Dog Speaks Up About Canine Psychology

By Amber D

I know, I know, there's no such thing as canine psychology. Only humans have emotions, therefore the science of psychology only applies to them.

Well, let me tell you, my two-legged friends, you may have the upper paw on us four-legged critters as far as IQ is concerned (at least some of the time), but you are sadly mistaken when it comes to dog psychology. I have it from high authority that dogs do have feelings too. In fact, I would venture so far as to say that all creatures have feelings. Just don't quote me on this; I'm still working on that theory.

What you need to understand is that we don't think like babies. Our brain and our memory work in a different way. You see, we tend to remember by association. Let's say your boyfriend gives us treats, we'll form a good memory, and the next time we see him, we'll get very excited, and we'll run as fast as we can to go and greet him.

The first thing we'll do is welcome him effusively, and then we'll sniff his crotch. Apart from the fact that basic canine good manners demand it, I'll let you in on a secret: to us dogs, sniffing someone's crotch is like you getting your mail.

That's why we always sniff around telephone posts and mail boxes during our walks. We get a lot of information that way: who passed by when, how tall they were; we even learn about their health, both emotional and physical. I realize this has long been a bone of contention between humans and canines, but you'll just need to take a leap of faith on that one. It's just plain old Canine Psychology 101.

Here's another example where human and canine psychology will have to agree to disagree. The doorbell rings. Guests are let in. Voices are raised in greeting, everybody gets excited, you can't hear yourself thinking. You have to appreciate that dogs love partying just as much as anyone else ... so we join in the fun, jump on the new arrivals, poke them you-know-where (a sudden calm normally descends on the place), wag our tail as fast as we can, and then try and find out if they brought us a gift (make that a treat) too.

We're all having a jolly good time, it's grand mayhem central - and just when we thought it couldn't get any better, you start screaming at the top of your lungs. Talk about FUN!!! Then you start chasing us, screaming even more ... well, hallelujah, finally a human who can really PARTY!!! By that time, we can hardly control ourselves. Hell, some of us even wet ourselves! But it's all in good fun.

And then something happens that I'll never understand. When you catch up with us, your eyes are bulging out of their sockets, your face is all red, and the room temperature has suddenly dropped to a chilling -20. You grab us by the collar (if we're lucky), throw us outside, scream "Bad dog!" at the top of your lungs, and announce that we'll be skipping dinner tonight. The truly unlucky ones among us even get to feel the hard end of a stick. Talk about confusion ...

Here's another basic tenet of Canine Psychology 101: to a dog, yelling is tantamount to an invitation to party. It means excitement, and being fun-loving by nature, what do you expect us to do? Just stand there, look you in the eye and make inane excuses about having places to go and dogs to see. That would be downright impolite - in a dog's world that is!

Amber D and her team have sniffed out and exposed a crateful of secrets from dog trainers and behaviorists to help you understand your best friend; http://www.DogTrainingStar.com is where you need to go to uncover those. But when you learn to communicate like a dog whisperer, you'll find that puppy training is a walk in the park! Go check out all my dog training tips at http://www.DogTrainingStar.com/Dog-Training.html (c) Copyright -- Amber D. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.