Doggy language

non-verbal communication with my dog (and w/ my people)

Hello!

Happy Friday! Welcome back to Canine Hotline, a weekly newsletter fetching advice, adventures, and other stuff for dog people. Our first doggy advice column launches in December. We’ve received some fun questions so far. Remember: if you need doggy advice, send us an email at info@thecaninehotline.com, we might just answer you right here on Substack. And psst! don’t forget to subscribe here:

Now, for your weekly dog adventure…

I talk to my dog. I talk to my dog so much that today when she was tugging towards the abandoned pizza crust on 82nd, I found myself saying, Betteeeee, we talked about this yesterday, remember? No street crust, sweetie! I also talk to other people’s dogs. A couple of weeks ago, I asked a Pomapoo if she voted (to which the owner replied, in a voice for her Pomapoo: “yes, I did vote!”).

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with talking to dogs. I actually think talking to our dogs and other people’s dogs is a good thing. It opens up the door to talk to each other (which we could all be doing more of!). We are social animals, connections with other social animals makes us feel good.

What I’m trying to say is that through domestication, dogs have learned to understand a lot about our language —learning some of our words, learning how to tell us what they want without words, even reading our human facial expressions and emotional states. So! Maybe we should make more of an effort to understand their language?

Pela and Dash

Dogs communicate with so much more than barks and tail wags. Notice how your dog is trying to communicate with you using body language and signals. Is the panting really a happy “smile”? Or is it a sign of nervousness? What are those ears trying to say? The book “Doggie Language” by my friend, Lili Chin, is an awesome guide to understanding how your dog communicates through body language. You can watch an interview I did with Lili here.

Try practicing some “Doggy Language” with the humans in your life, too…

As someone who has a small habit of over-explaining and repeating and defending how I feel with lots of words (my fiancé LOVES this), I’m slowly learning that more words don’t always help me get my point across. Plus, with Thanksgiving next week and likely lots of (deep breath!!) holiday pressure and family time coming up, I challenge you to not use so many words. Yes, I challenge you to try out some doggy language (lol). Here are some ideas on how to do that:

• when someone you love walks through the door, go completely insane with joy (even if they were only gone twenty minutes)

• Bring someone a ball and see if they will throw it with you outside

• Snuggle

• Smile at someone (it’s the human tail-wag)

• Scratch someone’s back

• Show-off your most recent trick (a song on the piano, a poem, a yoga pose)

• Give people attention (high-fives, handshakes, hugs, pets!)

• Just sit with someone in quiet (my dream!)

• Practice reading other people’s body language

• Look people in the eye

• Move closer to someone when they are talking

• Be attentive. Offer eye contact, head tilts, eye brow raises to show you are curious about what someone is saying (instead of ignoring them and playing with your toy/phone)

• Give someone a kiss on the cheek (Not a lick though. That’d be weird!)

Muah!

Fern