The most common mistakes made by people
- Leaning over the dog: dogs perceive this gesture as a threatening attitude, the gesture arouses anxiety in the dog, so it is always necessary to kneel down to stroke or greet the dog.
- Raising the hand above the dog's head and patting on the head: touching on the head is accepted by dogs only from their owners and from people who are friends.
- Restraining, hugging, holding and picking up: in dog body language, placing the paw on another individual is a show of dominance. Our cuddling is perceived by the dog in the same way.
- Paw stroking: The mother teaches her puppies not to bite their paws. In the wild, an animal with an injured paw may fall prey to other predators, be unable to hunt and may therefore starve to death, which is why dogs do not like this touch. In addition, there are sensitive receptors in the pads by means of which the dog senses vibrations from the ground.
- Waking up the dog: never wake up a sleeping dog, as it can bite you if roused from lethargy. If you wish to wake your dog, it is best to whistle or call it.
Ambiguous signals
Bowing to another dog with narrow front paws is an invitation to play. On the other hand, if the dog's paws are wide apart, it means dominance behaviour, i.e. a desire to rearrange or chase the other dog away.
Biting on the nape of the neck, on the bottom and on the withers during the chase is just a game. If the dog attacks the paws and belly, it is a desire to hurt the other dog and this behaviour should not be allowed. If dogs jump at each other with their mouths wide open, growling at each other and pawing at each other - this is also a form of play. This is how dogs who know and like each other play.
Waving the tail does not mean joy. Tail wagging is an expression of the dog's growing emotions - both positive and negative. When our dog wags his tail at the sight of a stranger, it does not always mean that he wants to play with him. We need to look at the dog's entire body language, his posture and his muzzle language.
Licking the face does not mean giving kisses to the owner. This gesture is made by dogs who want to calm down a dominant individual. Dogs often lick humans when they are picked up or bent over, kissing them on the head or on the muzzle. With this signal, the dog is asking you to stop doing this because it is not comfortable with the situation.
Calming signals
To avoid conflict, dogs use calming signals. These are intended to reassure themselves and the other individual and to reassure them of their good and peaceful intentions. Our dogs send these signals every day, showing us that they feel uncomfortable in a situation:
- turning their head away
- looking away
- turning away
- licking their nose
- freezing motionless
- slow movement
- wagging tail
- playing position
- sitting down
- lying down yawning walking in a curve
- sniffing the ground
- separation
- raising paw
- blinking eyes
- meaning of the area
- substitute behaviour or sudden change of plans
- smiling
- smacking
- making a "puppy face"
- puppy-like behaviour of adult dogs
Many of these signals can be observed when walking our dog. When our dog notices another dog, it often slows down its step. Later it heads towards the other dog, walking in an arc. Never frontally, because to approach with a quick and sure step straight ahead is in a way to challenge the other dog. Then, before the meeting itself, he starts sniffing the grass, pretending to be interested in something, marks the area and sometimes even sits down. With this behaviour our dog wants to show the other dog that he has peaceful intentions and doesn't want to hurt that one.
Dogs get to know each other by sniffing around genitals, muzzle, tank and tail area. The more confident dog sniffs the genital area of the subordinate dog, which stands still. When it has finished sniffing, it walks away. Then the confident dog tries to sniff the dominant dog's genital area but in such a way that the dominant dog does not notice. If he does notice, the subordinate dog walks away. In dog interaction, one individual is always the weaker and the other the dominant.
Unfortunately, it is often the case that the human is the instigator of a brawl between dogs. When we see another dog, we immediately tighten the leash, thus giving our dog the signal: "Look out, there's a dog!". We then start pulling him back and the dog pulls us forward, so his posture is high, the same as in defensive aggression. The other dog perceives this as threatening, responds to this challenge and the brawl is ready. If this is how every walk goes, our dog starts to get frustrated with his inability to approach the other dog and express his natural behaviour. Frustration results in aggressive behaviour and our pet "lashing out" at every dog it encounters.
The dog uses the same signals to communicate with humans. The dog's guardian must learn to recognise and respect them. For example, when we come home and see that the dog has destroyed something or peed on the carpet, we are angry and start talking to the dog in a raised tone. Our dog starts licking, turns his head, squints his eyes, raises his paw, pulls his ears back, starts wagging his low, almost curled tail, slows down his step when we call him. This is not at all a sign that our dog knows what he has done wrong and is now ashamed. He is reacting to our raised tone of voice and is simply trying to calm us down, show us that he means no harm and asks us to stop behaving aggressively. The dog really doesn't understand why you are angry/bad when you get home. He doesn't know it's about a puddle on the floor or bitten slippers. The dog only associates 3 seconds after the action it did right or wrong, so you only have 3 seconds to react. After this time, the dog does not know what he has been praised or reprimanded for.
