Understanding dog behavior is the key to a successful relationship between owner and pet. Your dog’s behavior is a result of the dog’s emotions and thought process at any given time. It can also be an instinctive behavior that is a part of the dog’s genetic makeup.
You can follow these general guidelines to understand what your dog is trying to communicate to you.
- Attention: If your dog desires your attention, it will come to you. Generally it will wag its tail, bark or whine until you notice it and give it attention.
It may also stare at you or jump up. This behavior is often displayed when the dog is bored and when it wants to play. Licking you is also a sign of attention seeking behavior because, usually, as a puppy your dog would have received food or affection from its mother when it licked her. - Aggression: Aggression can be a symptom of a couple of different things. Aggression is a show of dominance and may be used by a dog over other dogs or over unfamiliar human beings to scare them and establish the dog as the commander. Aggression could be trained into a dog if you wish for your dog to keep a watch for unwanted outsiders. In other cases, aggression is a defense mechanism. Dogs may be insecure or scared and some of them react to such a situation by acting out in an aggressive manner. Dogs are instinctive in believing that their aggression will scare away whatever it is that the dog is afraid of.
- Destructiveness: Destructive dog behavior is usually not a symptom of any underlying psychological problem with your dog. Dogs can be playful and can get easily bored in a domestic environment. Some dogs have excess amounts of energy and they release this by chewing, gnawing and scratching objects with their paws.
- Submission: If you are over aggressive with your dog and have instilled a sense of fear in it, this may cause submissive dog behavior which includes licking of lips and keeping its tail between its legs. This happens when the dog fears its owner or people around and is not confident that aggression will ward them off.
It is always important to notice any change in dog behavior. This can be a symptom of some change that has taken place in the living environment or some stress that your dog is suffering from.
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