Communicating With Your Dog

[gwaevalarin]

Yesterday, Alys and I walked behind a woman with her two small dogs on a leash. What stood out to me, was that she keppt talking at them in a constant stream of words, and in a tone of voice that might make a sensitive dog like Alys duck and cower ("I said no barking stop that this way will you listen now

Comments

[darciana]

On the rare occasions that I had direct contact with a dog (I usually keep a certain distance; not because I'm afraid, but because I fear a dog that doesn't know me might find my entering their space intrusive) and they did something I wasn't too fond of, I automatically used both my voice and my body to let them know what I wanted from them. For all the reasons you mention. It just made the most sense to me. Also, if a dog develops a hearing issue due to old age or an ear infection, having body language expressions at hand might be quite useful, and verbal commands help if a dog's eyesight wanes. If you're surrounded by a lot of noise, gestures make more sense than screaming. Dogs hear too good sometimes, and I remember a friend's dog that sort of shut out all noises if there were too many, including her voice.
I think one should try both ways and focus on the one the dog seems to prefer, but not ignore the less popular option.

Give Alys a treat from me. I'm sure she deserves it.

[gwaevalarin]

More people should care that much about whether a dog actually wants to initiate contact. I believe most dogs are fine with it, but I'm sure they do prefer to be asked before a stranger puts their big paw on the top of their head.

Both body language and tone of voice can* be very intuitive for a dog and help them understand what it is you want or don't want them to do, even if they didn't learn any particular signal for this kind of situation.

*I say "can" because sometimes our intuitive body language is very counter-intuitive to a dog, like walking straight towards them and looking at them to initiate contact. It's very friendly and polite in primate societies, but very rude and potentially threatening behaviour from a dog's point of view.

And, yes, having both, a verbal and a visual signal may come in handy when the dog is unable to react to one or the other for whatever reason.

Alys always deserves treats, because she is an awesome little lady who loves treats. ;)