The second part of the mini-guide on socialization deals with the importance of understanding your dog's body language and signals.
The guide is in 3 parts and was created in collaboration with professional dog trainer and behaviorist Maria Wittrup, owner of happy-hund.dk.
If you didn't read the first part, you can read it here:
Part 1: Proper socialization of your dog
Learn and respect your dog's signals
In my work as a behavior therapist, my greatest job is to help dog owners understand their dog. If you understand what your dog is trying to tell you, you can also give your dog the best possible socialization.
Dogs communicate through body language and much of their communication is about preventing conflicts with other dogs; the so-called conflict-mitigating signals.
By using these signals, it can prevent conflicts with other dogs by communicating whether it wants to increase or decrease the distance to other dogs, but it can also use the signals to calm itself down if it is happy or afraid.
Some of the signals are easier to detect than others. The dog uses the same signals to communicate with us, and therefore it is incredibly useful for us to know them, in order to understand our dogs in that way. Conflict-reducing signals can be turning the head away, looking away, turning away, licking the muzzle, yawning, blinking the eyes, blinking and sniffing.
Here is an example of how the dog can use conflict-reducing signals:
Sniffing the ground can be both a conflict-reducing signal and a sign of dominance. If a dog comes straight towards you and your dog starts sniffing the ground, your dog is telling you that the other dog can come this way and that it is friendly. If you walk behind another dog and your dog sniffs the ground, it may seem like it doesn't care, but it doesn't necessarily. It is the dog telling you that it does not want contact and that it is not up for play or conflict. Dogs are masters at understanding each other if they are given the time and are not stressed beforehand. Therefore, give your dog time and space to communicate.
When you start looking at what dogs communicate to each other and to us, you start to understand what dogs' behavior means. It also means that we stop unconsciously overstepping a dog's boundaries, for example by letting it play with other dogs that are too wild, or forcing it to have contact with another dog even if the dog says no.
If the dog is used to having its boundaries respected, it will have a long fuse before speaking up because it knows that it is not usually pushed into situations that are uncomfortable. On the other hand, if it is used to its owner not understanding it and that it repeatedly experiences things it does not like, then its fuse will be shorter.
Then it will be better for the dog to say no quickly, so that it avoids what it does not like. That is why you may experience that the dog growls or attacks another dog, even if the other dog is not even close or even if it seems friendly. So it is really important to do your best to respect the dog's boundaries.
As a dog owner, you gain a completely different understanding of your dog when you begin to experience that they actually communicate with us all the time, and you begin to see the dog's reactions with other dogs in a completely different light.
About the author
Maria Wittrup is 39 years old and has run her own dog school in Hjørring since 2008.
At happy-hund.dk we always work with positive reinforcement and training on the dog's terms. We offer group training, individual lessons and behavioral treatments.
In 2023, Maria published a book about appropriate socialization.
Her passion is the appropriate socialization of dogs, taking into account their different needs and making sure to give them lots of good experiences with other dogs. In general, she tries to make sure that socialization can also take place where dogs meet on leashes, and not only when they are let loose with other dogs.
Mini guide part 2 – Learn to understand your dog's signals
The second part of the mini-guide on socialization deals with the importance of understanding your dog's body language and signals.
The guide is in 3 parts and was created in collaboration with professional dog trainer and behaviorist Maria Wittrup, owner of happy-hund.dk.
If you didn't read the first part, you can read it here:
Part 1: Proper socialization of your dog
Learn and respect your dog's signals
In my work as a behavior therapist, my greatest job is to help dog owners understand their dog. If you understand what your dog is trying to tell you, you can also give your dog the best possible socialization.
Dogs communicate through body language and much of their communication is about preventing conflicts with other dogs; the so-called conflict-mitigating signals.
By using these signals, it can prevent conflicts with other dogs by communicating whether it wants to increase or decrease the distance to other dogs, but it can also use the signals to calm itself down if it is happy or afraid.
Some of the signals are easier to detect than others. The dog uses the same signals to communicate with us, and therefore it is incredibly useful for us to know them, in order to understand our dogs in that way. Conflict-reducing signals can be turning the head away, looking away, turning away, licking the muzzle, yawning, blinking the eyes, blinking and sniffing.
Here is an example of how the dog can use conflict-reducing signals:
Sniffing the ground can be both a conflict-reducing signal and a sign of dominance. If a dog comes straight towards you and your dog starts sniffing the ground, your dog is telling you that the other dog can come this way and that it is friendly. If you walk behind another dog and your dog sniffs the ground, it may seem like it doesn't care, but it doesn't necessarily. It is the dog telling you that it does not want contact and that it is not up for play or conflict. Dogs are masters at understanding each other if they are given the time and are not stressed beforehand. Therefore, give your dog time and space to communicate.
When you start looking at what dogs communicate to each other and to us, you start to understand what dogs' behavior means. It also means that we stop unconsciously overstepping a dog's boundaries, for example by letting it play with other dogs that are too wild, or forcing it to have contact with another dog even if the dog says no.
If the dog is used to having its boundaries respected, it will have a long fuse before speaking up because it knows that it is not usually pushed into situations that are uncomfortable. On the other hand, if it is used to its owner not understanding it and that it repeatedly experiences things it does not like, then its fuse will be shorter.
Then it will be better for the dog to say no quickly, so that it avoids what it does not like. That is why you may experience that the dog growls or attacks another dog, even if the other dog is not even close or even if it seems friendly. So it is really important to do your best to respect the dog's boundaries.
As a dog owner, you gain a completely different understanding of your dog when you begin to experience that they actually communicate with us all the time, and you begin to see the dog's reactions with other dogs in a completely different light.
About the author
Maria Wittrup is 39 years old and has run her own dog school in Hjørring since 2008.
At happy-hund.dk we always work with positive reinforcement and training on the dog's terms. We offer group training, individual lessons and behavioral treatments.
In 2023, Maria published a book about appropriate socialization.
Her passion is the appropriate socialization of dogs, taking into account their different needs and making sure to give them lots of good experiences with other dogs. In general, she tries to make sure that socialization can also take place where dogs meet on leashes, and not only when they are let loose with other dogs.