How To Better Understand Your Dog’s Behavior

Posted by: KHTS Articles in News Articles June 16, 2020 - 9:18 am 0 1,277 Views

Dogs are seemingly simple creatures, but they are more intelligent than we usually give them credit for. They like to play, they like to eat, drink water, and they definitely enjoy napping all day. While dogs might be seemingly simple creatures, that does not mean that they do not possess more intricate behavior. Dogs are certainly easier to read than other people, but they do have their own emotions too.

Being able to properly understand your dog’s behavior will help you in training them and make your life easier as well as theirs. But how do you better understand this behavior? Here are some pointers to help you.

Body Language

Humans and animals, both possess a great capacity for behavior expression through our body language. When dogs expose their bellies by rolling over it shows they are comfortable being vulnerable around you, or when they back off it shows they are wary or scared. Dogs do these simple gestures that mean a lot and they become easier to pick up on. That is why it is often advised to hold out your hand with the palm facing up to allow a dog to come to you and feel comfortable. Other signs include panting, yawning, digging, and other physical expressions which can range from tiredness to communicating with you about a problem. Monitoring a dog’s body language can reveal a lot about the temperament and make it easier to understand them.

Breed Type

While it is not an exact science that a dog’s breed determines their behavior, it is a decent enough measurement. As the experts at dogtemperament.com state, it is easier to understand your own dog’s behavior when you understand how the breed in general is when it comes to personality or disposition. Smaller dogs can be aggressive, like Chihuahuas, while a Boston Terrier is less so. Big dogs can range in temperament as well. Great Danes are gentle giants just like Saint Bernards, but some breeds of Pitbulls can be more aggressive. Again, it is not an exact science and it is easy to generalize dog breeds by their personality but it can help you understand your dog’s behavior more and adapt to address it.

Socialization Levels

How often your dog interacts with others will affect their behavior as well. When dogs are introduced to a variety of other people, dogs, cats, or other animals from a young age in puppyhood, they become more comfortable around a larger variety of groups which helps them socialize better. This is a good way to understand how socialization greatly impacts the overall personality of your dog. When dogs are only exposed to you or people close to you, they may be fearful or aggressive towards strangers which, of course, is not good. It is advised to train a dog to be around more people and animals to help them feel less anxious or angry towards them.

Damaging Furniture

When your dog likes to rough up your home while you are away you might just play it off as if the dog is getting to act out his inner animal instincts. While this could be true, in many cases it could indicate separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is a behavioral trait that a lot of breeds exhibit and results from elongated times spent away from them by their owners. This is a behavior which can exhibit itself in other less destructive forms, like sitting between your legs when out in public, and it must be addressed quickly. Training your dog to be comfortable while away from you is tough, but it is definitely doable and is equally beneficial to the well-being of you, your dog, and your furniture.

Vocalization

Just like a baby, a dog has a very limited set of vocal communicative abilities, it can use it to express itself to you. Dogs bark, growl, snarl, whimper, yap, and all manner of sounds. These vocalizations are ways that dogs try to talk to you and they all have their distinct meaning. Growling indicates anger or frustration, whimper can mean pain or sadness, yap could be a call for attention, they range in purpose. Understanding your dog’s vocalization and how they can understand when you talk to them is very important to tap into their behavior.

Dogs are not complex creatures and are at the same time. While they certainly lack the level of comprehension or communication skills that humans have, they possess a unique set of skills that allows them to talk or gesture at us. These skills are crucial in understanding how their behavior is changing or reacting to you and the world around them and will allow you to understand them better.