How Dogs Communicate with Humans Flashcards
What are the four main ways dogs communicate?
Vocalization, body language, touch and scent
Why do dogs whimper?
The dog is feeling anxious, sad or is in pain
Why do dogs whine?
They are frustrated or feeling anticipation
Can indicate attention seeking behavior
Barking can mean a number of different things. What are a few of them?
Greeting, alarms, attention, threatening
What does growling mean?
A warning from the dog, it will attack if provoked
Why do dogs howl?
Dogs generally howl when they are lonely, miserable or attempting to communicate at a long distance
What kind of words/sounds can dogs understand the best?
Words with hard constant sounds such as “cuh” or “the” as found in “cat”
Who is Barbra Woodhouse?
She is a well known dog trainer in the UK and she has done a lot of research on dog vocalization
She understood dog can better undertand words with hard constant sounds
Who is Barbra Woodhouse?
She is a well known dog trainer in the UK and she has done a lot of research on dog vocalization
She understood dog can better undertand words with hard constant sounds
Dogs have the capacity to learn hundreds of different human sounds but _________________________________________.
They have difficulties with stringing these sounds together
EX) dog can understand “sit” and “dinner” but would not understand “sit on your dinner”
Dogs are experts at showing and understanding ______ language.
Body
Which human body part do we sometimes use like a dog’s ears and tails?
Hands
What are some ways dogs use their eyes?
Direct eye contact
Averting the eyes
Looking directly at an object
What does it mean when a dog uses direct eye contact?
They want attention
They want to threaten a human
In order to know which one, look at a dogs body language
What does it mean when a dog averts their eyes?
They are showing submission or defensive
What does it mean when a dog looks directly at an object?
They are trying to bring their owners attention at the object
EX) looking at the sofa because their ball is stuck or looking at the door because they want to go outside
What does it mean when a dogs head is held high?
They are paying attention
They wish to challenge you
What does it mean when a dog turns their head to the side?
It is an attempt to avoid the human
What does it mean when a dogs head is held low?
The dog is showing submission
What does it mean when a dog has tense muscles?
They are preparing to fight or flight
This is a subconsious reaction
What does it mean when a dog has relaxed muscles?
The dog is feeling easy going and non-threatening
What does it mean when a dog has a low head, elevated hindquarters and a wagging tail?
The dog wants to play
“Play bow”
What does it mean when a dogs tail is up?
The dog is interested in something
What does it mean when a dogs tail is tucked?
The dog is submissive
What does it mean when a dog is moving towards a human?
They are trying to get the human’s attention
What does it mean when a dog is moving away from a human?
They are showing uncertainty
It is a defensive move
What does it mean when a dog “paws” you?
Paw owner for scratches and food
Dogs are usually quick to use paws
What does it mean when a dog paws and lowers their head?
They want a pat on the head
What does it mean when a dog paws, then bows down with tail wagging?
They most likely want to play
What does it mwan when a dog licks you?
It is a classic greeting and sign of affection
It can also be used to show they are feeling submissive or anxious
Dogs often lick to face to tell humans that they are friendly and non-threatening
What does it mean when a dog touches their nose to you?
They can touch their nose to your face as a greeting
A dog might also “nose” you if they want a scratch on the head
Dog’s have an advanced sense of smell and their nose is one of their most important tools, they can learn a lot about you by smelling you
What does it mean when a dog places their weight on you?
They are seeking out security or reassuranace because they feel anxious or threatened
They may also do so because they think you feel threatened or anxious
Which type of communication that dogs use is least known to us?
Scent
Why do dogs use their sense of smell to communicate?
They want to say hello and get aquainted
To learn more about us by smelling our pheremones
What are some things that dog’s can learn from smelling our pheremones?
They can identify the gender of a person, their health, age and even mood (including fear)
Sometimes they can even tell if a woman is pregnant
Is a dog’s sense of taste better than human’s?
No, humans have a better sense of taste
Humans have around 9,000 taste buds and dogs have around 2,000 taste buds
Dog’s can distinguish tastes (sour, sweet, salty, bitter) but it is less pronounced
Which type of taste do dog’s have a very strong aversion to?
Bitterness, which is why it is often used as a deterrent
What is one of a dog’s most beloved scents?
The scent of a loving owner
The scent of their owner causes the brain of the dog to have a strong response
How do dog’s communicate through urinating/defecating?
To express ownership over something or someplace
What does it mean when wild wolves urinate/deficate around their dens?
It is a sign to animals in the group that they are near home and a sign to animals that are not in the group to stay away
What are the differences between male and female urinating?
Males that are have not been nuetered are more likely to mark their scent as a way to communicate but female dogs are not far behind
Males genrally only urinate over the urine of other males while females will urinate over any canine urine they find
Dogs (of both sexes) that are more submissive will sniff out the urine but will not urinate over it
Dogs can tell the difference between male and female urine
What are some ways dogs use their sense of smell to read the health of a person?
Some dogs are able to smell if a diabetic person has low blood sugar (most likely due to the change in the person’s body chemistry, caused by ketosis)
Some dogs can even smell tumors
Some dogs can snticipate when someone is about to have a seizure
T or F
A dog barks when it is feeling anxious, sad, or in pain
False, a dog whimpers when it is feeling anxious, sad, or in pain
Dog’s will use their paws when they want something. To figure out what they want, one must look at the rest of the body language. If a dog paws their owner with it’s head down, what is the dog trying to say?
“pet my head”
Dogs often sniff humans ___________ to get more information about them.
Pheremones
