On what is founded the interaction with animals?

Society is the most developed “animal kingdom“ ever existed. It entails not only human beings but also those animals who have been through a process of domestication.

We familiarly call them pets.

By the way, a clever person though he/she may vaunt great social skills abilities with his/her similar in any given context of “his/her” kingdom could be feeling lost in being in the middle of any other environment where there are animals too.    Additionally, the very man could likely have a break down, maybe screaming at shadows if night or desperately flee away like a gazelle at the sight of one of them.

Perhaps, this example provides an answer.

What is primarily  needed to have an effective interaction with any animal  is the confidence. It seems to be the unique way with which a human can establish a relationship of mutual benefit with animals. A pet is a source of companionship to whom it is corresponded care and well-being.

Society intends such as the fact of having pets.

As the fear paralyses in front of a savage animal, in the same way the fond toward a pet, or to any animal with a little of confidence, is what edifies the relation to an advancement.

This always should be but it often has been replaced by violence or exploiting human behaviors that put the animal in such bottom deplorable position; to recognize in animals creatures worthy of respect is essential to truly comprehend their nature in order to safeguard it.

On the opposite side, even treating an animal like a human being, modifying its natural life style, is another mistake worthy avoiding.

Basically it is up to the person to choose on what to found the relationship with an animal and it is going to affect permanently the way the interaction will take.

The communication in dogs

With no domesticated animals, the communication is just a bipartite choice between attacking or escaping; any other option would be an uneasy attempt to communicate depending primarily on the instincts.

It’s with pets – including dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, cows, sheep and few others – that communication can step long forward even to levels unimaginable.

Mostly with that one that is willed or unwanted, it will be considered the most special, even a “friend”, to us: the dog.

Dogs mainly communicate non-verbally through the use of body language and after through vocalizations.

In order to better understand the dog’s status, it’s very important to observe the entire dog through its body language made up of the tail’s carriage and movement, the position of the eyes and ears, posture, facial expressions.  The context is also essential to take into account. Because of stress, an internal factor not so easily measurable, generally animals can change their behaviors abruptly. Under heavy and steady pressure any animal can react violently for it to decipher what it really feels is useful to truly care its well-being and avoiding possible dangerous situations.

FIVE COMMON GROUPS OF COMMUNICATION SIGNALS

The Veterinary Medicine Department of the Tufts University classifies in five common groups the canine communication signals:

1. Fearful Communication
2. Arousal Communication
3. Anxious Communication
4. Aggressive Communication
5. Relaxed Communication

Starting with the latter, the dog body’s language is natural, his mouth is slightly open, the final’s endings are very similar to a smile, his head and ears are in neutral position; his tail may be wagging and he often lies in a ‘frog-leg’ position.

In an aggressive communication, the dog is conveyed by a ” threat perception” to act in order to protect itself, its territory or its possession (included the owner). The animal may start showing fearful signals and then, if they are brushed off, suddenly changing into aggressive ones. The most common are raised hair, stiffening, barking, growl or show his teeth, curled lips and eyes wide open with the white part well-exposed. If these signals appear, a bite or an attack is what lies ahead. The dog must be attentively ignored by not running away but simply by stepping away as naturally as possible.

Pacing, excessive panting, lacking of focus and the absence of behavior seen as a “shut down” is what characterized an anxious dog. It may wag his tail slowly as well as moving and looking away from people. Circling around and even displaying exciting communication signals could all be due to anxiety. This way of being is not so far from a fearful status. The environment in which the animal stays effectively can impact the level of stress a dog experiences.

Predisposition to play when dogs are jumping, mouthing and mounting pops out whenever a favorable stimulus captures the animal’s attention. It may be a toy, another dog or a person. The age, the confinement, dog’s personality and lack of physical and mental outlets are the equalizing factors of the dog’s excitement or arousal. While excited signals as its fur erected, ears generally at attention or forward, upward body stance are visible in dogs.  The dog may also be barking and/or lunging along with its tail wagging stiffly and stay focus opening wider his eyes.

Last but not least, there are the signals of fear. As a dog yawns, licks his lips, trembles, lows or tucks his tail, puts his ears back, ducks lower his body, keeps his mouth tightly closed all that is meant to be perceived as a signal of fear. These signals intensify insofar the fear is perceived. At its maximum an only movement can be enough to make the animal passing from a freezing and defensive manner to an aggressive one.

Dogs can read human beings’ behavior

Since prehistory in 40 thousand years time, dog and human have a relationship difficult to equalize. The dog’s brain developed its structure ending with the greatest capacity in the whole animal kingdom to perceive human’s feelings.

The Smell

They are capable of perceiving people’s mood just by smelling the body’s secretions; the nose is literally a weapon, in fact, thanks to the 225 million sensory cells on it they can sniff objects or/and people until 20 km of distance. More than that, their smell has an incredible memory, able to recognize an odor, smelled only once, even until 3 years later. Some breeds of dog are currently used to detect cancer cells in human.

The Hearing

Any human would have a second thought before entering a property well guarded by a dog; this animal can hear 4 times the distance of human and it’s claimed he can perceive the good or bad intentions of people.

The Loyalty

Dogs are recognized to be truly loyal but their value doesn’t know limits; in fact, through the decades they have been training to save people from drowning, to accompany and to assist blind people, to sniff drugs, to properly assault fugitives, to re-orientate people lost in extreme environments, to catch preys, in pet therapy to cheer up and to help out people affected with diseases, to protect and in some other contexts of the human’s activities they have found their spaces improving the quality of people’s life.

In addition, dogs usually are the co-starring in ghost stories, they are supposed to gather dead presences, and veritable leading-role in real happenings of foretelling omens and heroic deeds.

A conquest

In spite of the already known cruelty that characterizes nature and the several dangers of the animal kingdom with its wild and deadly animals, human’s race was fated to be able to find a true friend in all that.

A sensitive creature ready to sacrifice itself in order to save people who love.

A creature who deeply understands us and got the adeptness to symbiotic live every ordinary or extraordinary humans’ life situation producing a link almost impossible to break.

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