How Well Do You Really Understand Your Dog?

A recent piece of research has thrown fascinating new light on human dog communication. Scientists from America and across Europe collaborated to analyze the interaction between dogs and humans in 190 social media videos. All of the videos were described in their titles as containing either play, hugging or petting, and they were chosen by the researchers for their popularity with viewers. So, they should represent the very best of human-canine relationships, right? In fact, the study highlighted some significant gaps in how well we appear to understand dogs’ body language. So would you make the same mistakes?

• The research
• Canine body language we tend to miss, or misunderstand
• Body language we use, which sends the wrong message
• Tips communicating successfully with your dog

Human-dog communication

People have wanted to better communicate with dogs for as long as they have been domesticated. Whether to become better hunting partners and put more food on the table, or to convince a pampered lapdog just how much they are adored. Our relationships with our pets are frequently among the closest emotional bonds we have – and yet we don’t even come close to sharing a common language. So we try to interpret their sounds, and their body language, and we often resort to guess work. Likewise, when we want to tell our hound that we love them, we do our best we can think of and hope the message is getting through.

Understanding our dogs better – and making ourselves better understood to them – is ripe with potential for making our relationships even better. And also for improving our dogs’ wellbeing, since they’re entirely dependent on us to look after them. With nearly 500 million pet dogs in the world, and over 80 million in the U.S. alone, that’s an awful lot of pooches who stand to benefit from better communication. So no wonder it’s also a topic of worldwide research interest.

The research

Applied Animal Behaviour Science, a journal dedicated to better understanding the behavior of animals in human care, recently shared the results of a collaborative study by scientists in Ireland, Belgium, America, Spain and Italy. And it’s a great example of how researchers today can use our fondness for social media to gather information. The researchers studied dogs’ body language in 190 of the most popular pet videos shared to social media.

All of the videos were described as containing either play, petting, or hugging. Their popularity was determined by the number of ‘likes’ they had received. So, whatever each video contained must be something the person posting it was proud of. And what’s more, people watching it approved of. So in other words, a lot of people viewing the human-dog communication in the videos have judged it to be going well.

The researchers documented all of the behaviors and body language signals being displayed by both humans and dogs in the videos, and here’s what they found.

Crossed wires

The results are surprising. Most of the human subjects did things which are known to be stressful or antagonistic to dogs. From grabbing their throat as part of a game (witnessed in 43% of the ‘playful’ videos) to looming over them from above, or holding eye contact for longer than dogs are known to be comfortable with. Unsurprisingly then, behaviors associated with stress and discomfort were observed in most of the dogs featured. But it seems these signals were being missed or misconstrued by their oblivious human partner, and the audiences endorsing the video.

The simple truth of the matter is, people and dogs do not communicate or express affection in the same way. For humans, hugs, kisses, prolonged eye contact and touch are all widely-understood ways of communicating affection. Of course, we sweet talk each other with carefully chosen words as well, but that’s out of the question with our dogs. So we show them love with the physical gestures we’re used to.

Unfortunately though, not many of these gestures are received in the the way they are intended by our dogs. Without a doubt, our dogs love us back, because they tolerate an awful lot of things they don’t enjoy, simply because it comes from us!

Canine body language we tend to miss, or misunderstand

It was striking how often the humans in the videos appeared oblivious to the ways the dog was attempting to communicate stress or discomfort. There wasn’t any indication that the signs were being deliberately ignored, or that the human subjects were maliciously doing something with the intention of making their dog uncomfortable. Indeed, the popularity of the videos suggests that misconceptions about canine body language are widespread and commonly held.

All of the follow are stress behaviors, or signs that a dog isn’t comfortable with what’s happening to them:

• Turning their head away
• Blinking
• Licking their lips or nose
• Freezing
• Yawning
• Licking the human
• Flattening their ears
• Panting
• Biting
• Staring
• Lying down
• Growling
• Barking
• Holding their tail stiffly between their legs

And here are some interesting stats from the researchers:

• The dogs tried to turn their head and look away from the human in half of the videos described as playful, and over two thirds of the videos featuring hugging or petting.
• They licked their nose or lips in 13% of the videos depicting play, 43% of the hugging videos and 36% of the petting videos.
• More than half of dogs held their ears flattened back, whether being hugged, petted, or engaged in a game.

Yet more signs the dogs were uncomfortable were recorded at lower frequencies. Some behaviors, like panting are difficult to accurately interpret in the context of an isolated video clip – the researchers couldn’t tell for example if it was a warm day, or the dog had just been exercising. But sadly some dogs’ clear signs of discomfort, like yawning or licking their nose, were actually identified by the person with the in the video, but misinterpreted as insignificant, or even amusing.

Body language we use, which send the wrong message

Just as unhelpful as failing to recognize when a dog is stressed or anxious, is inadvertently doing things which make our dog feel more uncomfortable. For example

• Touching or stroking them on the top of their head
• Restraining them in a hug
• Standing over them
• Placing your face right next to theirs
• Kissing them
• Making prolonged eye contact
• Carrying them
• Holding them down
• Holding their paws

All of these are usually perceived by dogs as rude, overstepping personal boundaries, antagonistic, hostile or aggressive.

Why does it matter?

Understanding your dog – and making yourself understood in return – isn’t just a sentimental pursuit. When we bring them home, we’re making a promise to look after their physical and emotional well being. Being able to interpret their body language and respond to it correctly feeds into achieving both. What’s more, it’s a matter of safety. If a dog tries to signal that they’re uncomfortable using a yawn or a change in posture, and those messages are ignored, that’s when they might escalate to growling, snarling, snapping or biting. In fact, dogs hardly ever growl or bite out of the blue – they are very averse to aggression, if they can avoid it. There was almost always a plea for help or change first, which went unrecognized or ignored.

Tips for successful dog-human communication

Know what to look for. Did you already know all the body language dogs might use to express discomfort? What about all the things we might do that unintentionally threatens them? It’s worth revisiting those from time to time – there’s a lot on them to remember!

Train together. Rather than playing by rough housing, play training games. If you’re not sure where to start, courses like our Foundation Skills are designed to build up new skills incrementally from scratch, whilst ensuring your dogs stays confident, relaxed and happy the whole way through.

Let them come to you. Lots of people struggle to recognize the signs that their dog isn’t enjoying being petted, or a hug, But that’s not to say that dogs don’t like human touch. They’re highly social animals, and they love to rest and sleep leaning against their favorite people. Rather than forcing them into an embrace, wait for them come to you.

Consent test. When it comes to petting, let your dog approach you first, and gently scratch them under the gin rather than stroking them on top of the head. After a couple of gentle scritches, withdraw your hand and take a small step backwards. If they’re happy for you to continue they step forwards to close the gap again and invite another pet.

Summary

Healthy human-dog communication is important for safety, ensuring their physical and emotional well being, and reinforcing the strong bond between you. But evidence suggests that lots of us fail to notice when a dog is showing signs of stress or anxiety. Make sure you’re familiar with all the signals your dog might use to try and tactfully let you know that they’re uncomfortable, and respect the differences between them and us by not forcing them into any human acts of affection that are not natural or enjoyable for them. There are plenty of other ways to enjoy each other’s company!