Observing the Dog is Both Listening To Him and Learning About Him

Since dogs do a lot of their communication with their bodies, it's almost like communicating with someone who 'talks' using sign language. Looking at them is then the equivalent to listening to them, because that is how you receive their signs to understand what is being 'said'.

It might also be part of why they want so much attention. It is how they 'talk' to us, so they want us to 'listen' to what they have to say. Unlike human sign language, dogs only have so many possible signals they can send, so it can be difficult to pick up on their message. This makes it even more important to observe the dog to start to understand when and why he uses certain signals or combination of signals. These aren't just calming signals, but things like certain body positions, the angle/orientation of his ears, what his tail is doing, and so on.

Once you start to put together a mental profile of sorts, you start understanding his "accent" of sorts on the universal dog communication. Sometimes, even other dogs have to do this since no two dogs are completely identical, including in their communications.

But observation is also for lots of fun things too. You can see what things will make him happy and which things he really enjoys. You can use this to have fun with him, come up with games based on these things, or see what would be really rewarding during training.

I've found some really unusual things about Wally this way. For example, is love affair with Dora the Explorer. He totally gets fixated about the show when it's on. He whines at the tv until I let him go up and "say hi" to his "girlfriend". I've used this as a reward during training to help him lay calmly beside me. If he's lying down, he gets to see the show. If he doesn't, well - Dora suddenly "disappears". I'll ask him to lie down again, and when he does, she "reappears". Dora likes good dogs LOL.

Other more mundane things such as which tree he likes to "leave p-mail" on or which areas he likes to investigate and "read the news" and "leave a message" of his own. Things like this I also use for training rewards.

Observing the dog can also show you his play style when romping with other dogs, which doggy games he'll play (Wally loves to chase and tries to instigate it when he's with a dog he's interested in), and what things he doesn't like in social situations and how he deals with it.

Looking at your dog with a curious and careful eye, you can learn all kinds of quirky and fun things about your dog as well as get a better insight on how he communicates and what's he's trying to 'say'! Have fun with it!

Calming Signals: The Way Wally Would First "Talk" To Me

One of the "advantages" to having a fearful dog is that you get to see a lot of what's called Calming Signals. These signals are often used when the dog is feeling overly anxious as a way to diffuse a situation or to try to maintain some composure within himself, or perhaps both.

These signals would help me first see that he's starting to "lose it" or that a situation that he was okay in but now he's feeling worse about it, and so on. With this communication, I was much better able to take him away from things that worry him more proactively, before the fear escalates over threshold and any behavior modification would no longer be able to take place.

However, I would come to learn that these signals don't just take place in negative situations.

I would discover that he will use them when he's also excited about something that's happening or he thinks will happen.

This opened me up to see them as actually a full part of his language and communication. He can express that he's also super excited and is trying to compose himself so he can stay focus and perform what's needed and to contain himself. Seeing this was great. Not only did it mean his emotions were swinging to super positive side, he taught me something else.

As time went on, I noticed he would also use or express the signals differently when using them in a positive expression. I noticed he chose to shake his body more when super excited. He'd also do a lot of yawning and sometimes stretching as if he was doing a play bow, but would then stand up square again.

Signals that tended to "go away" when he's in this positive state would be look-aways, blinking (especially of one eye and usually a quick blink), moving slowly, nose licks (though sometimes they would still happen), and "fake sniffing" of the ground. When in a more uncertain or anxious state, the reverse is true - I saw more nose licking and look-aways especially. Blinking was more frequent and slower, and sometimes his eyes would almost go into a squint. Moving slowly would often occur - unless he was that afraid or anxious to the point it would make him move in a rapid/skittish way.

Wally doing a look away because the camera is too close for his comfort.

 

I would also notice them during training and in "normal" situations as well. Nose licking occurred frequently in both of these situations, especially in normal or neutral situations when I'm moving towards him. Just about anytime I walk towards him, he'll nose lick. If I'm getting too agitated during training, I'll get a lot of moving slowly or lying down. Sometimes I would get yawns during training or the "fake sniffing", especially if he's coming towards me. (Interesting that he diversifies his signals based on him moving to me or me towards him.)

One signal I got just one time was him turning his back to me, but he'll do it if he's really trying to make a point. Usually it happens to other dogs instead of to people for some reason.

Observing the use of calming signals in all situations really opened my eyes to his language and how often he really expresses when his emotions are getting too high, be they positive or negative emotions. It opened a new world of understanding of him.