Bark Collars » Canine Communication

Canine Communication

Though we tend to liken our pets to humans, your pet dog has come from a long list of wild canine animals before they evolved as a domesticated breed. The inborn behavior of your pet can be compare to that of it's wild relatives: the wolf, cayote, fox and the jackal.There are instinctive behavior that pet dogs know from the womb and does not have to be taught to them. These include vocalization, body language and marking; also termed as Canine communication.

At four weeks of age pet puppies bark, whine, growl and howl just like pups of their wild relatives.These sounds, for whatever purpose they were made by your pet, are ways of canine communication. An old chinese proverb says "One dog barks at something and a hundred bark at the sound. ". A dog's excessive barking may mean lots of things, their sounds are ways of provoking excitement, fear, possession, pain, happiness or playfulness.

Vocalization and Body Language

Canine communication can also mean the dog's use of body language. Your pet's facial expression, ear tilt, tail carraige, his hackle (raised hair at the neck down to its back) display and body stance signal your dog's state of fear. excitement, aggression or submission. Signs of hostility (in pain, possessiveness or protection) in dogs, include curling of the lips, baring of teeth, flattened ears, tense tail, stiff legs and bristling hackle; this is either accompanied by a growl or bark. Your pets hostile reaction means he feels a threat or fear for safety (his & yours).

All dogs have keen senses, if something obscures its sense of peace and security it would most certainly be hostile. There are times when dogs get too intimidated with something strange or foreign to their senses like engine noises, fireworks and gunfire. Dogs may also show fear by tucking their tails between their legs, their ears tilted backward eyes downcast (almost pleading). The canine communication you're familiar with would be when the dog jumps up on you to welcome you home, half sitting and half crawling, ears tilted back and lips bared as if in a goofy smile. All of the mentioned actions includes yodelling or yipping.

Markings

We've established that dogs are territorial and insinctive, so at times it smells other dogs "markings" on their turf, they automatically mark it over to their scent. Their scent mixed with urine is a form of canine communication between dogs. A dog may add to the territory marking by growling, barking, assuming aggressive body language and kicking its hind legs.