Understand Your Dog’s Mind

When a dog comes to our home for the first time, it can be difficult for us to understand how to treat them, how to show them affection or even more, learn their expressions of affection and their way of asking us for something. To understand all this and get to know our new friend more, it is essential to understand your dog’s mind.

You may be wondering if it is possible to understand your dog’s mind. The answer is yes. Our mind is moved by reasoning, feelings and emotions and therefore it is very difficult to understand why dogs do it the way they do if we do not understand their mind.

How to understand your dog’s mind

To understand your dog’s mind you must observe how it reacts to your movements, because although there are many actions that all dogs have in common, it is also true that each dog is a world. Therefore, here we will talk about generalizations, but in each pet there may be some type of variation.

Petting

In order to pet your dog in a way that is pleasant for him, you have to understand the animal’s mind, and as we told you before, observe what he likes and what he doesn’t.

As a general rule, no dog likes to have its tail, legs, ears, and, in some cases, even its head stroked.

Almost everyone loves it when we stroke their back, back, underneath, and tummy. However, although this is the generalization in all dogs, observe yours and if any of the strokes do not like, change them.

Aggressiveness

Sometimes many dogs can be aggressive, even in our own home. This happens because sometimes we take for granted that dogs are animals and that they do not understand us, but this is not entirely true.

Dogs have the ability to observe us and understand our body language, so they know how to recognize our tone of voice, our gestures and our posture. Thus they are able to identify whether or not we are comfortable with their presence.

Therefore, the aggressiveness that dogs sometimes show is often caused by our attitude.

What you need to know to understand your dog’s mind

Dogs are very different from humans and sometimes that is our biggest mistake: forgetting that concept. Dogs move instinctively, they react according to what they smell and what they are capable of sensing.

It must be understood that they move according to a hierarchical structure and that therefore they are always looking for a leader. If you or a member of your family does not show him who the leaders are, he will take that role, which can create episodes of aggression or anxiety in the animal.

The dominants are the ones who always win, so we must be careful not to encourage that attitude. For example, if the animal is tense and we caress it, we will be reinforcing that behavior and it will be aggressive, if not with us, with other people when they come to touch it.

However, on the contrary, if when he is afraid we touch him, we are telling him that being afraid is okay. When the dog shows emotions, it is best to leave it alone.

Another common mistake humans make with our dogs is calling attention to them for doing things that are normal for them, like smelling the ground or eating anything that has fallen on it.

Scolding them over and over for something that is natural to them won’t do much good, just so your dog doesn’t understand what you’re saying and is scared every time they do something. It is as if you are forced not to yawn when you are sleepy.

In the same way, dogs are pack animals and they are used to interacting with other dogs, they know how to recognize their fellows. But when they go to a canine in our presence, we always try to prevent it and even scold it.

Letting him socialize is something natural for him and it will also be very beneficial for him to become a pleasant animal with other dogs and other people.

Strive to understand your dog’s mind, and your bond with him will grow tremendously.