Turning head back around

[NullaBasenji]

Hello!
Can anyone explain why my B does this. She has been doing it more and more. She is 1 year and one month old and just recently (within the last month) has been turning her head back around like she is trying to do a back flip or look over her shoulder. She does it when we hold her, when she is in her crate, when she is lying in bed..all the time and every day.
She is very playful and a normal pup in every other way. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks…I'm concerned.

[Nemo]

If you are talking about the way they can rotate their head back around, that is totally normal. I call it "rotato-head". Half the time he looks at me with his head upside down when he is sleeping beside me and wants to see what is going on.

[Alex]

Their neck gets stretched from doing that, Kiya does it all the time. We call her "turkey neck".

[renaultf1]

Ruby & Brando do it to stretch or when they are really in a playful mood. I call it "owl basenji." :D

[NullaBasenji]

YAY! Thank you. We just noticed her doing this but if its normal, that is great. I know they are pretty weird sometimes but its pretty cute.

[Buana]

Here, they strech their neck very often! (look really funny)

The podenco does it very much, she has a real long neck, and we laugh always when she streches!

[mauigirl]

When Riley first did this, bent his head back to look at us upside down, I think we started petting him from his "chin" to his chest. It seems like when he does it now he's trying to get that out of us. I think he likes it. He closes his eyes.

[basi]

Mine all so this also, it reminds me of a Goose! which is where our affix Gooses came from!

[wizard]

My previous beastie, EL D, did this a lot when laying on the couch. It seemed like he was doing a spinal twist for the exercise.

[sharronhurlbut]

I think its pretty typical for b's to do this.
My girl not only does her head tilt, but gets on her butt, like she is doing a sit and waves her paws.
She does this when Cody is hogging the heater and she is trying to get him to come "play" so she can take his spot.
He falls for it every time!
Always makes me laugh

[BasenjiDiva]

@renaultf1:

Ruby & Brando do it to stretch or when they are really in a playful mood. I call it "owl basenji." :D

We always joke that if Cory and Jayden were birds, they'd be owls. It looks so uncomfortable!!

Pat

[Kananga]

The one thing that cracks me up is when my boy sits far back on his tail with his legs sticking up. Makes him look goofy (and lazy). But as I understand that is 100% normal with these dogs. They love to lean and only turn their heads when they see something. No need to move their body.

[Ninabeana26]

Dallas does this as well. He will be laying on the sofa & instead of getting up & moving to see what I am doing he will just rotate his neck. I find it so cute when he looks at me like that though :)

[Vanessa]

@Alex:

Their neck gets stretched from doing that, Kiya does it all the time. We call her "turkey neck".

Not only does she do that…she will sleep like that too :confused:
She looks at you upside down...I wonder all the time why Kiya does that. She's odd. :D

[snorky998]

Tyler doesn't but Katie does. She rolls her head/neck back so far one paw comes off the ground. We at first thought she was developing an OCD. If the behavior starts to bug me, a good neck scratch and rub seems to make her stop.

Rotato-Head is killer funny!! Thanks Nemo

[gbroxon]

When Magnum starts doing "twisty neck," we know he's anxious about something. I don't like to see him do it. It's not one his "regular" behaviors, and to me it seems to mean he's uncomfortable about something, which, sometimes, we can't figure out. Twisty neck is different than just rotating his head around for some neck/chin scratching. Twisty neck means "somethin' ain't right" or "I don't like it" or "why can't I go there?" or "I'm frustrated."

[Congo]

Congo will sit with his back to us and twist his head around to look at us. As soon as I start giving him attention he stops doing it and starts talking to me with his happy little chortles. It cracks me up everytime he does it as if to say "pay attention to me and see how handsome I am".

[bellabasenji]

Bella does this, too. She crouches down, hops back up, and twists her head… then does it over again. Kind of funny that she has a certain place in front of the couch that she always does it.:confused: We have yet to figure out why.

[Mucky]

Colbey does what we call the "head whip" he'll be all cuddled up with us, hear something and whip his head around. Often it results in hitting us with his head!