Have you ever wondered what your dog thinks when trying to tell them something? You might have often noticed your dog tilting his head to one side while talking to them; your doggo is trying to process what you are communicating.
Have you ever wondered what your dog thinks when trying to tell them something? You might have often noticed your dog tilting his head to one side while talking to them; your doggo is trying to process what you are communicating. In any communication, be it human to human or human to dog, or dog to human, the primary purpose is to make it crystal clear so that the message is conveyed clearly between the communicatees. It is also essential for you and your doggo's relationship. It would help if you looked at our list of 10 things you do to confuse your dog.
When you leave them alone
Many people think dogs get lonely or anxious when left alone at home, which is invalid. Dogs are different. If a dog is left unattended, it will start doing other things to keep itself occupied, like playing with toys or napping.
The truth is that dogs get anxious when we leave them alone because they don't know what the heck is going on the next day, and we leave them at night (when they solve the problem of having no light) and so on.
We talk to everything and everyone
Not only are we visual creatures, but we also like to use language to make ourselves understood by everyone. We talk a lot, especially when we are excited about something or mad about something else. Dogs, however, don't talk to each other that often.
They have a limited number of sounds they can produce (barking, whining, and growling) that they usually use to get us to do things for them or tell us off. However, when it comes down to establishing communication between them, most dogs rely on body language instead of talking (body language is another thing that makes dogs different from humans).
We are different in size and smell.
Most of the things that confuse our dogs revolve around our physical difference from them. We are significant, and they are small; we are solid, they are not; we smell very different than them, and so on.
If you ask yourself how your dog would react to a human if he had never encountered one before, the answer is that it would probably be highly suspicious. They would first check us out by smelling us, which would make sense since humans have a very different scent than dogs (especially when you compare their scent with others of the same species).
As they get closer and sniff us more, they will start trying to figure out what we look like. Once dogs get a better idea of what we are like, they will start to tiptoe around us to see if we move or not. Finally, once we show them that we don't bite, dogs will eventually begin accepting us as part of their pack.
We talk a lot
When you think about it, there is only something humans can rely on to communicate with each other and other species - that language. However, when it comes down to how dogs communicate with each other (and this includes human dogs), our doggos rely on very different (and much simpler) means of communication.
So what's the connection with all this have to do with dogs getting confused? First of all, we haven't been able to figure out (yet) how dogs communicate with each other to express themselves. Second, we talk in various ways (both verbally and by using body language), which is confusing for our doggos. As such, we should stop confusing them and focus on communicating using fragrance (which they trust the most) rather than words or gestures.
We use toys to play
Everybody knows why dogs love playing with toys – they are fun! So, what happens if we take away their favorite toy?
As such, when you give your dog a new toy and then take it away from them (which most of us do), your dog will probably be confused by why you did this in the first place. As far as they are concerned, that object is just another object they can keep exploring with their senses and having fun with.
The combination of all these things confuses dogs about the world around them. So, the next time you find your dog confused with all of these things, reassure them that "being weird" is just part of their nature. What works in the wild will work on your dog, even if they don't know why they act strange!
We are loud
We tend to think that if you give us a bunch of commands in a row, we will finally understand what we have to do, and it's over. Dogs are different.
It turns out that when dogs hear something repeatedly, they don't understand it the same way we do. They have a minimum capacity of hearing, and what is more, we are very different in terms of how and where our ears are located on the head.
When you give your dog a bunch of commands in a row, they will start to judge whether it is worth listening to you or not by their intuition of how annoying it is. After a while, you will notice that your dog is ignoring your commands until you stop repeating them.
We are not the same
Finally, the most confusing thing about humans for dogs is that we are not dogs. Yes, we look alike and behave similarly, but we aren't dogs. As such, there are some things that a dog will never understand about us because they can't relate to them.
For example, it's very natural for a dog to act upon their instincts (e.g., biting at something if you encourage them to do so or chasing a cat or another animal if you allow them to do so). However, it would probably not be evident for a dog if you do the same.
For example, why would you hide a treat and then bark for your dog to "find it" when he does? Or why would you allow him to chase a car (or another animal) and then tell him off for doing so? As far as we know, that makes so much sense.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Whether or not we realize it, humans have been responsible for changing how dogs behave over the last few thousand years. We changed them through selective breeding to make them our companions, protectors, or even workers. So don't be disappointed if your dog gets confused with what you are trying to tell them. Just be patient and try different methods to communicate with them if they don't understand one.
Pets are like our family members; we have to take care of them, and we will help you by guiding what you have to do or not. If you are planning to get your dog trained by a professional dog trainer if home-training is not working out for your dog, then Mr n Mrs Pet can definitely help you find one so that your and your dog’s life becomes easy and fruitful. We have a network of experienced dog trainers in India, who can get your dog trained in no time! Apart from dog training we also provide Pet grooming and Dog walking services near you along with other pet care services and doorstep pet supplies.
