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Know how the dogs think it requires dedication and observation to understand that these are creatures that reason, feel and suffer. In addition to canine educators and ethologists, they are the owners who discover the ways in which they reason and think about their daily lives.
Although they often react by instinct, puppies are animals to repeat basic commands, understand and distinguish different orders and are even able to detect when we feel sad or excited.
Body and verbal language allows our puppy to understand and respond to certain stimuli found in his environment. Want to know more? Keep reading this PeritoAnimal article to find out how the dogs think.
dog psychology
Despite already being a long journey, science has not yet determined in depth all the processes that occur in the dog's mind, that is, we are talking about a field yet to be developed. Despite this, we currently have canine educators, trainers and ethologists to help us understand certain dog behaviors. These are trained people who can deal more or less effectively with certain problems that dog owners may encounter.
We must know that dogs naturally organize themselves to live in a pack, a natural hierarchy in which one of them predominates and which they perform in a wild environment, thus facilitating their survival. Domestic puppies show this behavior although we can see that it is a more social behavior due to the years of training and choice that have passed.
Studies confirm the dog's mental abilities: understanding, memory or communication. The dog responds to social stimuli through an area of the brain responsible for perception and learning. The mind of puppies goes beyond that of other animals, its brain can be compared to a small child, capable of feeling empathy, love and sadness.
Let's talk directly about psychology, how does a dog really think and how can we understand it?
The dog has the ability to recognize people and other animals, just as many other species do. They have the ability to develop friendship or love, they are also able to memorize and repeat commands we teach them and some can remember up to 100 different words.
Every dog has a concrete mental capacity, and although we choose to adopt a Border Collie, one of the smartest dogs in the world, it won't always show a higher level of intelligence. It will depend on each particular case.
Dogs understand the environment through a highly developed sense of smell, as well as through colors, shapes and music. Once understood, they are able to communicate with sign language, position, ear orientation, position and with the movement of the tail.
dog education
dogs have a different language from humans, for this reason, trainers around the world are looking for different methods to foster communication.
Educating a dog is not just about teaching him tricks that make us laugh, but about communication rules through which we understand and respect each other within a social group. Through education, coexistence becomes harmonious, positive and creates a link between dog and family.
To encourage good communication between dog and human, PeritoAnimal offers you some advice:
- Dogs need a socialization process when they are still puppies, that is, for a dog to develop to its full potential and not show inappropriate behavior of its species, it must know its environment, other people and pets, objects and vehicles . It's critical to getting a mentally healthy adult dog.
- When communicating with your dog should use verbal and nonverbal language, in this way your puppy will better understand the orders you teach him and in case he suffers from hearing deficiencies he will be able to understand you better.
- Don't scold your dog if he has behaved inappropriately hours before, we can say a firm "No" if we see that he had an attitude we didn't like, but we should never overdo punishment or use physical aggression (although it seems mild to us, never we should do).
- Using training methods such as the choke chain or the electric discharge collar can generate a situation of great stress on the dog, who does not understand why this physical discomfort occurs. Using this type of training encourages a negative reaction from the dog and even a redirection of its anger towards a person or pet.
- Puppies take 5 to 20 times to learn an order or indication, depending on the particular puppy. For this, it is essential that if we define a rule we are constant and always apply it at the same level of demand, otherwise our dog will be disoriented and not understand what we expect from him.
- If you want a stable and calm dog, you should promote this behavior. The puppy learns from his family and environment, for this reason, if he is a calm and calm person, it is likely that your puppy will also be like that.
- Finally, we recommend that you use positive reinforcement to educate him. This consists of offering him treats, caresses or kind words in the face of a behavior that we like about our pet. It's the ideal form of education, and it also allows them to remember better what you expect from them.
Understanding canine psychology or knowing how dogs think is complicated and different in each case. If what you want is to understand your dog's psychology in depth, it is fundamental that you observe how it reacts or communicates, because there is no one who can understand your dog better than you. The love, constancy and affection you can offer are basic tools to understand the behavior and attitude of a dog.
