Dog communication

Dogs communicating that their intentions are not aggression but play - a form of metacommunication

Dog communication is any transfer of information on the part of one or more dogs that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of the dog(s), or another animal. Dog communication occurs in a variety of forms and is part of the foundation of dog social behavior. Dogs use all the major sensory modalities to communicate, including visual (e.g. movements of their bodies and limbs), auditory (vocalizations), tactile (touch) and gustatory communication (scents, pheromones and taste).

The study of animal communication — sometimes called zoosemiotics (defined as the study of sign communication or semiosis in animals; distinguishable from anthroposemiotics, the study of human communication) — has played an important part in ethology, sociobiology, and the study of animal cognition.

Dog-human communication

Dogs were the first domesticant. They have developed complex ways of communicating with humans and forming relationships, giving rise to the English phrase "man's best friend". Dogs have either developed, or been artificially selected for, traits and skills which allow them to live successfully with humans. These behaviours include pointing, marking, body posture and eye gaze direction. Humans communicate with dogs by using audible and tactile signals.

The pointing gesture is a human-specific signal, is referential in its nature, and is a foundational building-block of human communication. Human infants acquire it weeks before the first spoken word. In 2009, a study compared the responses to a range of pointing gestures by dogs and human infants. The study showed little difference in the performance of 2-year-old children and dogs, while 3-year-old children’s performance was higher. The results also showed that all subjects were able to generalize from their previous experience to respond to relatively novel pointing gestures. These findings suggest that dogs demonstrate a similar level of performance as 2-year-old children that can be explained as a joint outcome of their evolutionary history as well as their socialization in a human environment.

A study indicates that dogs are able to tell how big another dog is just by listening to its growl. A specific growl is used by dogs to protect their food. The research also shows that dogs do not, or can not, misrepresent their size, and this is the first time research has shown animals can determine another's size by the sound it makes. The test, using images of many kinds of dogs, showed a small and big dog and played a growl. The result showed that 20 of the 24 test dogs looked at the image of the appropriately sized dog first and looked at it longest.

Additionally, most people can tell from a bark whether a dog was alone or being approached by a stranger, playing or being aggressive, and able tell from a growl how big the dog is. This is thought to be evidence of human-dog coevolution.

See also: coevolution

Evolution of dog-human communication

One theory is that dogs have evolved specialized skills for reading human social and communicative behavior. These skills seem more flexible – and possibly more human-like – than those of other animals more closely related to humans phylogentically, such as chimpanzees, bonobos and other great apes. This raises the possibility that convergent evolution has occurred: both Canis familiaris and Homo sapiens might have evolved some similar (although obviously not identical) social-communicative skills – in both cases adapted for certain kinds of social and communicative interactions with human beings.

Another theory is that dogs have been domesticated by humans for thousands of years. It is possible that during this period, dogs began to mimic the behaviors of humans. Dogs have been trained by humans and have become dependent on humans. It has been suggested that this dependency trait enables them to communicate better with their owners. When dogs are more exposed to humans, their communicative skills improve.

Another theory is that the domestication of dog has lead to their evolution domestic characteristics such as their tameness. This might be the most prominent reason of all. The tameness of dogs might have been naturally selected when they started to live with humans or were already selected for the tameness. By living together for thousands of years, the dog’s skill eventually evolved over time whether they are by artificial selection or natural selection. High ability of dog understanding human comes from selection against fear and aggression towards human.

Visual communication

Tail: How high or low the tail is held, in relation to how the dog's breed naturally carries its tail, and how it is moved can signify the dog's mood. When the tail is held high, it shows that the dog is alert and aware; the tail between the legs means that the dog is frightened. If the fur on the tail is also bristled, the dog is saying it is willing to defend itself or pups. If the dog does not have a tail, or it has been shortened or removed via docking, then similar actions may occur with just the hind quarters.

Small, slow wags of the tail say the dog is questioning things around the environment it is in. Either it is not sure whether it should submit, the other creature is friendly, or confused about its surroundings. Large, fast wags of the tail may be a sign of a happy, excited, or an energetic dog, but can also signal aggression.

Dogs communicating with their tail were illustrated in Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872.

• Examples of tail position communicating different emotions in dogs.
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  "Small dog watching a cat on a table"
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  "Dog approaching another dog with hostile intentions"
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  "Dog in a humble and affectionate frame of mind"
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  "Half-bred shepherd dog"
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  "Dog caressing his master"

Dogs are said to exhibit a left-right asymmetry of the tail when interacting with strangers, and will show the opposite, right-left motion with people and dogs they know.

Two dogs communicating aggression; note the teeth baring and lip curl.

This dog is not "smiling" but is communicating that it is defensive about its food treat.

Teeth baring: When a dog's lips curl back this shows that the dog has a strong urge to bite. This is an unconscious reflex, designed to get the soft flesh of the lips away from the teeth before the dog bites, and is often misinterpreted as a way of communicating aggressive intent. For example, many dogs will curl their lips back into a "snarl" when they take a cookie or bone. A rare form of teeth baring is seen in the form as a submissive grin. This means that the dog will be submissive and friendly to the person it is grinning at. In this event the dog will also display other behavioral cues, including tail wagging and lowered posture. The dog sometimes will show a submissive grin when it has recently done something it knows its master would not like, or when it has been caught doing it.

Ears: Ear position relates the dog's level of attention, and reaction, to a situation or animal. Erect ears facing forward means the dog is very attentive. They lay their ears back for the sounds surrounding them and also when in a submissive state.

Dogs with drop ears, like Beagles, can't use these signals very well, as the signals first developed in wolves, whose ears are pricked. Wolf-like dogs (such as the Samoyed or Husky) will, when content and happy, often hold their ears in a horizontal position but still forward. This has been referred to as the "wolf smile".

A dog communicating anxiety; note the white "half moon" eyes, nose licking and sideways glance.

Mouth: Mouth expressions can provide information about the dog's mood. When a dog wants to be left alone, it might yawn (although yawning also might indicate sleepiness, confusion, or stress) or start licking its mouth without the presence of any food. When a dog is happy or wants to play, it might pant with lips relaxed, covering the teeth and with what sometimes appears to be a happy expression and might appear as a smile to some observers.

Mouth expressions that indicate aggression include the snarl, with lips retracting to expose the teeth, although some dogs also use this during play. However, some dogs will pull back their "top lips" in what looks like an aggressive way, when they are excited or happy. For example a dog prone to "smiling" may do so in greeting to a much loved owner and this should not be punished lest the dog become less affectionate.

A very common form of communication as well, is for a dog to lick another dog, or a person. Dogs lick other dogs' faces and mouths when they greet each other to indicate friendliness. Dogs like to lick human skin not only for the salt from the sweat, but also as a form of greeting, such as by briefly licking a person's hand after sniffing it.

Licking is also used as a social bonding analogous to primate social grooming and stroking. This can indicate intimacy. Such licking is longer and slower, as compared to the brief licking of faces during a greeting.

Eyes and eyebrows: While dogs do not have actual eyebrows, they do have a distinctive ridge above their eyes, and some breeds, like the Labrador Retriever, Gordon Setter, Rottweiler, Bernese Mountain Dog, German Shepherd, and Doberman have markings there. A dog's eyebrow movements usually express a similar emotion to that of a human's eyebrow movements. Raised eyebrows suggest interest, lowered brows suggest uncertainty or mild anger, and one eyebrow up suggests bewilderment. Eyes narrowed to slits indicate affection for the person or animal the dog is looking at.

Two dogs stamping their feet, (maybe) to gain attention.

Feet and legs: Although a dog's feet lack the dexterity of human hands, a dog can use them as an avenue of communication. A dog might stamp its feet, alternating its left and right front legs, while its back legs are still. This occurs when the dog is excited, wants something, or wants its owner's attention. Pointers tend to tuck one front leg up when they sense game nearby.

This behavior is not communicative so much as the dog exhibiting a fixed-action pattern called "the eye stalk." It is also common for dogs to paw or scratch for objects they desire. Many dogs are trained to mimic a human handshake, offering a paw to a human stooping down and offering their own hand in exchange. Dogs might playfully slap each other with their paws to show gratitude toward one another.

A dog holding its head to one side and its ears forward to focus on a sound.

Head: The leaning of a dog's head to the right or to the left often indicates curiosity and/or a sound it has not heard before. It is also used to locate the source of the sound by adjusting the ears, so that sound waves might reach the ears at different times, enabling the source to be located. This, however, may also be a sign of recognition to a familiar word.

If the dog's head is held high with its neck craning forward, it is showing interest, although, it could also mean an aggressive mood if other body language is present.

A bowed head indicates submission and can be a request for physical affection.

Auditory communication

Main article, including bark control training: Bark (utterance)

By the age of four weeks, the dog has developed the majority of its vocalizations. The dog is the most vocal canid and is unique in its tendency to bark in a myriad of situations. Barking appears to have little more communication functions than excitement, fighting, the presence of a human, or simply because other dogs are barking. Subtler signs such as discreet bodily and facial movements, body odors, whines, yelps, and growls are the main sources of actual communication. The majority of these subtle communication techniques are employed at a close proximity to another, but for long-range communication only barking and howling are employed.

Barks: Dogs bark for many reasons, such as when perceived intruders (humans, dogs, or other animals unknown to them) approach their living space, when hearing an unfamiliar or unidentified noise, when seeing something that the dog doesn't expect to be there, or when playing. Barking also expresses such emotions as loneliness, fear, suspicion, stress, and pleasure. Playful or excited barks are often short and sharp and often made when a dog is attempting to get a person or another dog to play.

Dogs generally try to avoid conflict; their vocalizations are part of what allows other dogs to tune into their emotions, i.e., whether they're aggressive or are in a playful mood.

The bark of a distressed or stressed dog is high pitched, repetitive, and increases its pitch as the dog becomes more upset. For example, a dog that suffers separation anxiety may bark when left home alone.

Some breeds of dogs have been bred to bark when chasing; for example, scent hounds whose handlers use the bark to follow the dog if it has run out of sight. Coonhounds and Bloodhounds are good examples. Such barking is often called "baying" or "singing" because the sound is longer and more tonal.

Some research has suggested that dogs have separate barks for different animals, including dog, fox, deer, human, squirrel and cat.

Growls: Growls can express aggression, a desire to play, or simply that the dog doesn't want to participate in what's about to happen next (being picked up for example). Most pet owners have therefore been urged to treat growls with special attention: always consider the context of a growl and exercise caution. If the threat is very serious, then the dog will usually start off with a very low toned but strong growl that rises in tone if ignored.

Howls: Howling may provide long-range communication with other dogs or owners. Howling can be used to locate another pack member, to keep strangers away, or to call the pack for hunting. Some dogs howl when they have separation anxiety. Dogs howling can also be caused by musical instruments, like harmonicas.

Further information: Twilight bark

Whines: Whining is a high-pitched vocalization that is often produced nasally with the mouth closed. A dog may whine when it wants something (e.g., food) wants to go outside (possibly to excrete) wants to be let off the leash (possibly to greet another dog or a person) or just wants attention. A very insistent dog may add a bark at the end of a whine, in a whine-bark, whine-bark pattern.

Whimpers: A whimper or a yelp often indicates the dog is in pain or distress and is often emitted by dogs that have been bitten too hard during a play-fight. The whimper or yelp is used only when the dog intends to communicate its distress to a pack member (or human) to whom they are submissive or friendly, and the other dog or human is expected to react positively to the communication; dogs engaged in serious fights do not whimper lest they betray weakness. Dogs also whimper when they are physically abused or neglected by people.

Yelps are often associated with the lowering of the tail between the legs. Yelping can also indicate strong excitement when a dog is lonely and is suddenly met with affection, such as when a dog is left alone in a house during the day and its owner comes through the door late at night. Such yelping is often accompanied by licking, jumping, and barking. Yelping is distinct from barking in that it is softer, higher pitched, and lower volume.

Dogs will often feign injury by yelping to gain the upper hand over other puppies during play. Play yelps are often confused for a sign of pain or distress: the dog not running away after the yelp occurs reveals the ruse.

See also

• Talking animal

Bibliography

• Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett, 1992, ISBN 978-0-316-18066-5
• DOGS: A Startling New Understanding... by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger, 2002, ISBN 978-0-684-85530-1
• Dog Language by Roger Abrantes, 3rd Ed. 2001, ISBN 978-0-9660484-0-7
• "What is a 'Jewish Dog'? Konrad Lorenz and the Cult of Wildness." Boria Sax, Society and Animals, Volume 5, Number 1, 1997, pp. 3–21(19)
• My Doggie Says...; Messages from Jamie by Fred Haney ISBN 0-9785515-0-8
• On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas ISBN 0-9674796-0-6

External links

• Virtual Pet Behaviorist article on Canine Body Language (ASPCA)
• Virtual Pet Behaviorist article on barking (ASPCA)
• Virtual Pet Behaviorist article on howling (ASPCA)