Photo Friday!

If Dogs Could Talk

Working at a vet clinic I often hear "If only they could talk to us!" But here's the thing, if you watch your dog closely you can very easily communicate with them. My question to you is, have you ever really watched your dog? I mean really watched them. Their bodies are constantly communicating with us. By watching them you can find out someone is walking by before you even see them, or a car pulling into your driveway before you've heard it, or even the lost piece of food where you thought you picked up all of the mess.
I am always watching and studying my dog. His body language is strong, his sense of smell, stronger! I read a book called Scent of the Missing which opened my eyes to the dogs sense of smell. I was already aware of the fact that dogs can smell millions of times better than us but when I started looking at when my dog was smelling, nose to the air, I learned so much more about my surroundings. If Scout was laying outside while I was working and he suddenly picks his head up and scents the air, I often gave it a couple of seconds and sure enough my husband would walk around the corner of the house, or I'd look up and see the couple walking down the road. I would find out things that many seconds sooner, Oh! Someone's coming!


Scout's typical relaxed position when out walking the field or retrieving

 Scout was my inspiration for this blog today. We have just returned from a walk around the field and at a particular point in our walk I noticed Scout was quite unsure of something. We walk this area often so it wasn't as though it was a new surrounding. But as we turned the corner in the field his body language changed. He went from being relaxed (tail in a neutral position, wagging as he walks, ears down but not back or alert, head low as he sniffed the ground) state to a bit on edge state. Scout's gait slowed, normally he is trotting out in front of me 20 feet or so, now he stuck my me about 5 feet away, his head was high, ears forward and alert and tail raised only slightly. So I give him the "It's okay, go ahead" but he still sticks close by. I stop and decided to assess the situation and listen and look. Looking I don't see anything different but listening I start hearing the deep voice of a several bullfrogs, which almost sound slightly like a man's voice. That's the ticket. Scout is focused on the direction of which the sounds come from. As he realizes things aren't about to come and attack us he gradually resorts back to his relaxed, neutral state and we continue on our walk just as before.
This isn't the only time Scout has "talked" to me. If we can tune into our dogs body language more they will tell us all kinds of things we need to know, like I'm unsure of that object over there, or person, I'm afraid and don't want to go that way, I'm excited, I don't really care, I like that, I don't like that, keep doing that, don't do that, I"m in the mood, I'm not in the mood. I encourage you to watch your dog closely, learn what they look like when they are relaxed and from there you will start to notice the changes of a dog who is about to bark, or erupt with excitement etc. Check out Turid Rugaas, she established Calming Signals for dogs.


Here is Scout pretty relaxed but alert



And here is Scout just a few seconds later about ready to bark but I distracted him before he did. But you'll notice the change in his face, the wrinkles on his forehead, his mouth is a bit more forward and ears are very alert and forward.