Hey guys, I want to know ways to tell if my puppy is happy, sad, or mad. My German shepherd pup is troublesome and I want to know what's causing it. Thanks!!
Dogs are very expressive animals. They communicate when they’re feeling happy, sad, nervous, fearful and angry, and they use their faces and bodies to convey much of this information. Dog body language is an elaborate and sophisticated system of nonverbal communication that, fortunately, we can learn to recognize and interpret. Once you learn how to “read” a dog’s postures and signals, you’ll better understand his feelings and motivations and be better able to predict what he’s likely to do. These skills will enable you to interact with dogs with greater enjoyment and safety.
It helps to first learn about the various components that make up dog body language. Dogs use facial expressions, ear set, tail carriage and overall demeanor to signal their intentions and feelings to others. Breaking their body language down into components is helpful at first for building your observation and interpretation skills. Your goal, however, is to be able to observe the entire dog and the situation or context he’s in, in order to accurately determine what he’s trying to say. It’s not possible to understand your dog’s feelings and intentions by looking at just one aspect of his body language.
Absolutely they can read your face. Dogs specialize in reading peoples faces, movements and tone of voice. Dogs have lived with people for thousands of years and during that time they have become very good at understanding people. I think they know us way better then we know them. They say a dog can learn 200-300 human words. How many dogs words does any human know? Your dog probably likes to play face games. Have fun.
Be very observant. Dogs often use body language to express how they feel. Get a book or look online for dog body language with pictures to help you out. The puppy can't tell you why he's acting the way he is. You have to see what's happening, what you're doing, or what you're not providing, etc. that is causing his/her behavior.
The trainer gave pretty good info, but neglected to mention that dogs have feelings, not emotions.. There is a difference. They don't "think things over". They react. Only humans get emotional. They are instinctual, not emotional. If you want your dog happy then give lots of exercise, discipline, and affection, with calm, relaxed, confident energy. Because they always know what you are feeling, that's what makes them dogs, and they want to be dogs.
Same way you learn how to "read" the moods of your friends & enemies at school - by OBSERVING and REMEMBERING.
The main difference is that people expect to see the mood on the other person's face, despite that all sorts of body language (slumped shoulders, raised fists, chest straining, etc etc) is involved.
GSDs (note that the English translation of the breed's real name has 3 words, and so needs 3 capital initials) are about the most "honest" breed there is, in that almost every mood/thought they have is displayed on their faces. But dogs operate on BODY language, so you need to study ear-carriage, neck-carriage, rump-&-tail-carriage, the use of the erectable hairs over the withers & rump, the speed & height & strength of any tail movements.
The usual reasons for a pup being troublesome are:
• Its parents should not have been mated.
• Its humans don't give it 100% of their attention while they are with it during the formative weeks, yet days devoted then can save MONTHS later on!
• Its humans are inconsistent in their use of rewards & reprimands, or use "rewards & reprimands" that are meaningless to the pooch.
◙ Add http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source to your browser's Bookmarks or Favorites so that you can easily look up such as rescue groups, feeding, vaccinations, worming, clubs, teething, neutering, size, diseases, genetics.
◙ To ask about the breed, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. If you don't know how, click on the hot-link below; then, near top-centre of the screen, type the breed's real name in the field that says
[Search for other groups...]
Each group's Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification by the SAME people. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
Comments
Canine Body Language
Dogs are very expressive animals. They communicate when they’re feeling happy, sad, nervous, fearful and angry, and they use their faces and bodies to convey much of this information. Dog body language is an elaborate and sophisticated system of nonverbal communication that, fortunately, we can learn to recognize and interpret. Once you learn how to “read” a dog’s postures and signals, you’ll better understand his feelings and motivations and be better able to predict what he’s likely to do. These skills will enable you to interact with dogs with greater enjoyment and safety.
It helps to first learn about the various components that make up dog body language. Dogs use facial expressions, ear set, tail carriage and overall demeanor to signal their intentions and feelings to others. Breaking their body language down into components is helpful at first for building your observation and interpretation skills. Your goal, however, is to be able to observe the entire dog and the situation or context he’s in, in order to accurately determine what he’s trying to say. It’s not possible to understand your dog’s feelings and intentions by looking at just one aspect of his body language.
Absolutely they can read your face. Dogs specialize in reading peoples faces, movements and tone of voice. Dogs have lived with people for thousands of years and during that time they have become very good at understanding people. I think they know us way better then we know them. They say a dog can learn 200-300 human words. How many dogs words does any human know? Your dog probably likes to play face games. Have fun.
Be very observant. Dogs often use body language to express how they feel. Get a book or look online for dog body language with pictures to help you out. The puppy can't tell you why he's acting the way he is. You have to see what's happening, what you're doing, or what you're not providing, etc. that is causing his/her behavior.
The trainer gave pretty good info, but neglected to mention that dogs have feelings, not emotions.. There is a difference. They don't "think things over". They react. Only humans get emotional. They are instinctual, not emotional. If you want your dog happy then give lots of exercise, discipline, and affection, with calm, relaxed, confident energy. Because they always know what you are feeling, that's what makes them dogs, and they want to be dogs.
body language
communication of barks
you
you need to train, exercise and socialize daioly
Same way you learn how to "read" the moods of your friends & enemies at school - by OBSERVING and REMEMBERING.
The main difference is that people expect to see the mood on the other person's face, despite that all sorts of body language (slumped shoulders, raised fists, chest straining, etc etc) is involved.
GSDs (note that the English translation of the breed's real name has 3 words, and so needs 3 capital initials) are about the most "honest" breed there is, in that almost every mood/thought they have is displayed on their faces. But dogs operate on BODY language, so you need to study ear-carriage, neck-carriage, rump-&-tail-carriage, the use of the erectable hairs over the withers & rump, the speed & height & strength of any tail movements.
My favourite web-site for canine body language vanished nearly 2 years ago. But the ones in http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source/... should get you started.
The usual reasons for a pup being troublesome are:
• Its parents should not have been mated.
• Its humans don't give it 100% of their attention while they are with it during the formative weeks, yet days devoted then can save MONTHS later on!
• Its humans are inconsistent in their use of rewards & reprimands, or use "rewards & reprimands" that are meaningless to the pooch.
◙ Add http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source to your browser's Bookmarks or Favorites so that you can easily look up such as rescue groups, feeding, vaccinations, worming, clubs, teething, neutering, size, diseases, genetics.
◙ To ask about the breed, join some of the YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. If you don't know how, click on the hot-link below; then, near top-centre of the screen, type the breed's real name in the field that says
[Search for other groups...]
Each group's Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification by the SAME people. Most allow you to include photos in your messages.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967