Topic > What makes the dog-human bond so powerful? - 1820

Dogs follow the heart, nose and eyes. “They can be victims of their incessant curiosity, of their boundless love, and that is why we love them, why we identify with them and why they are us” (Irvine, & Bekoff, (2004). Throughout history, human beings have formed very close attachments to them. The dog is an amazing animal. Communication is very important when it comes to the relationship between an animal and its owner. This article will address three types of communication between animals and their owners: communication verbal, body language, and sensory cues. Verbal communication is a signal to give commands with authority. “Many owners believe that the reason their pets don't respond to the command is that they are ignoring the word,” says Kim Kilmer. Dogs communicate verbally with their owner by whispering. Some examples of the commands I will talk about are sit, stay, roll over and talk. All animal lovers do this. When people don't talk to their pets, they do so without knowing it; their pet is studying their mood and body movements. Unlike humans who have an average vocabulary of 30,000 words, their pets' vocabulary is much smaller. Therefore, the best outcome is to keep the command to a minimum of 10-20 words” (e.g. sit and lie down). Studies have shown that the relationship between an owner and their pets is similar to that between a parent and a child. Humans speak to their pets in a form of baby talk, words like "cooochie cooochie coo" and "good little dog." In my personal relationship with my late French poodle “Peair,” as soon as his big brown eyes made contact with mine, my heart melted. From the beginning, our hearts s...... middle of paper ...... from http://www.freedomservicedogs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=3Lair, K (2010). German Shepherds: How Dogs Communicate with Scent Retrieved from http://kryptiks-lair.tripod.com/id12.html Miklosi, A., & TopaŁ, J., & CsaŁny, V. (2007). Big thoughts in small brains? Dogs as a model for understanding human social cognition. Cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology, 18(5), 467-469. Retrieved from http://www.mtapi.hu/userdirs/26/Publikaciok_Topal/MiklosietalNeuroRep2007.pdfOwen, P. (2010). Dog whisper training methods. Complete Guide to Responsible Dog Ownership Retrieved from: http://www.dog-obedience-training-review.com/dog-whisperer.htmlShwarts, Scott. (2008). Dog-human relationships and communications [Internet]. Version 4. Knol. Retrieved May 23 from: http://knol.google.com/k/scott-shwarts/dog-human-relationship-communications.