Does Your Dog Communicate With "The Shake"?

We have all seen our dogs do "the shake", especially after a bath or after getting wet in a downpour. Dogs also have their own personal reasons to shake, some we may understand and some we may not. Recently, I have been trying to decipher "the shake" to determine what my doggie friends are trying to communicate.

For one I have noticed that his shake is his way of letting me know he is annoyed with me. When I interrupt his chew time to leash him up for a walk, he shakes. I pull him away from a dangerous sniff spot, he shakes. Sometimes after the full shake he will shake just his head with a slight muffled bark...I guess that means he is really annoyed at me. I wonder if he has noticed that I have figured out his secret code.

Another one of my walking buddies will shake right before I open the door for us to go outside. After I leash him up we walk to the door and, on queue every time, he will shake. An happy, excited, full body body shake that starts at his ears and works it's way all the way down to the end of his tail. It makes me smile because I know that is his signal that he is happy we are taking a walk together.

When I am out walking with my dog Dallas she will shake, every time, after she has "done what she needed to do".  A quick, full body shake that is so fast I believe her feet actually lift off the floor. That's her signal to me that she is done with the business of the walk and ready to go have fun.

Does your dog communicate with "the shake"?