The Importance of Learning Dog Body Language
When it comes to our animal companions, we often say things like “if only I knew what he was trying to say” or “if she could only talk”. Well, dogs are great communicators! The problem is a language barrier.
When I first really started getting involved in working with dogs, one of the things I needed to learn was how to read their body language. This was essential for knowing if a dog was fearful, happy, way too excited or grouchy.
I was taught using a DVD set called The Language of Dogs by Sarah Kalnajs of Blue Dog Training & Behavior. I watched the DVD’s over and over, then watched them every year as a refresher. I started picking out various behavior patterns in the dogs I was working with. These dogs were owned, sheltered, and fostered. It was not long before I had more questions about what I was seeing and how various behaviors connected to different breeds.
That soon led me to Patricia McConnel and her wonderful book “The Other End of The Leash”. Not only did I learn that yes, some breeds are more sensitive to body postures than others, but I also learned that our very presence in the room can alter a dog’s behavior. This caused me to watch the group of dogs (I was working in a dog daycare at the time) as each employee entered. I then challenged myself to disrupt the behavior of the dogs as little as possible when I entered the group.
I quickly started watching how all people interacted with dogs, feeling bad for dogs who were put into uncomfortable situations by people who thought they were communicating with dogs properly. A very common thing that I saw was people sticking their fist in a dog’s personal space. This well-intentioned behavior was originally introduced as a “safe way” to greet a dog. The theory was that dog could sniff the hand briefly before the human reaches over the head of the dog to scratch or pet his/her head. Most dogs greeted in this way would either refuse to sniff, would retreat or do nothing. The human would take the observation of the dog not growling and not nipping as an acceptable sign that the dog would allow handling. In truth, the dog was terrified and hoping the strange human would walk away. The humans always respond with reaching over the head of the dog who is trying to look up at what is coming at them or retreat further from this scary situation only to have their trusted human force the issue on them. The owners would force the issue out of guilt that their dog was not being “friendly”, afraid the stranger would think less of them for not making the dog do as it should and thinking that by insisting that they were indeed teaching the dog “who is boss”.
These interactions alone had me observing how dogs communicate with their body language how a training session is going. I started watching my own dogs as I tried various methods and techniques. Recently, I purchased a tripod for my phone so I could record my training sessions with my dogs. This has allowed me to see how I am unknowingly affecting the outcome of a lesson by my poor communication and what signals my dogs are clearly communicating that I am missing. After about 5 sessions recorded with Molly my Shepherd, I discovered that her constant itching is not dry skin or a habit, but a simple case of being confused by humans! I had known that displacement itching was a behavior to watch for, I just had not connected the dots with my own dog. I would not have seen that without viewing several training sessions with her. Now respond to her itching with a change in my approach to what I am teaching or take a short break. She is now picking up new skills even faster because finally, this human is paying attention.
