Dogs have been human companions forever. But even with this long history of companionship, the relationship has been pretty one sided. Although we have made great strides in dog nutrition, healthcare and training - the same cannot be said for understanding or even noticing dog communications, whether it is dog to human or dog to dog communication.
I don't think we intentionally ignore what dogs are saying - we're just not bilingual! Humans are a very verbal species. Although we pay attention to body language and facial expressions - we tend to fall back on verbal communication the majority of the time. And in case you haven't noticed, dogs do not speak English! The majority of their communication is through body language and we tend to miss these signals because we are too busy - you guessed it - TALKING!!
Now, if you are sitting there saying "Whatever, I always know what my dog is saying" keep reading, please.
My business partner Karla and I got together recently to film some footage for an upcoming dog safety presentation. We consider ourselves dog savvy and we are both pretty good at picking up on dog communication signals so I was pretty shocked when I saw the footage below and realized just what we missed while we were - you guessed it - TALKING!!!
Let's see if you can do any better than we did. Watch the clip below and take note of what you see.
So what did you see? Two excited dogs trying to interact with Karla? Karla ignoring the pushy black dog’s behavior? Did you see anything else?
Here is what I noticed when I replayed the clip.
1. Karla is interacting with the yellow lab (Sadie) until the black dog (Olive) successfully gets between the two.
2. Karla diverts her attention so she doesn't reward the black dog's pushy behavior.
3. The black dog continues to place her body between the lab and Karla so that she has Karla all to herself.
4. Eventually the black dog freezes up (her tail stops moving) as she stares the lab down. Notice that when the lab backs away you can see the black dog's face staring directly at her.
5. The lab gives up and ultimately leaves the room, I assume, to avoid conflict.
I have zoomed in on the action in the clip below so watch it and see if you agree with my assessment.
The clip below is a close-up so you can see the stare down as the lab moves.
So in the few seconds that Karla and I are busy talking and laughing the black dog has successfully communicated to the lab that Karla is off limits - and we missed the entire conversation!! Now, had Karla and I been paying more attention to the dogs, and less attention to trying to get some great footage, we would have realized what was going on and probably interrupted the behavior. But the reality is, no matter how well we understand dog communications, we cannot watch our dogs 100% of the time in every situation so we are going to miss a lot of the action.
Why is this important? Think about it. If the yellow lab had barked or tried to correct the pushy black dogs behavior we would probably have assumed the yellow lab was the aggressor and behaving inappropriately, when in reality, she was the victim and just trying to stand up for herself.
So, the next time your dog appears to be the aggressor in a situation, and before you punish them, you might want to take a step back and decide whether or not you "heard" the entire conversation.
Happy Training....
Content, pictures and videos ©Personable Pets Dog Training
I don't think we intentionally ignore what dogs are saying - we're just not bilingual! Humans are a very verbal species. Although we pay attention to body language and facial expressions - we tend to fall back on verbal communication the majority of the time. And in case you haven't noticed, dogs do not speak English! The majority of their communication is through body language and we tend to miss these signals because we are too busy - you guessed it - TALKING!!
Now, if you are sitting there saying "Whatever, I always know what my dog is saying" keep reading, please.
My business partner Karla and I got together recently to film some footage for an upcoming dog safety presentation. We consider ourselves dog savvy and we are both pretty good at picking up on dog communication signals so I was pretty shocked when I saw the footage below and realized just what we missed while we were - you guessed it - TALKING!!!
Let's see if you can do any better than we did. Watch the clip below and take note of what you see.
So what did you see? Two excited dogs trying to interact with Karla? Karla ignoring the pushy black dog’s behavior? Did you see anything else?
Here is what I noticed when I replayed the clip.
1. Karla is interacting with the yellow lab (Sadie) until the black dog (Olive) successfully gets between the two.
2. Karla diverts her attention so she doesn't reward the black dog's pushy behavior.
3. The black dog continues to place her body between the lab and Karla so that she has Karla all to herself.
4. Eventually the black dog freezes up (her tail stops moving) as she stares the lab down. Notice that when the lab backs away you can see the black dog's face staring directly at her.
5. The lab gives up and ultimately leaves the room, I assume, to avoid conflict.
I have zoomed in on the action in the clip below so watch it and see if you agree with my assessment.
The clip below is a close-up so you can see the stare down as the lab moves.
So in the few seconds that Karla and I are busy talking and laughing the black dog has successfully communicated to the lab that Karla is off limits - and we missed the entire conversation!! Now, had Karla and I been paying more attention to the dogs, and less attention to trying to get some great footage, we would have realized what was going on and probably interrupted the behavior. But the reality is, no matter how well we understand dog communications, we cannot watch our dogs 100% of the time in every situation so we are going to miss a lot of the action.
Why is this important? Think about it. If the yellow lab had barked or tried to correct the pushy black dogs behavior we would probably have assumed the yellow lab was the aggressor and behaving inappropriately, when in reality, she was the victim and just trying to stand up for herself.
So, the next time your dog appears to be the aggressor in a situation, and before you punish them, you might want to take a step back and decide whether or not you "heard" the entire conversation.
Happy Training....
Content, pictures and videos ©Personable Pets Dog Training
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