Way back in 1975 I wrote a very long paper at University of Louisville titled, 'Analogic and Digital Communication of Canines, Primates, and Cetaceans.' While I won't go into the primates or cetaceans, I will talk about the dogs.

Communication is totally based on an agreed upon set of symbols. A chair, for example, does not make a noise of "chair." It is called that because at some point in human history a device for seating was called a chair and everyone agreed that it was a good idea. After that, everyone taught their offspring the meaning of "chair.

Let's consider that ball of fur you call your dog. These little geniuses have their own set of agreed upon symbols, but also learn many of ours. While we are remedial, if not totally deaf and dumb, in the world of canine communication. We have our non-verbal communication and verbal communication that we use in our daily lives with each other. But dogs are unbelievable. They have more than a hundred facial expressions, body language, tail language and sound. They communicate with scent and spacial control. The complexity of what they can say to each other is mind boggling.

Let's look at a couple of things.

I have seen educated people claim that when a dog shows you their belly it is an act of submission. In simplicity (involving conflict), yes. However, I have a dog (two actually) who loves to get belly rubs. They aren't submitting at all, but being very clever in telling me exactly what they want me to do. Another instance is the self take down. You'll hear people say their dogs don't know how big or small they are. Nonsense. They know exactly how much space they need to move about. A large dog knows that if they play too rough with a tiny dog that they could hurt them. That's why when a large, gentle dog plays with a tiny dog the bigger dog collapses onto the ground. It's not an act of submission, but an attempt to make themselves as small as possible so they can play safely with their friend.

I once read that dogs can only recognize three dimensional objects. I have a personal friend who can show their dog pictures of toys and the dog can go to another part of the house and get them. What's mind boggling is they taught the dog the written words associated with the toys. Now, they can show a card with a word written on it that describes one of their toys, and without the person making a sound the dog knows exactly what to retrieve. The dog has learned how to read on a limited level!

A friend of mine used to freak out when their two dogs would play fight. They would hear tumbling and growling and the turmoil was surely the precursor to someone's death. However, a dog has three very distinct growls. A mouth growl, the one you hear during a tug of war with their favorite toy, is a play growl. This lets them wrestle about and play fight to prepare for the day they become a wolf. The growl you hear when a dog guards their food from another dog is a throat growl. This is a warning that another being is trespassing on the growling dog's space or is making them feel threatened (you'll take my toy or eat my food). This can be followed with a lunge or a snap if the growl is ignored. A chest growl almost always proceeds a bite. If you watch police dogs in action you will often hear a deep in the body growl before they come into contact with a bad guy. Now, this does not excuse the aggressive dog who bites or attacks without provocation. There are some aggressive, destructive dogs in the world. It's been said there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. I disagree. Just as there are bad people in the world, there can be bad dogs.

A dog communicates so much with its tail that many European countries have outlawed tail docking. When you dock a tail you greatly reduce the dog's natural ability to communicate.

I could write hundreds of pages on dog communication, but let's stick with the one most useful. Looking. If you go outside on a busy sidewalk and stare in the sky, people will naturally walk by and look up to see what you find so interesting. Dogs and people have that in common. If a dog wants something, they will look at it. If they know you can get it for them they will look at you and then at the prize. They know we do the same thing, so they are utilizing the same language in an attempt to communicate on our level. If they need to go outside, they look at the door. Sleep, they look at the bed. My dog, Bruiser, sleeps with a blanket. When he's ready for bedtime he goes and gets it and brings it to us. He doesn't give it to us, but simply brandishes it like a sign saying, "Hey, stupid! It's late and I'm sleepy. Let's go to bed!" In turn if you look at something your dog will often look at what you are to see if it is important enough for them to inspect it further. How many times have you dropped a piece of food on the floor, your dog sees you look at it, and they rush over to see if it is something they can enjoy? Dogs also get to understand pointing. I utilize pointing with my dogs all the time. But, don't point at something just to get your dog to look. It has been proven that doing something like pointing at something that does not exist, or pointing at food that they cannot have teaches them that pointing is an action of idiots and is to be ignored.

So start communicating. Sit with your dog and try to look at the world through their eyes. They might just look with you.