UNDERSTANDING THE MANY MOODS OF YOUR PUPPY

Make your puppy training easier and more enjoyable by comprehending that your puppy is making an effort to connect with you in more ways than barking or wiggling his tail. Your puppy also tries to communicate with his ears, paws, tail, mouth and more and your puppy teaching and day to day life with your dog will be to a large extent more enjoyable.

Here are a few guidelines to some fundamental body language of your dog and its meaning:

Dominant – Often a dominant dog will have the ears directly up or frontward, its mouth a little open or closed, its eyes wide open or looking intently, its body standing rigid and tall with hackles perhaps lifted up, and its tail out from the body rigid or plumped up. A low down and aggressive bark can frequently be anticipated.

Friendly - A friendly dog has upraised ears, open and watchful eyes, a calm mouth, the whole rear end or tail wagging, and perhaps whining, yelping or giving out small barking sounds.

Playful - A bending over pose with the tail wagging implies, “come, let us play.”

Submissive - A dog with its ears firmly back, eyes closed and paw lifted up is presenting excessive submission. The dog is not in high spirits but shows it will not attack.

Aggressive - An aggressive dog has its ears packed down behind touching its head, its eyes tapering or testing, body on edge, mouth open to show teeth and tail held out from the body and ruffled up if possible. Growls or howls are usual.

Worried - Quick barks along with howling, ears compressed and neck hairs lifted up means "I'm worried" or "something is wrong."

Fear - A dog shows fear with a lowered posture, tail down or put underside, an curved back, looking or turning head even as showing the whites of their whites of eyes and enlarged pupils. Dogs frequently bark out of fear, in particular if they are in a tight spot, cooped up, or on a restraint.

Stressed - A dog under stress will frequently have its ears down and back, mouth wide open, and the lips being drawn backwards with fast breathing. Also tail put down, shoulders lowered, bent frontward, nervousness in attitude and it will almost certainly be shaking.

Now that you know more about what your puppy is making any effort to say to you about how he senses or the frame of mind he is in, try to take this into account when you are training and in day to day life.

In a puppy training, when sitting your dog should be showing that he is in a responsive or mischievous mood. If he shows he is commanding then you can infer that he may not be taking you sincerely or is being obstinate and you most likely have to be more forceful.

A little submissive conduct is not a bad thing as it means that that he knows that you are in command.

If your puppy turns out to be stressed, terrified, troubled or even hostile, you have got to stop your teaching and comfort your dog right away. If you have been teaching for more than 15 minutes, discontinue and take a breather. When you come back take things more leisurely or commence things in a different way.

Use your awareness in day to day life too. Watch your puppy in different circumstances and you will soon find out what he is fond of and hates or what his state of mind is. You can then take action to give him more of what he takes pleasure in and more encouragement, assurance and teaching in circumstances he finds more complex.


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