Why do dogs Yawn when given attention?

Question

Iv noticed dogs yawn all the time when givin attention, Is it because they are shy or excited?

Answer 1

It is a submissive behavior. They are telling you that you are boss, and they appreciate your attentions...Little puppies will get in Mom's face and yawn at her..

Answer 2

Sometimes submissive dogs will yawn. If your dog yawns alot when you give it attention, it may see you as the dominate dog. Even tho you're not really a dog, a dog sees you as one and you are either dominate or submissive in the pack.

Answer 3

Yawning is a calming signal, possibly your body language is causing some nervousness when giving the dog attention avoid direct eye contact, as direct eye contact is a very dominant gesture, the same if you stand over the dog leaning forward towering over them to pet them , better to squat down keeping your back straight so you are leaning over them

http://neholistic.com/articles/0099.htm
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/calmingsignals.html

I have an extremely fearful/submissive and anxious dog that I adopted as special needs dog which I had sent up to me from florida to Ontario, and had another in the past, learning about their ways of communicating and how to apply their language myself has been a key to working with my special needs dogs inorder that they learn to trust me and to introduce them to new things they may find scary, so I use calming signals myself to help take their fear down a notch

Answer 4

My Dobies don't yawn--they all start sneezing!! My Jack Russ. yawns when I get on to her for barking! Guess they express themselves in different ways--since they can't talk---:o)

Answer 5

They can't talk, somehow they are trying to tell you something.

Answer 6

They are pretty much content.