It happens to all of us.
Doesn’t matter if it’s your first dog or your tenth. From time to time, your dog does something that makes you look at him and say, “Why are you doing that? What do you want?”
Here’s an example: The other morning I was taking my dog up the road for her daily walk.
At 9 1/2 years old, she is a known quantity to me. I can pretty much predict and translate everything about her — the way her breathing changes when she sees a dog in the distance; the subtle glance she gives me when it’s getting close to dinnertime; the way she sidles over to the kitchen cabinet (her cabinet!) if I dare forget to give her the required nightly handful of Cheerios.
But I have yet to understand why every now and then she’ll stop in the middle of our morning walk and stand perfectly still in the road. She won’t budge. Not a muscle.
She looks at me as if I should know why she’s doing that. But I don’t. I don’t have a clue.
I always look around to see if there is anything that’s bothering her. After all, she is a fairly reactive dog. But when she does this, there’s nothing around.
There’s nothing on the ground to sniff, no people or dogs in the distance to start getting anxious about, nothing.
She just stands there in the road, forelegs planted firmly on the ground, staring directly at me.
And because I have no idea what she wants, I always wind up walking over to her, patting her on the head and saying, “Okay, let’s go!” And we resume walking.
So what was that?!
There may not be anyone who can come up with an explanation for why my dog does that particular behavior at random moments.
But … there’s now a way to help everyone translate what their dog is trying to say most of the time.
It’s called the Dog Decoder, and it’s an app you download to your phone.
It’s $3.99, and it’s worth every penny. It gives you 60 poses in very clear illustrations of what a dog is doing and what that means.
It’s important that we know when our dogs are stressed and when they’re in the mood for some fun. Are they excited, fearful, playful or reactive?
Let Dog Decoder be your translator!
Have you ever been puzzled by your dog’s behavior? Let us know in the comments section below!
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