Communication

* Your dog will constantly try to communicate with you through their language of non-verbals, and will read your slightest body language and vocal tones as if you were a dog. And then your dog will be confused, unless you’ve worked at learning their language, sometimes called “Doggish”. While it’s a major part of canine communication, before we start working at it we’re blind to this rich world of signals. But we can learn very quickly – watch and try to read your dog’s non-verbals, especially his eyes, ears, tail and posture, and know that most movements carry meaning. Little things like leaning slightly forward or backward are like shouting in Doggish. Our “Resources” section lists some excellent books on the subject.

* Please prioritize learning how to communicate with dogs, so your dog doesn’t feel as if nobody listens or wants to talk him. If you want a dog because of their amazing love and abilities you should know that communication will open up entire new dimensions with your dog. They blossom when you start responding to them! A cross species example: my daughter read about the cat slow-blink non-verbal that affectionately communicates something like “I trust you enough to close my eyes in your presence”. She slow-blinked her cat across the room. Her cat looked at her in shock and ran over and hopped on her lap purring and saying all kinds of things, probably “why didn’t you tell me that you speak cat!?!” But after a couple of minutes the cat realized that all she knew was the slow-blink, sort of snorted, and huffed off back across the room. Follow through at learning Doggish and see what happens!