By Annie Phenix, ACB-KSA

Dogs are constantly communicating with us but we are too much of the human world to hear half of what they are saying. Our inability to read dog communication causes a lot of dog’s frustration — and I can’t blame a dog for that.

As a canine behavior expert and dog trainer of 25 years, I’ve observed thousands of dogs over my career. Each day, these magnificent creatures teach me something new and every day I am in awe of their communication abilities. Only in the past decade have humans spent time truly studying dogs and learning even their most subtle forms of communications. We still have a lot to learn.

When I look back at any given week working with my own two Heelers and my client’s dogs, I feel enormous gratitude to be able to spend my life and my job working with dogs.

Here are some of the incredible conversations I’ve observed recently with dogs:

• We have a lot of magpie birds and they are LOUD and territorial. One day there was a neighborhood magpie war happening in the pine trees in our front yard. I looked at my Blue Heeler Cooper and said: “Please go outside and tell the birds to be quiet.” To my astonishment, Cooper jumped up, ran out the dog door and I watched from the window as he went the base of the pine trees and barked looking upwards until the magpies flew away! He then trotted or rather sashayed back into the house and he had such a look of accomplishment on his face.
• We live on a corner lot and our yard forms an L around the house. We fenced the yard with wood and wire fencing so our dogs can see out of the fence. One day recently my Red Heeler gave us his rare but serious HIGH ALERT bark that he uses when something is off or seems threatening. My husband and I both got up fast to see what Finn was telling us. There was a man standing at our front door about to knock on it. We never have people at our door as we put in a gate and we lock it so people can’t come in and bother our dogs – apparently we forgot to put the lock back on the gate and a salesman came right up to the door. Finn was right – that was weird and could have been someone not just trying to sell siding. Keep in mind that Finn loves people and he happily greets strangers through the fence and on walks. The dog door was open and Finn could have gone outside and met the man with his usual friendly hello – but he didn’t and instead he let his family know something was amiss.

• Finn and Cooper are working line Heelers and they enjoy staying busy and having a “job.’ One of their self-appointed jobs is to bring a stick to any human they see so the human can throw the stick and they can run after it, leap into the air, grab the stick with their teeth and run it back to the human for another throw. They tag team the human. Finn fetches the stick and spits it out near the person. Cooper then goes in and places the stick at the feet of the human. Then they stare intently at the stick, look at the human, look at the stick — clearly saying “hey two-legged one – THROW THE STICK.” They are so very clear in this communication that they have countless neighborhood friends who stop by our fence and throw the stick for them. We are stopped out on walks with people saying “I love your dogs – I throw sticks for them.”

• A client’s dog had made so much progress overcoming his worry about other dogs and he no longer barked at other dogs on his leash walks. One day the dog began barking and pulling the owner up a hill. The owner called me and said at first he was worried that his dog had regressed but then he told me what really happened. A neighbor came out of his house as my client and his dog were moving quickly up the hill and started waving his arms to get my client’s attention and he yelled:  “Don’t go up there! A momma bear and her cub came through here 5 minutes ago!” His very good dog smelled the bear, alerted and saved the day. You may know or not know that mother bears with cubs can be extremely protective.

While dogs are master communicators, we humans have room to improve both in our communication with them and our “hearing” what they are saying. It’s also easy to put a human experience onto dog behavior and sometimes we get it wrong. Last week I was gardening when Finn pushed past me, nearly knocking me down. He jumped into the air and bit a wasp that was flying straight at my head. The heelers have it down where they bite the flying stinging insect and immediately shake it out of their mouths.

I could have interpreted this as a real Lassie move on Finn’s part – how brave that he shoved me aside and he saved me from a wasp sting! In this case, that isn’t really right. He was doing was he was bred to do and that is to notice movement in the environment, make contact (either visually with a stare or nipping) with the thing moving and take action as ranch heelers do with cattle. I was just the lucky beneficiary and the wasp was the unlucky beneficiary.

It is also terribly sad to understand that so many dogs are doing their very best to communicate with humans and there are those who are willing to use harmful tools such as shock or prong collars and they set about punishing dogs when instead they could have bothered to learn what the dog is saying and working with the dog as his guide instead of his punisher. Don’t be that person and don’t let anyone harm your dog.

One excellent way to learn what your dog is communicating is to hire a seasoned pro who truly can hear what dogs are saying. I work with puppies, good manners and every kind of behavior concern with dog guardians around the world.

If you would like professional help with your dog that is always modern, ethical and humane, email me: annie@phenixdogs.com

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Annie Phenix, ACB- KSA, has achieved many certifications including Certified Canine Behaviourist (INTODogs), Family Dog Mediator (FDM), CPDT-KA (Retired), Fear Free Certified Professional, Graduate of a Schutzhund Dog Academy, CGC Evaluator, Nose Work Instructor, and many others. She is the best-selling author of canine behavior books, including her most recent title: Positive Training for Aggressive and Reactive Dogs. Learn more about Annie on her website:  www.ChoosetoTrainHumane.com