changes in personality, hesitant paw lifting, fluctuating mood, and reduced play, while signals such as air sniffing, nose licking, and yawning scored much lower in pain recognition, even though they can all be genuine distress signals. Research also indicates that dog owners should be alert to altered sleep patterns, restlessness, clinginess, and unusual licking or chewing of the body, with even changes in ear position and coat quality potentially pointing to underlying discomfort.

The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine notes that signs to watch for include social withdrawal, increased neediness, a normally affectionate dog reacting negatively to touch, uncharacteristic irritability or snapping, excessive panting at rest, facial changes such as flattened ears or glazed eyes, and altered sleeping patterns. A dog’s posture can also be telling, as muscles change their tone in response to physical trauma to protect surrounding structures, meaning a dog with hip pain might sit with a hind leg extended outward, or lower its head if experiencing neck discomfort.

Researchers have called for educational tools specifically designed to teach dog owners how to recognise early, subtle pain signals before a dog’s suffering becomes obvious enough to be unmistakable, noting that even brief educational interventions have been shown to improve owners’ ability to detect pain-related behavioural changes. Veterinarians advise observing your dog carefully for signs such as trembling, reluctance to move, altered posture, changes in appetite, or decreased energy, and scheduling a veterinary appointment rather than attempting to assess or treat pain at home.

If any of the signs in this article sound familiar, we would love to hear how you first realised something was wrong with your dog, and what finally made it clear that your pet needed help.