How your dog tells you what they want

I think we are all familiar with many of these gestures but it was interesting to read about and see what gestures we might be missing. Lark is big on the direct stare (Mom, did you see what time it is?), paw rest (more scratching, please) and chomp (come on, let's go!). Chase, as big as he was, was very skilled at the jump- standing right in front of us, levitating himself off the ground and landing in the same spot, no obvious wind up, just up and down. It's also interesting to see how some of our dogs have used some gestures but not others and every dog has had their own specific set. What are some of your dog's best or most frequently used gestures?

Here's one article and an article it references.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/b...t-they-want-us

Get Help! Pony is in Trouble! The Science Dog

This was Chase levitating near the place where leashes and treats were kept.

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Tickle's all about barking these days. She's pregnant and has to pee a lot and will start with quiet woofs at night and if I don't stir she gets progressively louder until I'm up! She does the same thing when she's outside and wants in. She also has this "whine" which usually means she wants something...

Thor sits, stares and shuffles. I can tell the difference between the "take me on a walk" stare and "it's time for dinner" stare. The dinner one is more 'shuffly' - he'll sit and stare, and if I ignore him he shuffles his butt over about 2 inches at a time. This starts about 90 minutes before dinnertime.

I'm still learning Barley's cues but he's definitely more of a barker than Thor. Since he's crate training I've had to learn the difference between his "pay attention to me" bark (ignored) and "I need something" bark (out to pee).

Potion used to do the levitating thing too.

Katie is all about giving me a paw which equals more rubs Mom. I've had a hard time discerning when she needs to go out, picking out her tell. Well, she gets right up next to me on the couch and pants right in my ear. We are still letting her out many times a day. Sometimes she goes, sometimes she gets on the deck and immediately turns around and comes back inside. All of ours have been so different.

Sunnie never tells us anything.

Danny stares....but he stares for everything so I have to guess at what he wants. It's usually his alarm going off for a meal or treat or supplement (which he thinks are treats). He gets taken out on a schedule so it's rare that he has to tell us that he needs to go.

When Teddy performs his tricks (sit) and doesn’t get his treat, he starts sliding backwards on his butt


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Man, Kimber was easy. She’d go stand by the door and if we weren’t quick enough to let her out, she’d go find us and STARE. Now, staring was her main MO, so we’d say, “Show me!” and she’d either go back to the door, if that was her yen, or go stand by her food bucket if it was close to meal time and she was STARVING.

Y’all promised that the hours and hours and hours we spent training her that first year would pay off. You were right.

All of mine have been ‘stare-ers’. I could usually tell by where they sat at and stared at me. Closer to the door, time to go out. Closer to the kitchen, hungry time. Close to me, loving time. Paw on the knee was an immediate “I need something!” When I stood up they would move in the direction of what they wanted, door, kitchen, toy pile…

The hard ones were the in the middle of the room stares. Those were mostly the “I am bored” times. I would let them ‘tell’ me what they wanted by looking at them and going “What?” Usually they would go get an action item, toy, collar, bowl… If I got no response I would give them a task. “Where is this or that item”. This, of course, would end my leisure time and begin action time with them.

I did have fun with my last gal. She would randomly bring a toy over, sit close to me and hold it in her mouth. If I ignored her she would drop it in my lap. If it fell she would pick it back up and toss it on my lap then sit and stare at me. If I ignored her she would go get another item and repeat. There were many times I would have an enormous pile of every single allowable item on the couch next to me! She would get item after item hoping to hit on one I would be interested in. She knew I would eventually relent and join her is some activity.

The head on my knee with the big, sad, root beer eyes was the “Why don’t you love me anymore?” I would invite her up on the couch, she would curl up with her head on my lap and give the big happy sigh.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wwwoodchuck

I did have fun with my last gal. She would randomly bring a toy over, sit close to me and hold it in her mouth. If I ignored her she would drop it in my lap. If it fell she would pick it back up and toss it on my lap then sit and stare at me. If I ignored her she would go get another item and repeat. There were many times I would have an enormous pile of every single allowable item on the couch next to me!

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That provides a very clear mental image of her staring at you sitting beside a mountain of toys. She probably thought you were a bit slow on the uptake there! Too funny!