How dogs Communicate
How Dogs Communicate
Understanding your dogs communication
Effective communication is essential for the formation and the maintenance of social relationships. Dogs have three main methods of communication:-
1. Auditory (Sound)
2. Visual (Sight)
3. Olfactory (Scent)
In developing an effective communication between you and your dog, the first two methods are of the most importance:-
Auditory Communication can be relayed over a range of distances. Dogs repertoire of sounds include barking, grunting, whining, yelping, screaming, howling, growling, tooth snapping and panting as a form of play. The sounds can be expressed differently to communicate different things. For example, barking can indicate greeting, defensiveness, care seeking, distress or seeking contact. It is also used as a communal activity. The fact they have such a wide range of vocal communication should highlight how sensitive they are to our tone of voice. Always praise you dog enthusiastically- make sure you gets its tail wagging. If the dog gets over excited when you praise him or her, calm your voice accordingly.
Visual Communication. Body language and facial expression is an important aspect of canine communication. Dogs also learn how to react to our body language and facial expressions. Whilst we lack the full range of a dog's communicative attributes (tail ect), they can interpret for example, drawing yourself up to a full height and staring at them, or standing over them as a threat. Similarly if you are greeting a dog your body language should be open, get down to their level (Kneel) to appear less intimidating, however you remain the pack leader so no jumping up on you.
Mis-interpretation-an example
Many owners, at some point, make the exclamation "he knows he has done the wrong thing", when it comes to the behaviour of their pet. This statement is normally made after they find the dog's misdemeanour, the dog is either hiding away or cowering (slinking) in the other room. When the owner appears to be angry a dog will slink (keep their body low) they will put their tail between their legs, flatten their ears, lower their head, and give no eye contact. In fact this is just simply submissive behaviour or body language, used by the dog to appease the owner's aggressive body language. Your dog has the ability to link behaviour with thee consequence if the consequence happens within half a second of the behaviour. Therefore punishing after the event, whether physical or verbal, is not only ineffective, it will only serve to increase the dogs' anxiety. The reason that submissive behaviour is easily mistaken for guilt is the fact that dogs can learn to anticipate the circumstances in which their owners will behave aggressively towards them i.e. tell them off after the fact.
