User:Yngvadottir/Play bow

A play bow is a dog behavior involving lowering the forequarters and leaving the hindquarters raised. It signals playfulness and sometimes that play is continuing.

In a play bow, a dog drops its forequarters while keeping its hindquarters raised. In a related action known as a "play bob", the dog bounces up and down or from side to side without completely lowering the forequarters.

Individual dogs vary considerably in how often they play bow; in one study of sixteen dogs playing in pairs, four of the pairs performed more than three quarters of the observed play bows, and while some dogs never play bowed, one individual performed more than 40% of the play bows.