I have a dog (Kugel) when I make eye contact with him, he seems to say...
Cool! What are we doing?
Did you make me a new treat?
Is it medicine time?
Are you going to clean my ears?
Are we going for a walk?
Are we going to bed?
Are we playing?
Basically.. what's happening? I'm here for you no matter what!!

And then I have (Bingo)
Who seems to say...
Please don't kill me:eek:

What's up with that?

Well, eye contact with a dog is a major dominance thing. Dogs actually learn to ignore these types of behaviors that determine their survival in the pack. Other dogs can't ignore it and will act accordingly.

I teach my dogs to look at me in the eyes (watch me), yet I won't look them in the eyes, I look at their nose or head. THe minute I make eye contact with them, their eyes immediately dart to the side or they blink a lot. Its just respect on their end -- (You're in charge and I respect that and will follow).

If you stare at a dog, couch down and slink towards them, that is saying, "I'm not happy with you!" and the dog will then turn its entire body, avoid eye contact at all costs, closed mouth lip licking (calming signals) or might even lay on its back.

Smiling is actually a behavior dogs have learned to accept from their leaders.. Smiling, showing all of our teeth, is very aggressive.

Kugel accepts your strange behaviors as non threatening.. where as Bingo accepts your behaviors as threatening and dominant and will avoid any type of confrontation. I'm sure he looks away and licks his lips a lot, too ;) Hes just telling you, "Hey, relax, no one is doing anything wrong"...

Thanks, I'll change it up a bit and see what happens.:)

I know I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here, but some dogs are so expressive, and even seem to take on some of their owners personality.

My own dog for instance will get up from the fire, look at ME and walk to the kitchen door, I KNOW he's thirsty and wants a drink... he may do what seems to others the very same actions but again looks at me and I know he wants to go out for a wee!

Anyone sitting in the lounge always ask, how did you know want he wanted... I just do, he tells me!

Our other dog is really brendans dog, she loves him, no, she adores him, she will tolarate me, and do as I ask, she gives me dirty looks, but with brendan its love all over her face!

I know just what you mean Dahl.
I've had Muttley almost a year and we really "understand" each other. That may be because we both had our time living on the street alone and seem to have that common bond.
Rescues understand each other.

That's like Duke.
If I say something to him I don't normally he tilts his head (Like when I asked if he wanted to go to my sisters), if I say something he likes (Like lets go for a walk/car ride/wanna treat/supper) he gets super happy, if I say bath... he's no where to be seen.

Kind of funny how he picked up on english so quickly.

I know we would all like to think that our dogs understand every word we say.. but the sad reality is, they don't.

Sometimes I think my dog knows what I'm saying to her.. but I know she really doesn't.

When we teach dogs, they learn that a specific position they put their bodies in gives them a reward... Dogs don't know the word sit right off the bat, they learn that if they put their butt down on the ground, we give a treat. They learn to associate the sounds we make to form the word "sit" means to put their butt on the ground.

Dogs also function off energy. Every notice that there is always someone who animals flock to? They have really positive energy! Dogs will naturally gravitate to an upbeat person. Ever notice when you feel sad or sick your dog will lay with you ALL DAY LONG? They literally feel what you feel. I think its kind of cool. I think my pittie, Miley, is overly sensitive to my energy. She picks up on everything! So for instance, Emily's dog hates baths. Its probably miserable to give him a bath. He might not stand, he might shake a lot.. The fact she has to hunt him down to get him to bathe him.. all reflects her energy of this chore. She may not realize that she is putting off some sort of negative energy (it might not even be that bad!), but the dog picks up on it and high tails it! As for the word bath... she probably always says it right before she dunks him in the tub. So therefore, the association with water, soap and scrubbing and the word bath... possibly no one is having fun doing it... so bath is bad :P

I love behavior!

Haha I agree, Im going to be taking an animal behavor course in university, I want to become a vet assistant and then move up to a vet tech. I think it will be a super fun course.

I know he actually has no reality of english, but I can treat in a very low mellow voice and he still gets happy, so I believe I've said it enough times he doesn't need the body language, he just knows that the weird sound I make means he gets to eat something.

I'm going to school right now for vet tech, but I want to specialize in pathology and behavior... and hopefully work in a specialty center... those are the goals right now :)

We have no vet schools where I live and there is no way I am living away from home for 3 years just to do the course.
I'll have to make do with my practical experience... I have made a few vets feel silly on more than one occasion so it can't be that bad :D

Re: OP, My girl Prada is one of those 'please don't hurt me' dogs. I have never struck her or been mean to her and my mum bred her so I know exactly how her upbringing was, she just ducks down when you go to pet her and gives you the sad eyes and looks away.

Brody on the other hand will stare directly at your eyes and not look away. He stares for a good couple of minutes before finally bouncing and trying to play... he doesn't take it as a challenge but rather finds it funny!

All my dogs are pretty easy going. They will make eye contact, unless they know they're in trouble, then they look away, ears down, tail tucked, and look like abandoned beaten dogs, even though they're neither.

I have to disagree that they don't understand. I'm pretty sure that Indy and Chewy only hear "blah, blah, blah, treat" when I'm talking, but Jasper, I'm sure he knows exactly what I'm saying.

Why? Well, if I tell him to go get something, he gets what I asked for. I'm totally serious. He also does what I tell him, even if it's not a command I normally use. I'm fairly sure he understands every word I say.

He even looks sad when I tell him he's fat, which he is. ;)

Alty! Calling a dog fat to his face is rude, I'd look sad to if I was Jasper (Now behind his back is fine, as long as he can't hear you:) )!

About the schooling thing,
I can take the vet assistant course where I live, but to take the vet tech course I would have to move to either saskatchewan, british columbia, or I think ontario. So ill settle with the vet assistance till I feel like leaving home behind.

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Alty! Calling a dog fat to his face is rude, I'd look sad to if I was Jasper

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But he is fat. :) Morbidly obese actually. He eats diet food, gets plenty of exercise, but he still can't lose weight. We had his thyroid checked and the vet did other tests, but he's fine, there's no reason he should be this fat.

The only thing left is to tell him to his face and hope he does something about it. ;)

He's a sweetheart though. He's a very good dog, he's just festively plump. Like a turkey. :)

*sigh* I have a fat dog as well.. I tried the diet thing with her, she lost a little weight. I gave her lots of exercise, and I thought she was going to die form a heart attack because she is so fat lol . Checked her thyroid a couple years ago, came back negative.. I want to do it again... Maybe things have changed!

I feel the same way Lucky. I swear it's his thyroid, but the vet did the tests and they all came back normal.

He has all the symptoms of a thyroid condition though. He has flacky skin, he's fat, he eats diet food and only gets one meal a day, gets lots of exercise, but he's still fat.

I'm worried about his health. He's limping now because of his weight. He's 9 years old, so it's even harder, he's not a young pup anymore.

The other two dogs are a healthy weight, so I know it's not us.

I just don't understand.

Oh crud, I'm totally hijacking JD's thread. :eek:

JD, please forgive me. Bad Alty. Back in the corner I go. :o

When don't you hijack threads Alty?

My dalmations was fat to :(, the only thing in the end that made him loose weight was when we got our two puppies (macey and duke, macey is my sisters). If he wasn't playing with them, he was chasing them down to get mad at them... he lost 10 pounds according to the vet :)

I put my fat dog on a diet about 2 years ago that worked for awhile.

I put her on an extremely high protein diet with low fats and moderate carbs. I cut her back 1/4 of her feed. I upped her exercise. She was starting to lose weight. Then she plateaued and wasn't losing any weight for up to a month and then I gave up :( lol Maybe that would work for your fat dog?

I'm going to invest in a treadmil for her. She gets to trot for 15 minutes a day :) I'll let you know if it works! Lol