If you pay close attention to your dog’s barking and body language, you’ll begin to recognize specific patterns. More specifically, the context in which they use certain types of barks or body language can help you discern their feelings at any given point in time.
Barks aren’t just noise; albeit noisy, they’re comprised of different patterns and combined with behavioral context. For example, a dog that looks out the window and leaps while barking profusely is probably trying to alert you of an intruder on their territory, while ears straight back and a wagging tail means that your dog is entirely joyful.
Misunderstood dog language can result in unwanted actions by the pet owner, for example when a dog barks because it needs to go outside. Some pet owners punish their dog for making unwanted noise in this context, but instead, the pet owner could pay attention to the dog’s body language and preemptively let the dog out more frequently to thwart unwanted barking.
Dog communication may seem complicated at first glance, but it’s possible to recognize specific patterns of behavior and understand what your dog might be thinking.
