Animal Behavior: What is My Dog Saying?
Animal Behavior: What is My Dog Saying?by C. Bailey-Lloyd Dogs are quite amiable creatures. Much like our human counterparts, their speech is often amplified by their body movements and facial expressions. If you haven't done so yet, carefully study your dog's eyes. Watch his eyebrow motions.
Often times, we don't hear them speaking because we're too busy not paying attention to their eye motions. When your dog is facing you and his eyes shift suddenly back and forth, he's telling you that he wants something. Whether it's, "...hey, Mom - let's play,", "...come follow me, I want to show you something," or "...I need to go pee;" well - that's up to the individual animal himself. Sometimes, dogs will look at you from the corner of their eye, will loudly yawn and fall to the ground. This is an obvious sign that they're bored and they want attention.
Your attention. Some dogs are rather bold with their sign language and will literally come up to you and place their paw on your leg, arm or hand. She'll either gently tap you or downright pounce on you. When she taps you - again - watch her eye movements. Are her eyes focused in one particular direction? Maybe the door, the empty water bowel or the dog food bag? Or after she taps you, does she press the side of her body against you? If she does, she wants to be stroked and loved.
If she pounces on you with her paws, this is usually a sense of urgency. This usually means she wants to play rough or she needs to go outside and inspect the premises. One of my favorite communication signals from dogs is when they lie on their backs, usually with forearms bent at the joints. This is the common "white flag" signal. What does "white flag" signal mean? Well, when dogs play with other dogs, this is their way of saying to one another, "...okay, I give up - you win, you're the leader..." But when they lie on their backs for you, it's even more telling.
This means that they are submitting. You are the master and they willingly acknoweldge this to you. In general, when dogs lie with their backs toward you, this means that they are quite content and totally comfortable in their surroundings. Don't be fooled by the wagging tail. Generally, dogs will wag their tails when excitable.
But it's how they wag their tails that tells us exactly what they're feeling. When a dog wags his tail, along with his entire body, he's usually happy and excited. When a dog wags only his tail with short, fast strokes, this can sometimes show a sign of aggression or fear. When dogs meet other dogs for the first time, you will notice this short, fast-stroke tail wag as well. This can either mean that they are unsure of the other animal, or that they're going to become aggressive.
Either way, be watchful of this "tail-tell" sign. Another body language sign to look for is in the ears. When a dog's ears are back and flat against their skull, this can mean one of two things: 1) If accompanied by a full-body tail wag, they're happy to see you, or 2) if coupled with their tail between their legs, they're afraid. One animal behavior that many folks despise is the chewing and destruction of personal belongings. This, too is animal speech.
What most humans don't know is that aside from the destruction of personal property, dogs tend to chew things from their people owners, whom they like the most. Yes, I said, "whom they like the most." Dogs are fairly picky when it comes to chewing shoes, clothing, etc. When there are more persons in a household, dogs will specifically seek out personal items of people that they consider to be their master. Although this is not the nicest trait of animals, just remember that when you're scolding Rex that he only did it because he loves you. In closing, dogs are the most telepathic lifeforms on earth.
When you feel sad, they feel sad with you. When you are angry, they try to disolve the situation with their loving and pawing. When you're happy, they feel your happiness with you. Observe your animals, they are picking up on your emotions more than you may think. And always, love your animals - they're here only a little while...perhaps to teach us the most vital communication skill in the world - the ability to listen.
Animal Behavior: What is My Dog Saying? ? 2004 - All Rights Reserved
Public Relations' Director www.holisticjunction.com www.mediapositiveradio.com
[All work by author is copyright protected. If you would like to use this article, please contact the author for permission.].
"Put Your Commands On A Diet"
"Put Your Commands On A Diet"By Can a dog understand our language? If so, how much of it? The question poses possibly as many answers as there are dogs. Certainly the boundaries of a canine's lexicon vary, according to his age, environment, training and inborn intelligence.
The average house dog is thought to develop a functional vocabulary of close to a dozen-and-a-half different words by the time he reaches five to six years of age. Additional phrases containing up to three key words can boost this total to a potential of about thirty.
While impressive, such a hefty vocabulary brings little to the average dog's trainability.
In fact, the more the dog's vocabulary can be pruned, the better. Contradictory? Hardly. Our spoken words, though meaningful to us, are simply sounds to the dog. Heard initially, they express about as much to him as gobbledygook would to us. Only by demonstration and constant repetition can he be made to understand how each word applies...
"Put Your Commands On A Diet"
Dog training > "Put Your Commands On A Diet"
Finding a Dog Breeder for the Perfect Puppy
A good way to begin finding the "perfect puppy" is to decide what kind of dog you want. Think about what type of dog would be suitable for you and your family.
A large dog? Medium? Small?
What type of temperament would you like in your dog? Enthusiastic and exuberant all the time? More independent and aloof? Something in between these two types?
What about hair length? Shorthaired dogs? Longhaired dogs? A quick tip: longhaired dogs require regular grooming and can be high maintenance.
Another thing to consider is that different dog breeds have genetic health issues.
Larger dogs are susceptible to hip dysplasia. This is a degenerative disease that affects the hip joint. When a dog with hip dysplasia matures, the hip joint and socket can no longer bear the animal's body weight.
The dog will have a difficult time running, walking or even standing. The only cure for this condition is surgery.
Smaller...
Dog training > Finding a Dog Breeder for the Perfect Puppy
Free Seminar Explores “Ins & Outs of Franchise Ownership"
(ContentDesk) May 4, 2006 -- If youve ever thought of exploring the possibility of owning your own business, attend a presentation which explores the Ins & Outs of Franchise Ownership". The seminar date and location is Saturday May 20th, 10 a.m. to noon, Newton, MA, at the Marriott Hotel.Franchising more than ever before, has an unprecedented opportunity to make a major positive impact on New Englands future economy. The recent study conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers on behalf of the International Franchise Association (IFA) found that in New England over 750,000 jobs are a result of franchising, the total output is over 70 Billion dollars a year, and there are over 32,000 franchise establishments in the six New England States that comprise 40% of all retail sales.There are more than 2,500 franchise businesses to choose from in the US, priced as low as $25,000 to more than $1 Million. Franchising is not for everyone, says Coen, President of Franchise Perfection, sponsors of...
Free Seminar Explores “Ins & Outs of Franchise Ownership"
Dog training > Free Seminar Explores “Ins & Outs of Franchise Ownership"
Reviving Old Computer Games
Remember the good old days of gaming, when there were only 5 pixels in the protagonist and your imagination could turn them into a heroic figure of Schwarzenegger proportions? When the enemies and the heroes were distinguished by colour and you only needed one button on the joystick? Well times have changed and technology has moved on. Pulling my old Commodore 64 or Atari out of the back of the cupboard and setting them up often takes more time than the nostalgic pang lasts. I've also noticed...
ink cartridges Dog training Animal Behavior: What is My Dog Saying?
Dog training > Reviving Old Computer Games
Dog training
This page loaded in 0.05851 seconds.