Communication Pitfalls

Communication Pitfalls

It often comes up in the dog training classes I teach that a dog is not responding to a command out of deviance because most certainly the puppy or dog ‘knows’ the word, such as “sit” or “come”.  There are many variables in communication especially when the communication is between different species. I’m considering the information shared between humans and dogs, and how easy it is for a ‘simple’ communication like asking a dog to sit can be complicated by misinformation, cause and effect of situations, and free will to react to a communication signal.

It is generally agreed that there is always a sender and receiver in any communication. In the Principles of Animal Communication by Jack Bradbury and Sandra Vehrencamp the process of communication is described as, “Involving two individuals, a sender and a receiver. The sender provides a signal which conveys information. The signal is transmitted through the environment and is detected by the receiver. The receiver uses the information to help make a decision about how it should respond. “ Signals are the vehicle the message arrives on. (3)  There are some choices to make, there can be true communication where both parties benefit, there is eavesdropping where information from another animal is used to their detriment such as a mouse rustling noise alerting an owl, or the sender may send misinformation.  A true and honest communication is always the best; it uses the least amount of energy and benefits both the sender and the receiver.

So we have the senders and receivers but there is another aspect of communication that should not be overlooked and that is cause and effect. In Animal Cognition, The Mental Lives of Animals by Clive D.L. Wynne he states that animals that have the ability to relate cause and effect into their lives will likely be more successful as they go through life. Success is relative to perception of any given situation. Let’s say your dog is digging a hole in the backyard and you call them to come to you, in the past when you have called the dog while in the backyard you have brought the dog into the house.  Digging the hole is fun! The signal of calling “come” by the sender means the fun is over to the receiver. The honest communication from the dog, now the sender, is to ignore to come and continued digging.  

Another example that came up recently in one of my classes is a dog that is leery of his dog door. When he people first got the dog, a young adult, he went through the dog door a few times; both times he bumped his shoulder, now he is leery of his people asking him to go through anything.  An honest signal from his people that the dog door is safe is now perceived as less than honest and generalized with fear of going through anything. Using the dog door for this dog has been affected by cause and effect.

How accurate are we humans at interpreting dog’s signals?  As it turns out not very good, this is shown over and over again by research ( O’Farrell, 1997; Schenkel, 1967…). We humans fall prey to giving our dogs human emotions and qualities such as defiance or stubbornness.  When we do this we take away from our canine friends by not appreciating who they really are; a species that excels in cooperation and faithfulness to humans. We must be keen observers of dogs and we can only do this by studying their communication style. This involves body language, facial expressions and vocal exchanges (Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training, Volume One, Steven Lindsay).  Luckily there are many resources for us to tap into to better understand our dogs. Turid Rugaas changed the way I looked at dogs. I had read her book Calming Signals but it wasn't until I went to spend the weekend with her in Sequim WA [I sat next to her at dinner] at a seminar presented by Terry Ryan that I came home changed and more keenly aware of the importance of dogs and what their behavior means in regards to communication. The PBS series NOVA’s program Dogs Decoded is also very informative about the evolution of dogs.

So when your commands are not obeyed by your dog take a step back and look at the situation, observe your dog’s body language and appreciate how difficult it can be send and receive honest communications.