How do dogs communicate?
Last night, like every other night, my stray dogs came up to my house, looking up greedily, waiting for me to crack open that pack of bread. I resisted those puppy eyes, but folded so easily, damn do they know how to work their magic!
Those eyes, clicked something in me, “How do dogs communicate among themselves? How do they know what works on humans? Can they really understand what I say?” These were some questions I had the answers to, but I guess I never really like Really thought about them.
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So, I started digging, and I found that, as a matter of fact, domesticated dogs, learn and understand many cues, tones, emotions their owners exhibit that is mainly because they stay among humans, socialize with them. The commands teach them what is right and what is wrong. How a certain thing can be done, what can help them get what they want.
And I guess this is where those- recorded sound buttons come in the picture, they have a set tone, and with a reward learning system, dogs understand commands, what is what and what it can get them.
Giving an illusion that dogs can understand English!
But what about stray/free living dogs? how do they understand what the food feeding person is up to? About that as it turns out, the food provision is not the only factor, but also the trust these dogs feel around humans. By feeding, petting and past social experiences, environmental cues, these dogs understand whom to trust. They track consistency and interact on the basis of that. If a person is inattentive but feeding, they will not interact much compared to an attentive feeder. They follow pointing cues better from a distance than proximity cues, a fact I tested, and found was actually true.
And among themselves, the usual cues, like smelling each other, licking faces, lowering themselves, wagging tails rightward, are some of the positive reinforcements. While, aggressive growls, barking, stiffing up of the body, leftward tail wag, are some signs of negative interactions. Sometimes, dogs when communicating with unfamiliar dogs, lift paws maybe as a social cue. These cues, tones and multimodal communications help them communicate with humans, dogs and other species.
Thanks for reading.
