Wagging

In my last post I wrote about the benefits of having a tail. Some humans pointed out to me that I forgot to write about something that is typical for dogs and tails: wagging. Dogs wagging their tails are happy, those humans tell me.

I am sorry to spoil their idea, an idea that is shared by a lot of humans. It is a misconception. We are not always happy when we wag our tail. To be precise: tail wagging has nothing to do with happiness! When we wag our tails, it means we are agitated. Sometimes we are agitated because we sense something nice is going to happen (yummy food! squeaky ball!) and in a way you can say that we are happy then. But when we wag our tail it can also mean we are insecure, angry or even scared.

Is that confusing? Not to canines. We sense each others energy, we know what the other dog means. To humans it can be confusing, because they have not learned how to read our body language. I will give them a clue. Look at the position of our tail when we are wagging. Is the tail up high in the air and wagging fast, it means a dog is over exited. He is not happy, he can even become aggressive. One sees this often when dogs meet. His tail will be high, wagging fast and he will make his body look bigger, standing tense. Usually he will be very close to the other dog. Too close to my liking – when a dog approaches me like this I snap, because they do not respect my personal space. Usually snapping helps, especially with intrusive males.

If the tail is very low, wagging fast, it means a dog is over exited too. It is exited and a little scared, with a look on its face that means ‘ooooh I do love you and I know we will go and do something awesome but will you please tell me what it is because I am really insecure right now!’ Something like that. This dog is not truly happy and his  wagging tail is showing exitement and insecurity.

Then there is the third position: a medium raised tail, wagging slowly. This means the dog is relaxed and yes, most of the time you can say she is happy. Usually you can see this with dogs that are walking leisurely, sniffing her and there, doing some quiet explorations.

Tail

In some ways humans are better off than canines. They can always walk off leash, for instance. But if one takes a holistic point of view, canines have the most benefits. We are the ones with the happy simple lives: we guard, play and eat when we want and sleep the rest of the time. Much better than humans, who seem to be in a hurry all the time doing… yes, what exactly? I don’t know. Working, M tells me. Working for what, when they already have a house and plenty of food?

When it comes to physical differences canines are much better off than humans, too. Humans seem to navigate on one sense only: eyesight. Canines have sharp eyes, but also extraordinary hearing and smelling capabilities. Not to mention our seventh sense, which enables us to feel trouble that is coming to us (like a bad mannered dog in the dog park). We have wonderful warm fur (no clothes needed), pretty ears and, best of all: a tail. Humans do not have a tail. And that is very sad for them. With a tail, you see, one can do so many things.

Like using it as a counterweight when something asks for thorough nose-investigation.

It is also a clear tool for communication, as you can see: my friend near the water signals me she is ready for playing and I answer her with my tail in the same position. The game is on, friend!

The tail high up means: I am stronger than you are, try me! It is also a signal of extreme alertness – I put my tail up high when I smell a burglar, or a cat. By the way: in the above picture my friends were not really fighting, they were just testing one another’s strength. The dog in the back thought it pretty silly, as you can see.

A tail is a real asset. It is sad humans do not have one.

 

Sweet girl / bad girl

Today, on the beach, a human asked M if I was ‘a sweet dog’. She said yes – of course she did, she is my human! But we both thought this was a strange question. You see: no dog is sweet or mean or ill tempered all the time. We are like humans, how we behave depends on the situation.

I can be a very sweet and well behaved dog if I want to.

I can be polite and gentle.

But I can be very mean, too. If that is the best thing to do in a specific situation!

This last pic is of me and my friend Jip. We have an argument now and then, but we can be playful and friendly too if we want to.

So, the best answer to the question ‘is your dog sweet?’ is: ‘sometimes’. But that is a kind of answer that puzzles humans, because it is neither ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Humans do not like that kind of uncertainty, I noticed. If M would give them this answer those humans would ask her what she means and she would have to explain and before you know it she has to talk for a long time. Which is a waste of time, in our opinion. So she says ‘yes’ – or ‘no’, when we do not like the other human and want to get rid of him/her as soon as possible. Then we move on and use our time for the better things in life. Like walking on the beach.

Knowing one’s place

We dogs are easy to understand, if you know what to look for. We live by a few simple rules. Hierarchy is one of them. To us hierarchy is very important. That makes sense, because we live in groups. In groups of dogs or humans, that doesn’t matter to us. In a group you need a  hierarchy to function. Wild dogs need this structure to hunt and get their food. Can you imagine what would happen if every member of the pack would do as he pleases, one chasing a squirrel, the other chasing a rabbit and the rest of them snoozing in the sun because they ‘don’t feel like doing anything today’? Right: they won’t get anything to eat and they will die.

A lot of modern dogs do not need to hunt anymore. We are city dogs and farm dogs: we get fed by humans. But still we need hierarchy. It gives clear rules, a structure for us to function in. Like humans, we like to know the boundaries, so we can feel safe and free inside them. No structure means uncertainty and we do not like that. When there is no structure, we will make one ourselves. It comes natural to us, as you can see when dogs meet for the first time. They will sort out the rules and the hierarchy pretty quick. I noticed that humans do the same: as soon as they meet, they start exploring each others position in order to sort out the hierarchy. Funny, hey? Humans and dogs do not differ that much, surprisingly.

Like I said: we dogs live in groups and it does not matter to us whether it is a group of dogs or humans. We call it our pack, either way. My pack consists of M and P and Chuck. Sometimes it gets enlarged with other temporary members, friends from M and P or me. But this is my core pack. We have a strict hierarchy. Chuck is way down this hierarchy. That is why I let him sleep on my bed, but he has to stay on the ground. And I sleep in the chair. Which is more cosy and soft and also higher. We dogs take things very literal: higher in the hierarchy also means higher in height. A dog that sleeps on the sofa, the bed, in a chair is higher than the ones that stay on the floor. Like Chuck. I can even remove him from the cushion on the floor if I feel like it and he won’t complain, ever. Chuck knows his place, our hierarchy is very clear.

 

Rude dogs, lazy humans

I find it amazing how silly humans can be. Some humans, I mean. Especially humans with bad mannered dogs. Where I live there are some areas where dogs are allowed to run off leash: the forest and the beach. In Holland everything is very orderly, there are designated areas and rules for everything. I don’t know why, but when you don’t comply you get a fine and that means less money to spend on dog cookies. Which, of course, is bad news. So M complies with these rules and I agree with her, concerning the cookie-consequence.

Anyway, we go to these dog-off-leash-zones a lot. And sometimes we meet bad mannered dogs there, running off leash too. When we are harassed by such a dog and our human tells the human with the bad mannered dog she doesn’t like that, she often gets the reply “this is an off leash zone, so my dog can do as he pleases”. Truly, that is the answer we get a lot. Amazing, isn’t it? As if an off-leash-zone means you can do anything you like! As if it is not their concern that other humans and dogs are being bothered by their dog.

I find this very strange. And very unwise, too, from the point of the bad mannered dog and his human. Humans usually end up in an argument when this happens, but we dogs don’t do arguments. We strike. Not the shy and polite dogs, they will hide behind their human. But dogs like me, we don’t accept it when another dog annoys us. Especially when I am with my friends, the bandidos. When a human is too lazy to discipline his mean dog, we will. We actually like doing it, so I hope we will meet one again soon.

 

No words needed

One of the big differences between humans and dogs is the meaning we give to words. Humans seem to have an agreement about what words mean, no matter what the circumstances. For example: ‘walking’ always means moving the legs to get somewhere. So when a human tells another human she had a nice walk, the other human understands what she means.

For dogs this is very different. We do not listen to the meaning of a word, for us it is the attached action or mood that counts. This means humans can use words in a different way when communicating with us. Take my friend Kiesja. She likes to do doggy dancing. When her humans says ‘strawberry’ she pivots. That is the way she learned it. Her human could have learned her to pivot on the word ‘turn’, but she thought it would be more fun to use another word. To Kiesja this is not important, because she reacts on the intention of her human. They trained this a thousand times, so the meaning of the word ‘strawberry’ is ‘pivot’ to her.

This knowledge about the difference in the use of words for humans and canines is important, because it explains a big misunderstanding. Humans seem to think that they can use words and we will understand what they mean, like other humans do. But that, as you can see by the example of Kiesja, is not true. We dogs connect a word (or a sound or a hand signal) to an action. When this is repeated, we will perform this action when the word is spoken. Like pivoting on the word ‘strawberry’. Or barking on the word ‘quiet!’. Because, you see: we don’t get the meaning of the word ‘quiet’, like humans do. When we bark and our human tells us again and again to be quiet while we bark, we will connect the word ‘quiet’ to barking. Get it?

I will give you another example. We have some new dogs on the block, a couple of golden retrievers. They aren’t too bad, but when they see another dog they start barking like mad and pull their leashes. Their human is not very strong, so he gets dragged over the street by his dogs. He is shouting ‘hey! hey!’ to his dogs when they are doing this. It is all very embarrassing, really.  My point is: these dogs probably think by now that ‘hey! hey!’ means ‘bark and drag me!’, because this happens all the time. I guess this human wants to make clear to his dogs that he does not like their behavior, that is why he is screaming. But his dogs obviously do not get his meaning. Mind you, I do not have a solution for his problem (why would I? It is not my problem), although I do think Nicoline, my personal trainer, will know what to do about it.

Anyway, the point of my story (which needs a lot of words, sorry about that) is this: please know that humans and dogs understand words very differently. Once humans know this, they can start communicating with us in a different way. They can use fun words for actions they want us to perform. Or not use words at all, but sounds or hand signals. We react to those as well as to words. It gives humans a break, because they have to talk so much already, to other humans. With us they can be quiet, because we will understand them just as well. Or even better, because words tend to muddle intentions and energy. In the silence we can tune into each others energy and be together. No words needed.

Moves

We dogs are very versatile in our movements. We can run extremely fast, dig huge holes and we can jump high in the air, as my friend Jojo demonstrates in this picture:

This pic is a lucky shot by Nicoline, my personal trainer. She also made this pic, it shows how well we can stand on our hind legs. Another move we excel in:

Yes we can do a lot of things, but some dogs overdo it. I mean one particular movement: bouncing.  All puppies bounce, that is normal. It is how we explore our strength and learn what our bodies are capable of. But when a dog has grown-up and he still bounces, that is not okay. At least, we dogs think so. Look at what happens when we play: when we are bounced upon, we snarl. And rightly so, because bouncing is very rude.

Oddly though, a lot of humans seem to accept that they are bounced upon. When their dogs are playing they tell each other: be careful, brace yourself for the impact! And they bend their legs, so they won’t fall when they are hit by their dog. That is a silly thing to do! Yes it is true that some dogs keep on bouncing when they are grown-up and some breeds even do it a lot, like boxers and bulls. But that doesn’t mean humans should accept being bounced upon! I mean: I don’t like begin run over by a 60 kilos bullmastiff. I don’t think humans like that either. They don’t need to, you know. My personal trainer for instance never gets bounced upon, because she is very clear she won’t accept it. Like the famous dog whisperer himself. I gather he doesn’t get bounced upon very often, too.

It is all about respect, really. We dogs do not accept it when another dog bumps into us and I think humans should act the same.

How to talk to dogs

Humans talk a lot. To each other and to us, dogs. But maybe you noticed that we dogs don’t talk to each other, at least not in the way humans do, with words and sentences. So the short version of the answer to the question ‘how to talk to dogs?’ is: you don’t.

We don’t actually mind when humans talk to us. We are polite enough to listen to all this blabla, no worries about that. M for instance talks a lot, to other humans and to me as well. I’m okay with that, it is the way she is and I respect that. But with humans and canines in general the trouble begins when humans seem to think that talking to us is the same thing as communicating with us. That is a big misunderstanding.

Let me give you an example. I was at the beach and a big labrador was happily rolling in a dead fish. His human did not like that and called him. When he finally came, she said to him (in a high pitched voice): “You naughty dog, I told you not to get yourself dirty. I thought we had agreed on that, don’t you remember?” I can tell you we all laughed very loud at this stupid human and the lab laughed with us. This human interacted with her dog as if it was a child and that is just not how it works. I don’t expect this works with human children either, but that’s another story.

Conclusion: talking to us is not the same as communicating with us. If you want to communicate with us, please take a look at how we dogs do it. We do not use words, we use energy. We pick up each others energy and know what the other needs. Like respect.

Energy is our most important tool for communicating. Besides that we have all kind of subtle ways to tell each other what we want.

And less subtle ways, too:

But the most important tool is energy. Not only between dogs, but also in the human-canine interaction. We don’t need words, we feel what humans feel.  For instance: when a human is stressed, we sense it. Balanced dogs will try to calm this human, stressed dogs will get more stressed.

All this means two things concerning communication:

1. You can’t fool us with words. We tune in into your energy, so we feel what you mean, despite the words you choose. You cannot lie to a dog.
2. When you really want us to get your message, make sure your energy is in sync with what you tell us. When you tell us to be calm but you are stressed yourself, it won’t work.

So what about the lab who was rolling in the dead fish? Well, he and his human have an issue that is a bit bigger than just communicating in the right way, because the lab obviously has no respect for his human. I can’t blame him, I would feel the same towards a human who talks to me like I am a bad behaving child. There is something wrong in their relationship and they should work on that, by applying my magic formula of fun, companionship & love.

For the rest of the humans who do have a good relationship with their dog: if you want to communicate with us, be fair to your own feelings and energy and be fair to us. Be genuine, be balanced and only tell us to do things you find really important. Not out of some whim, because we will feel you are dishonest and we will not oblige. By the way: rolling in a dead fish is very high on our bucket list. So please do us a favor and let us enjoy that moment. You can always (oh I hate to say this) give us a bath afterwards.

The power of surprise

In my last post I wrote about how to make your dog come to you. I suggested to use a toy or a yummy treat to make it worth while for your dog to come to you. Some of my human readers have asked me what to do if this doesn’t work. They told me their dog won’t come to them, although they have a treat or a toy.

Okay. I think these humans have a problem and I guess their relation with their dog is not as good as they think it is. They should work on that. Or maybe they made a common mistake, by calling their dog and putting her on the leash every time she came. We are not stupid, you know. When you call us and put us on the leash and take us home every time we come to you, we won’t come easily again. How do you think we feel, when we are having fun but we stop our play to come to you and then every time we do this, we have to go home? Here’s the clue: don’t do this. Call us once in a while, give us a treat or play with us, and let go again. Then your dog will learn it is a good thing to come to you. And she won’t mind that after some nice playing time she is taken home again.

There are some other tricks than toys or treats to make your dog come to you. The key word is: surprise. Like I wrote in my previous post: make it fun for your dog to come to you! I know a human with a very independent dog. She has to make an effort for her dog to come to her and she found an excellent way to do this. When she wants her dog’s attention, she starts jumping up and down, waving her arms and singing ‘whooieooieoowiieee!’. That is funny. It makes all the dogs in the dog park go to her! When we are with her, she tells us to sit and we all get a yummy treat. Then she sends us off again, to resume our play. Now that is a good way of making your dog come to you and build a strong relationship. When she calls her dog to go home, in the end, he willingly obliges because it is fun to be with his human.

This is just one trick to get your dog’s attention. One of the favorite tricks of my personal trainer is this: she throws some treats into the grass (and I pretend not to see it), then calls me and asks me to search for them. It always works. Another trick is bending down, pretend like you are looking for something on the ground, maybe even dig with your fingers. Your dog will certainly come to help you in your search. Some time ago we were walking leisurely along the canal near our house, when I turned and saw M sitting on the grass! She never does this, so I immediately ran to her to check it out. She told me she fell down, but she won’t fool me: it was another trick to get my attention!

All these tricks have one thing in common: it is a surprise for us and it is fun. We love surprises, so this will always work. But please do not make the mistake of putting us on the leash every time when we come to you. If you do, you will not fool us again and it will become harder and harder for you to make us come to you.

 

Hysterical humans

Yesterday I was running next to M on her bike. I really like doing that and when I do, I am very focussed. We passed a human with her dog, a young and friendly dog who wanted to play with me. She was off leash and she came running towards me. But when I run next to the bike, I do not want to play because I focus on the running. So I ignored the young dog and she understood I did not want to play. She did not return to her human, however, but ran on and crossed the road. It is a busy road. Gladly for her the car that was approaching saw her and stopped, but her human got totally hysterical and started running after the dog, screaming she had to come to her. Which her dog, obviously, did not.

I thought it kind of funny. But since this is a dogtorial, I will explain to my human readers what went wrong in this case. So they can learn from it and avoid making the same mistake. This was a dangerous situation, the dog could have been hit by the car. I am very capable of walking home alone, because I am an intelligent and sensible dog. I watch out for cars and other hazards. But most dogs don’t.

So what to do when your dog runs away from you? The first thing to remember is: never ever run after your dog. We are much faster, so we will always outrun you. Besides, when you run after your dog, she will get scared or consider it a challenge. Either way she will run even faster. What to do, then? Make your dog come to you. Seduce her with a yummy treat or a favorite toy. Make it fun for her to come to you, more fun than running away and checking other fun stuff. In the end, when you have established a good relationship with your dog, she will come to you anyway because she learned that being with you is the best thing in the world. You will not need treats and toys anymore. But in this particular case the dog was still very young and the relationship with her human was not strong yet.

The second thing I would like to tell you about this situation is what happened when the human finally got her dog. She ran towards the dog, screaming, drove her into a corner and than fell onto her. I don’t know how to describe it otherwise: she just jumped on the dog, both arms around the poor thing. It must have terrified the little dog. Then the human started to talk to the dog, in a way a lot of silly humans talk to us. She said: “What did you just do, you stupid sweetheart, I told you not to run away!” This is very odd. One: you don’t argue with us like you argue with other humans, it is useless. Of course you told us lots of things, but that doesn’t mean we comply! We forget most of all this blabla anyway. Two: the little dog did not think ‘oh my human told me not to run away but I feel like doing it so I will’. No, she probably did not think at all, but just felt like running and did it. We are dogs, remember? We don’t think that much – which is great, by the way. Humans should try it.

What should the human have done in this case? Well, her dog was behaving badly by not coming to her. But the dog could really not help it, she just acted on her impulses and she is still too young to know how to behave properly. So when the human finally got to the dog and the dog waited for her (she did, you know. She could have jumped and run away, but she didn’t), she should have given her a yummy treat and put the dog on the leash. In a calm and composed manner. No screaming, no jumping on the dog, no harsh words. Just put her on the leash and continue the walk. Like nothing happened.

There is one other very obvious thing to mention about this case. The young dog should not have been off leash in the first place. It was a busy and dangerous surrounding, by the road and all that. The dog was not yet capable of handling situations like this and her human placed her in a dangerous situation by letting her walk off leash. That was irresponsible of the human. I am not in favor of walking on a leash, don’t get me wrong. I like freedom. But in some situations it is safer to walk on the leash. It is not that bad, really. By walking on the leash you make sure your human is following you and you do not have to wait for her all the time. I consider that a great benefit of leashes.