Tip of the Month: Dog Emotions
Let's talk DOG EMOTIONS with long-time friend and dog trainer Chris McKay of Cam K9 Services!
What do these ‘dog emotions’ actually mean? Well we all know what our emotions are and how they play out in our life, we know if someone is depressed or happy, we know if someone is having a bad day or a great day…we certainly know when someone is angry!
Now, how does this relate to dogs? Do dogs get angry about things? Yes in a way they do... We think we see that come out when they want to be left alone and say a puppy or another dog is not listening and bugging them, then they snap and snarl...usually just air snapping and not making contact. But is that really anger when 2 seconds later they are back to whatever they were doing before? In our eyes it is just a correction or saying "no" or "go away"…but when we look at that behaviour, in that moment we could say that dog is angry, antisocial or any number of negative things, but really it isn't any of those things.
Do dogs get angry with humans? Again, the displays of dog behaviour are often misinterpreted by us, one because we are not a dog and two because we tend to anthropomorphize everything regarding how our dogs act. We do know if our dogs are afraid, that is an emotion; we know if our dogs are nervous about something, that is an emotion; we DO KNOW when our dogs are happy, especially when greeting us; that is an emotion.
What about the dog that barks ferociously at another dog across the street when we have them out on a walk? That BIG emotion is often the most misunderstood of all. Trainers call it reactive, or your dog is reactive, that has a negative connotation to it but, again, your dog could be saying a whole host of things with that barking and lunging, feeling so much...so, although I have often called a clients' dog "reactive", I am slowly changing up my wording, Yes the dog is "reacting" to a stimulus, but I want to move away from this word because people then feel that their dog is very close to being "aggressive", which most of the time they are not.
We as humans move very quickly into the wording of aggressive because as soon as we see teeth or a snarl, we have been conditioned over the years of social media to think this. Honestly, there are not many truly aggressive dogs. There a many that display "aggressive" behaviour but only as they are left with no options because humans do not understand them when they use minimal behaviours, often subtle, that the average person has not been trained to recognize.
Emotions in a dog sometimes require us to take a whole new course on body language, because that is better than growls and teeth, but most people are not taking courses on their dog’s emotions or body language, so if you are a regular pet guardian that has one of "those dogs", ones with BIG emotions and just cannot get a handle on it, reach out to a good trainer in your area, ask to understand what is going on with your dog, learn how to "read" your dog. If you have an "ordinary" dog let's say one with mostly "happy" emotions, you can learn a little bit more if you study your four legged friend.
One thing all dogs have in common, is a tail wag and a relaxed mouth...a tail wag tells you SO many things but probably not everything you actually believe which is "happy happy happy", but one thing is for sure, the dog that displays an open tongue lolling smiling face is a HAPPY dog for certain!
Photo of Harley, one of my clients' dog. What emotion is he displaying here?
Chris offers on line dog training as well as in person private session when she is able to travel to Kamloops! See her Facebook page Cam K9 Services or email her at camk9services@gmail.com.
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