How Do Dogs Communicate With Each Other?
Dogs have always been a human’s loyal and friendly companion. You can spend many hours with them without getting bored. They are the furry angels who can ease out stress and tension of your life. Even though their communication is non-verbal, you both understand each other very well.
Now, have you ever thought about how do dogs communicate with each other? Do they have any medium or language of communication? Dogs usually communicate through their facial expressions, barking, body, and scent signals. Every move of theirs has a meaning and is a mode of expressing feelings.
You must have observed your dog interacting with other dogs during his walk. They sniff, smell, and roll when they are around their mates. Being a pet owner, you must understand these signs and learn how dogs communicate with each other. This will help you make your dog socialize with their counterparts in a better way.
In this blog, we will explore and share a few of your dog’s communication methods.
Communication through smell
There are almost 50 times more smell receptors present in dogs than humans. This makes scent the main mode of communication in dogs with each other. Dogs can also sense human emotions and feelings by sniffing and smelling them.
You must have noticed your dog sniffing the area before he pees or poo. This is for ensuring that whether it is any other dog’s territory or not. Dogs mark their territory by urinating at a specific place and reserves it for them. The urine and feces of dogs also have a distinct scent to communicate a message to other dogs. Male dogs sniff the urinated area to gather information about any nearby female dogs in heat.
Smelling has got more meanings for dogs
Dogs communicate many things through their scent. The smell has played a pivotal role in communicating concrete messages between dogs. Let us take a look at a few of them here:
Protecting the territory from other dogs
Dogs are obsessive about their territory and do not like any trespassers. To safeguard their territory, they mark the region by their urine and stool. By doing this, they communicate with other dogs that this area belongs to someone else and stay away. You must have observed your dog peeing all-around when you shift to a new place. They do this to mark their territory and protect it from other dogs trespassing.
Gathering vital information and greeting
When dogs meet, they smell each other to exchange some of the vital information. Dogs can gather details such as age, sex, and status by smelling each other. Smelling each other when they meet is also considered as a gesture of greeting.
Deciding dominance
Dogs follow some ranking hierarchy. This hierarchy decides which dog is the most dominant one. The demarcation of dominance and rank in dogs is possible through smell. This helps avoid any confrontation as well as violence with each other. By this, the lesser dominant dog will leave the territory, and the one with higher rank will stay.
Communication through sound
Another preferred mode of communication in dogs is through sound. Like the smell, dogs can also hear higher frequencies in comparison to humans. Dogs bark to communicate with other dogs in the vicinity about their status. Every sound which a dog makes has its significance. Dogs communicate through the bark, growl, and howl. This helps them to convey feelings such as fear, aggression, and happiness to other dogs.
A sharp or intense barking can be a sign of alerting dogs in the area about any danger. A playful dog will bark in average pitch and normal tone to show that they are ready to have fun.
Growling loud and in aggression could be a sign of your dog being not in a good mood. In this situation, he is growling to send out a message to nearby dogs to stay away.
Through howling, dogs tend to locate their counterparts in the nearby locality. They can even howl in case of stress and anxiety. By doing this, they are warning other dogs not to confront him for the time being.
Communication through vision and body expressions
Dogs are very good at communicating with each other by their body expressions. They can assess other dogs‘ status by only looking at their posture, tail position, eyes, and ears. The various body expressions of dogs reflect their intentions and mood. This will help the dogs react to each other in the right way. Appended are a few body expressions that dogs impart to show their status.
Dominance
A forward-leaning posture with a high and straight tail is an expression of dominance in dogs. This gesture is a message to other dogs not to trespass his territory.
Politeness
If the dog is standing in a curved body posture, he shows his friendliness to other dogs.
Stressed
If you see your dog licking his nose, this is a sign of stress. In this situation, the other dogs will approach him with comfort.
Seeking details
The dog tilting his head to one side is a sign when he wants more details about his surroundings.
Wrap up
By now, you must have understood that dogs do communicate with each other. They do it through various modes that are already mentioned in this blog. As a responsible pet owner, you should ensure that you are aware of their communication style. This will not only help you understand your furry pal better but also make him socialize with other dogs.
Dogs have a world in which they need to communicate with their counterparts to socialize. Hence, when you take your dog for a walk next time, do not refrain him from smelling the surroundings. By doing this, he is only trying to communicate with his pals around. By restricting him from doing so, you will be detaching him from his community. Let them also have freedom of expression like us; they will be thankful for the rest of their life.
