This is relatively common behavior in golden retrievers, and two of my dogs always greeted me with a smile. It is more widely known in Dalmatians, where it is called a “smarl.”
It is either a “submissive smile, ” which is used as a pacifying behavior in wolves, or a dog attempting to imitate a human smile.
My guess is that it is the latter. Dogs do imitate people, but they have such a different anatomy that it often doesn’t look like imitation when we see it.
This dog’s behavior is a greeting behavior, not a submissive behavior. Bruce Fogle’s Know Your Dog (1992) shows a Dandie Dinmont exhibiting the same behavior. Fogle says that this dog is imitating a human smile.
With all that nervous lip-licking, I’d say it was more of a submissive behavior.
The expression isn’t submissive though. It’s just a greeting behavior. Lip-licking doesn’t always mean submission, and for dogs, lifting their lips causes them to lick. Even snarling dogs that have been snarling for a while will lick. There’s a famous photo of a dominant snarling wolf licking its lips, and then as the camera goes off, its tongue is actually sticking out.
I’m think it’s just an imitation behavior, a dog really has to be under a lot to do a real submissive smile. I think Stanley Coren’s example of an Irish setter doing it was an imitation, not submissive smiles. These do happen, but only in low neoteny breeds.
[…] Tucker is a 12 year old Golden Retriever and my brother’s (the one on the phone) best friend. He has travelled all over the country, including the BWCA, Yellowstone, Tahoe, in the back of a Ford Explorer, a Toyota 4Runner, and a canoe. He has been certified as an official therapy dog and has delighted many a hospital guest with his personality. Tucker is a highly disciplined and intelligent dog. He learned to retrieve his blanket and manage his large tail around beverage glasses. He loves everyone and has the signature Golden Retriever smile. https://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/golden-retriever-smiles/ […]
My neighbor’s female Saint, Zoe, does this and it scares the bejeezus out of a lot folks.
[…] I just acquired a new puppy—or I should say a dog of an uncertain age, as Boogaloo Dude (“Boogie”*) comes to me as a rescue. He is a more-or-less Golden Retriever and has most of the attributes of a Golden, including the charming golden smile. […]