RE: Dog Talks For Dummies

It does make a big difference, yet so many people don't try to understand their dogs at all. They just teach their dogs commands they think their dog should know, but do nothing to understand how their dogs communicate with them. For example, most people who see a dog with his ears pulled back, and his tail between his legs, loudly barking, will say that's an angry dog. They don't understand that this dog is not angry but scared. They only hear the barking and don't look at his body language. So they probably punish the dog for the barking and tell him to shut up. Result, the dog does not find support and barks even more loudly the next time because there is something that scares him, something he doesn't trust. Because he has learned that loudly barking makes the thing he's scared of go away.

This is how dogs learn unwanted behavior. And the irony is that the dog is blamed for doing so, while in reality, we are the ones to blame.