Communication Clues

We are learning about dog communication. So far we have learned that there are two kinds of verbal communication, one of them is when you receive (receptive language) and the other is when you speak it (proactive language). Today we learned that human babies receive and understand words before they can talk. Dogs are kind of the same way except they don't speak English. Most dogs can learn about 200 words which is at the level of a two year old child.

By saying someone's name, it tells them that they are the person that needs to be listening. Looking at someone also tells them, or if they are the only one in the area they know you are talking to them. Dogs names are also important for letting them know to pay attention to you. I don't know, but maybe eye contact is also important for dogs.

We did an experiment with our dog. We tried making eye contact without using her name to see if she responded to our words. Then, we tried calling her with her name from another room without eye contact. Making eye contact worked better.

We also know that dogs communicate with posture, their tails and their noses. Their sense of smell can be another way to communicate, it depends on what the situation is. We are going to learn about these other ways of communicating too and will keep you posted on what we learn!