What Is The Secret Key To Understanding Your Dogs Behavior

"Why does my dog do that and what does it mean?"

The Power of the Pack.
Your dog's behavior is controlled by his instincts first and what he learns second. Basically your dog needs to be part of a pack.

Dog packs are designed to work on a clear leader follower system, this pattern of behavior is hard wired into your dogs psychic he cannot change, it is in his genes.

This brings us to the most important fundamental that will control every aspect of your relationship with your dog.

There has got to be a leader and if you don't take on the role your dog has to do it.

If we accept that your dog views the family as its pack, he will feel secure if there is a clear leader follower relationship, and if you want to avoid problems the humans in the family must be the leaders.

In a pack there is an alpha male and female, the alpha pair, the alpha pair dominate and dictate every aspect of pack life. The remainder of the pack accept the alpha pairs rules and defers them without question below the alpha pair there is a pecking order, the middle ranking members and so on down to the lower members, in the family it is vital that the dog understands that all humans are higher ranking than it is. This avoids any problems with the dog challenging children.

This does not mean that the dog should be afraid of humans in the family, in fact it means exactly the opposite, the dog should be able to trust all the humans in the pack. Having trust in the humans in its life will greatly reduce the stress that a dog is exposed to and will allow much easier training.

Your dog is a pack animal it needs to know its place in the scheme of things, it really wants to obey your commands.

Remember your dog is a lot closer to its ancestor the wolf than it is to you the human, Your dog will always think like a wolf.

They are sociable and love companionship.

They are intelligent and enjoy mental exercise.

They enjoy physical exercise.

They are always learning even when you think you are not teaching.

Each dog has its own traits, personality, intelligence, dominance, and trainability.

Your dog's world should revolve around you. If he can trust you to provide everything he needs he will see the world as a safe and friendly place.

The best source of information I found on this subject was Jan Fennell in her book The Dog Listener: Learn How to Communicate with Your Dog for Willing Cooperation and I recommend it to you if you wish to develop a better understanding of why your dog does what he does.

Body Language.
Body language is the key to understanding your dog take the time to watch your dog, notice how it reacts to various situations.

A major stumbling block to communication is that people believe dogs speak English, or that dogs have the ability to read minds, that just isn't correct perhaps it would help if we learn to speak dog!

Dogs communicate by body language i.e. posture and facial expression and sounds, to understand them you must understand how they interpret body language, and how to change your body language so that you are giving the correct message.

Think how difficult it is for your dog to make you understand, and how often we misunderstand their every need.

Here are a few examples of how a dog shows various emotions.

When a dog is happy he will have his ears pricked forward a relaxed mouth and wagging tail, it may also jump up and down circle around, there may be some barking.

A submissive dog will roll over on its back and show its tummy, most people mistake this and think the dog wants its tummy tickling to make things a little more complicated a contented dog in its own home may well just want to be tickled, nobody said it was easy!


If the dog bows down with their front lowered and the bottom in the air and their tail wagging they are inviting other dogs to play.

The dominant dog will hold its ears up and will stare with eyes wide open, it will try make itself as tall as possible with hackles raised the tale is normally held as high as possible.

Aggressive dogs will give a challenging stare with the ears laid-back close to the head and the eyes narrow, the mouth may be open exposing the teeth and the dog may snap its jaws this is usually accompanied by growling or loud barking, the body's tense and the head is usually lowered.

Misunderstood Dog Behaviors.
Growling is not always a sign of aggression, it is usually a warning telling the other dog that's far enough or else, it is much better for a dog to growl than to bite. If a dog is growling inappropriately it may be necessary to do some work on socializing the growling dog.

Dogs enjoyed chasing each other this is perfectly normal and perhaps the most common form of play, they normally take turns they may bark and get excited this is perfectly normal and should not be interfered with.

Sometimes during chasing dogs will nip or bite at the collar area on the other dog, they are not trying to hurt, this is the only way they can show that they have caught the other animal, dogs use their mouths rather like our hands, it should be noted that sometimes a slight injury may occur but this is rare and not usually intended.

Some dogs bark more than others while playing it can be a bit of a nuisance but it's no different than noisy children and should be treated in the same way.

Occasionally you will come across a dog that yelps every time another dog even looks as it, this is caused by lack of socialization which results in the dog being afraid of other dogs, the owner should take steps to remedy this, it is not the fault of the other dogs or their owners.

Basically the key to understanding your dogs behavior is to try to see life from a dog's point of view.