“How to be sure that a dog(s) and their human(s) are getting what each wants and needs when they “talk” with one another.“
Knowing how dogs and their humans feel about certain situations is critical.
The following written content by Marc Bekoff Ph.D.
The purpose of this brief essay is extremely straightforward and is the result of my trying to answer numerous emails and other forms of correspondence about how to be sure that a dog(s) and their human(s) are getting what each wants and needs when they “talk” with one another. I’ve been thinking about a simple way for people to assess the psychological and ever-changing dynamics of dog-human interactions for quite a while, and after posting a recent essay stressing that veterinarians need to be aware of what their patients are telling them and be dog literate, it dawned on me that there is an easy way to make these sorts of assessments in a wide variety of situations in which humans are trying to figure out what a dog is telling them. Of course, anyone who chooses to live with a dog must take the time to learn the basics of dog behavior and how they tell us what they’re thinking and feeling.1
A Simple method for assessing what dogs and humans think and feel
Imagine what’s called a 2×2 matrix or sociogram that indicates what dogs and their and other humans are thinking and feeling about a specific situation.2 A picture of what this matrix looks like can be seen here along with a discussion of how to become an ethologist.
In the matrix below, there are four different boxes that indicate both the dog and the human like what’s happening (1, + +), the dog likes what’s happening, but the human doesn’t (2, + -), the human doesn’t like what’s happening but the dog does (3, – +), and both the dog and the human don’t like what’s happening (4, – -).
Dog (+) Human (-)
Dog (+) 1 2
Human (-) 3 4
Assuming the human knows enough about their (and hopefully) other dogs, it’s easy to decide whether the human should do something with the dog. For example, if going to the veterinarian is okay with the dog and the human (++), then it’s fine to take them to the doctor. Likewise, if there were some sort of disagreement (boxes 2 and 3), it would be good idea to figure out how to resolve the differences of opinion before going to the vet. And, if both the dog and the human don’t want to do it (box 4), then there is a more serious problem that has to be worked out for each individual before going to the doctor. Read more from Psychology Today
