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Today I finally come to the conclusion of my series looking at explanations for the noises made and body language of dogs and cats. My information comes from articles published on website Paw Nation by animal behavior specialist Amy Shojai.
The sounds a dog makes can tell us a lot about what it’s feeling. While barks are meant to warn the household of imminent dangers, they can also indicate that a dog feels conflicted. They’re both playful and defensive gestures; a dog barks when it wants to do something, but isn’t sure that it’s allowed. Thus a dog might bark when it wants to play, but isn’t sure if it’s currently playtime.
Any of the whimpering, whining, or yelping sounds a dog makes mean what we often think: fear, pain, or pleas. The yelps tend to go most with pain, the whimpers fear, and the whines appeals. When a dog whines it could be asking for attention, to be fed/played with/taken out, or it could be asking for forgiveness after it’s been scolded.
Growls, for the most part, mean aggression and attack. However, dogs do have play growls that are hard to distinguish from real ones; look to the body language for further information about a dog’s feelings when it growls. Snarls, however, are always aggressive. They are also frequently accompanied by the curling back of lips to display the canines.
Now for the dog sound about which I’m always the most curious: the howl. By making howl-like sounds I can usually get Chihiro to respond in kind, and I’m always curious what she’s thinking when she replies. Is she in pain from the noise? Does she think I’m signaling an alert? Or is she just playing along?
According to Shojai, the howl harkens back to a dog’s lupine roots. When a dog hears a howl or siren it joins in because the original purpose of a howl was to call the family back together.
Dogs that howl all on their own are expressing loneliness and thus crying out for the rest of the pack. When dogs respond to a howl or howl-sound in kind, they’re replying “I’m here.” It’s a kind of canine Marco-Polo game. The baying vocalized by certain breeds of hunting hounds is a jubilant variation of the howl, articulating happiness with their family and/or in the current activity.
As I intimated above, I frequently look at my pets and wonder what they’re thinking. These guides obviously aren’t rigid explanations of every sound and movement, but they’ll at least help me begin to solve the mystery.
Related Articles:
Rare Dog Breeds: The Lundehund
What You Can Do for Animal Shelters
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