I have a dog (lab) that squinches up her nose and shows her teeth at humans when she's happy, especially when she first sees them after an absence. It looks like she's snarling except that her tail is wagging and her hair isn't raised. She tends to snort a lot while doing it - we call it her "snort of happiness."

My dad had a collie once that did this, too.

Have any of you ever seen a dog that does this? It makes some people nervous at first, because she typically does it after she's met a person 3-4 times and they become her "friend." Then she looks mean all of a sudden when they come over.


She never does it to her doggie friends, just people. Does anyone know why some dogs do this? She started doing it when she was about 6 months old and we took her camping for the first time, and she was allowed to roam free in a 300 acre fenced hunting property (so it was like real freedom - and thus, ecstatic happiness).