body language – Next Best Pet

Day 25: Know Your Normal

January 25, 2017January 26, 2017 by lennearbNo Comments

Every dog's ear and tail carriage is different, so knowing your dog's normal is key. Where is his tail normally? Where does she carry it when meeting new dogs? New people? Departures from these norms can clue you in to your dog's discomfort or over excitement in a situation....

Who Needs a Hug?

April 27, 2016 by lennearbNo Comments

Should we hug our dogs? This is a hot topic around the internet today, so I thought it was worth a few thoughts. Dogs are typically not big into hugging (and often not big into petting, especially the short "pat pat" variety). These behaviors that are reinforcing to humans, which often leads us to believe (hope? wish?) that they are reinforcing to our dog as well. Such a belief is unfair to our dogs, since, after all, we appreciate their dog-like qualities in so many other ways. Who else will like our face when we're having a bad day or be so excited to see us, even when we have massive bedhead? I can almost hear you right now saying, "I hug my dog all the time and he's fine." Most of our dogs will tolerate some of these behaviors, at least from people they know. The level of tolerance will vary greatly from dog to dog. For each dog, it will...

Quiz Time!

October 20, 2015 by lennearbNo Comments

Pop quiz! Scenario 1 You are trying to cutback in sweets. You walk into the breakroom at work and find a large platter of your favorite dessert sitting in the middle of the table. The sign next to them says: "Help yourself." Do you Say, "Thank goodness!" And grab a large helping? Say, "No thanks," and sit down a few seats down to eat your healthy snack? Say, "Uh-oh" and walk out of the room before you can give in to temptation? Scenario 2 You check your receipt and realize the store clerk overcharged you by a few cents. Do you March back into the store and loudly demand things be made right? Quietly approach the customer service counter, explain what happened, and request a refund? Shrug and decide it is not enough money to waste time on? The way you answer these questions depends on your personality and personal circumstances (health, finances), but it also depends, more than we sometimes like to admit on our mood and what else has...

What’s in a Tail?

August 24, 2015March 21, 2016 by lennearbNo Comments

I was walking Sirius yesterday, and someone complimented his tail. This happens frequently—it is an amazing tail—and wouldn't be worth mentioning, except for what she said next: "What a great communication tool." I'll admit it. I just stared at her in dumbfounded silence for a moment and then kept walking. Why was I so taken aback? Because Sirius's tail is one of his worst communication tools, at least when it comes to communicating with new dogs, and has, in fact, caused him trouble on multiple occasions. Let's start with a word about body language. Dogs communicate through vocal signals, of course, but they depend much more heavily on body language. (If you want to learn to better understand dogs, you can't do better than to start with body language.) Tails, both in movement and position, are one form of this body language. A very broad brush explanation of tail position follows. Dogs have a neutral or resting position, which is where they characteristically...