Just as gardening enthusiasts say that plants, if you know how to observe them, tell you if they want more or less water, or if they are happy with the light that reaches them or with the place in the house that you chose for them.
Dogs also tell us how they feel around us. They speak to us constantly every day if we know how to listen.
How do our dogs talk to us?
Dogs and humans have in common the condition of a social animal, therefore needing to communicate effectively. We rely for this on visual, sound, olfactory and tactile signals.
We are very good with sound signals, we can also make gestures and we are privileged with touch. Something that our dogs love, because we give them the best caresses.
Dogs are good at communicating with visual cues and no one doubts their ability to use their sense of smell.
Effective communication involves adapting to each other. We both must strive to be understood and understand.
Our dogs have evolved to make themselves understood
Our dogs throughout evolution have learned to interpret our gestures and know our intentions. They anticipate if they can get something good from us by how we move and act and also if they should run away or we are not to be trusted.
They are aware of what our eyes see and what our ears hear.
They are a real machine for interpreting our emotions. Their powerful sense of smell also helps them. They are able to smell the stress that comes out through the pores of our skin and act accordingly.
Do we know how to interpret our dog’s emotions?
There are studies that indicate that humans are capable of differentiating what our dogs want to say through their vocalizations. We can differentiate a bark of anger from another of joy.
However, with such a high density of dogs in our cities, and the shortcomings that we still have in understanding the language of dogs, it is not surprising that some conflicts occur between dogs that could have been avoided. Even that some people are bitten by a lack of knowledge of the canine’s thinking.
The 3 signals that your dog emits every day and their meaning
1. Shakes the whole body, as if it had just come out of the bathroom : If your dog during his walk, or at home, shakes as if he had just come out of the bathroom, but without this having happened… he is telling you that his body had reached a level of stress that I needed to reduce.
Your dog is relaxing his muscles and resetting the “stress counter” to zero.
It is a positive action because it allows your dog to free himself from that tension and not accumulate it in his body, which could lead to a chronification of stress and affect his health.
What you have to take into account is that the situation or the context in which he was prior to the shake caused him stress.
For example, if he shakes after giving him a hug…or after crossing paths with a dog.
2. Yawn even having rested: Dogs yawn when they are sleepy, but also before a tense or uncomfortable moment for them. Yawning helps your brain take in oxygen. If your dog yawns a lot, you may need to do activities that relax and blow off steam on a regular basis to help reduce that stress. In addition to identifying what factors stress you to redirect your day to day and help you.
3. He smacks his nose: You can see this sign in a high percentage of dogs when they come across yours on a walk. With it, dogs show a slight concern, generally in the face of something unknown or that causes them discomfort. Licking your nose helps you cool down and better cope with the situation. But you must take care of the interaction if it licks before the arrival of another dog, so that both are comfortable and the stress does not rise more than necessary.
Don’t let the trees prevent you from seeing the forest
It is important that, although you learn one by one to differentiate the signals that your dog gives you in his day to day; with practice you will be able to interpret them as a whole.
A dog may have modified its language based on its individuality and experiences. Kind of like acquiring your own dialect.
Careful observation is going to become your best weapon to perfectly understand your own dog, so now you know, observe, learn and then tell me.
References
Gazzano, A., et al . 2014. Calming signals in dogs: from myth to scientific reality? Veterinary (Cremona) , 28 (1), 15-20.
Kaminski, J., & Nitzschner, M. 2013. Do dogs get the point? A review of dog–human communication ability. Learning and Motivation , 44 (4), 294-302.
Mariti, C., et al. 2017. Analysis of the intraspecific visual communication in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris): A pilot study on the case of calming signals. Journal of Veterinary Behaviour , 18 , 49-55.
Pongracz, P., et al. 2011. Do children understand man’s best friend? Classification of dog barks by pre-adolescents and adults. Applied Animal Behavior Science , 135 (1-2), 95-102.
