Using Words More Than Body Language

While our pups can understand a few basic words (sit, walk, toy), they don’t really get what we mean when we’re explaining how our day went. However, they are real experts at reading our body language, which is what we should be focusing on! For instance, telling a dog to “stay” while leaning forward toward the dog and holding out a hand like a traffic cop is, in body language, actually inviting the dog to come toward you. But when the dog does, she gets reprimanded for breaking her stay command. It’s all so confusing!

Hugging Your Dog

Hugs are the human (and primate) way of showing love and support, but your dog may not be equally excited about it. Canids don’t have arms, so it’s kind of difficult for them to perceive affectionate gestures such as hugs. Plus, if a dog places his paw on the back of another dog, it is considered a sign of dominance, so your sweet hug may even come as a threat to your pup!

Petting A Dog’s Face / Patting Her Head

There are very few creatures who enjoy being touched on the face or patted on the head as this is a matter of personal space. We all think that dogs like being patted on the head, but in reality, they pretty much hate it – even family dogs. They usually let people petting their face or head if they trust and love them, but they definitely don’t feel good about it. If you really want to reward your dog for being awesome, don’t bang on their head, but give them a rub on their rear end right by the tail.

Not Having Rules

Dogs want, need and love rules. You might think having strict rules makes life boring or unhappy for your dog. But dogs really want to know what’s what according to their leader. And speaking of confusing, dogs don’t understand exceptions to rules. They don’t understand that they’re allowed to jump on you when you have leisure clothes on but not when you have work clothes on.

Forcing Your Dog To Interact With Dogs/People

If your dog doesn’t like a person or a dog, don’t force it to go near that other being. Taking small steps to encourage them out of their comfort zone and giving them rewards for any amount of calm, happy social behavior is important to helping them live a balanced life. But knowing the difference between gentle, rewards-based boundary pushing and forcing an interaction is vital to your dog’s safety and sanity.

Not Letting Them Smell/Explore Outdoors

It’s definitely important to have a dog that knows how to walk obediently on a leash. However, it’s also important to allow a dog to have some time to explore her surroundings while walking obediently on a leash. Dogs see with their noses, and they place as much importance on their sense of smell as we humans place on our sense of vision for interpreting the world around us.

Keeping A Tight Leash (Literally)

Just as dogs are amazing at reading our body language, they’re amazing at reading our tension levels even through the leash. By keeping a tight leash on a dog, you’re raising the level of stress, frustration, and excitement for your dog, and conversely, for you. I know what you might be thinking: “I don’t want to hold a tight leash, but I have to. My dog is the one pulling, not me!” But this is why it is so important to teach a dog how to walk on a slack leash.

Teasing

You may find it funny, but your dog will end up hating you for it. Don’t bark at a dog as you pass it on the street. Don’t wave or talk to a dog that is barking at you from behind a window or door. Don’t pull on a dog’s tail. The list can go on and on, but in short, don’t do something you know makes a dog mad just because you think it’s funny.

Being Tense

The more stressed and wound-up you are, the more stressed and wound-up your dog is. And dogs, just like us, don’t like that feeling. You might roll your eyes, but the next time your dog is acting frustrated and tense, check in with yourself — have you been feeling that way for the last few minutes, for the last few hours, or the last few days?

Walking Towards A Strange Dog While Looking In Its Eyes

Eye contact is one of the most powerful body language tools for every being, especially for dogs, as we’ve discussed earlier. When a stranger is staring at you while walking towards you, it’s pretty creepy, right? The same goes for dogs. You may not want to harm that puppy, but it doesn’t know that, so avoid staring in a dog’s eyes at all costs.