Turid Rugas, a Norwegian dog trainer, calls turning the head a “calming signal,” and I agree that it does have a calming effect on the dog who sees it (although I don’t think that dogs are necessarily doing it consciously to relax the other dog). Humans can do it consciously, doing what wolf researchers call “look aways” by turning our heads to the side when we greet a new dog or we sense that tension is mounting.
