What Does Your Body Language Tell Your Pet?

Judy, a long-time client of mine visited me this morning with her dog – Dash, a 3 year old Jack Russell Terrier. From the moment Judy walked in my store, Dash was completely out of control; pulling on the leash like he’s running the Iditarod, showing aggressive behaviour to myself and to other clients browsing my store.

“Don’t get too close, Dash will try to bite you” Judy says while desperately trying to gain any level of control over Dash.

Why is it Dash acts this way?

After a brief conversation between Judy and I, we had come to the conclusion that Dash (in part) acts this way because he has learned to react to Judy’s body language. When entering my store, Judy tenses up, wraps the leash around her hand (over and over) and her tone of voice changes – all in anticipation of Dash’s behaviour once he enters the store.

Dogs are far more in tune to our mannerisms than we give them credit for.

A 2011 study conducted by UC Davis Health Systems, published in the January issue of the journal Animal Cognition, found that drug detection-dog/handler teams erroneously “alerted,” or identified a scent, when there was no scent present more than 200 times — particularly when the handler believed that there was scent present.

“It isn’t just about how sensitive a dog’s nose is or how well-trained a dog is. There are cognitive factors affecting the interaction between a dog and a handler that can impact the dog’s performance,” said Lisa Lit, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurology and the study’s lead author.

Now, back to Judy and Dash..

I suggested that Judy take Dash back to her car, and recreate their visit to my store – but this time paying attention to her body language and mannerisms. Judy was to remain calm and composed, and to be positively assertive (with the help of some yummy training treats) with Dash.

We repeated this process 4 or 5 times in a row – lo and behold – Dash’s behaviour had improved considerably.

Although Dash still has a long way to go, this mini-experiment shows just how in-tune dogs are to even the most subtle human behaviour.

What’s my point?

Always be aware of your body language when with your pets. Tense mannerisms create tense pets. Remain calm, use positive reinforcement and you may help decrease – or even eliminate those nasty moments every pet owner wants to avoid.

Photo Credit: dog-obedience-training-review.com

Photo Credit: smh.com.au