Thursday, June 8, 2017

Why Smart Pet Owners Read Books On Animal Communication

By John Kennedy


Cable television has shows about problem cats. Complete with a self-acclaimed cat whisperers of some sort spouting mumbo jumbo about how the humans have hurt the feelings of their pet, and they must learn to modify every aspect of their personal life in order to accommodate kitty, who is probably just being a furry little jerk. Forget the psychobabble and just get decent, veterinary peer-reviewed books on animal communication.

Few of us will ever have one of these esoteric experts into our homes. Even fewer of us will actually believe them when they claim to know that Fido gets depressed when his owner wears that green fedora because of the way it shades his face. But anyone can accept the notion that animals do have emotional states, and they also have consistent methods of expressing their inner reality.

How many people know that when a cat squints at you slowly, they are showing a sign of affection. In fact, this show of affection is done absent of the usual feline display of submission. The usual submissive pose is also a sign of affection, but it is not as intense or personal as the slow, two-eyed squint.

A point of much hostility to cat people is the random and unexpected reach out and bite their feline so loves to do. This is actually an expression of physical intimacy, having the basis of this behavior entrenched in instinctive mating behaviors. Yes, cats look like they are fighting when they are actually, um, not fighting.

The Internet has lots of pet videos, and some of them show puppy dogs who can talk. Yes, those dogs are actually mimicking the speech of their owner because, experience taught them, that when they make the human sound correctly, their human goes wild with praise and petting. Your dog will actually try to learn to speak if it means getting special attention from you.

Publications can teach us these things and so much more when it comes to understanding the language of other mammals who inhabit this planet with us. Humans have many ways of communicating that do not involve spoken language, and so does every other creature we encounter. A bear will make one sound to sooth and show love for their cubs, but a very different sound to warn another predator that she is there.

A dog may have one sound for rough play, and a similar yet different tone when he or she is warning a child that they have pulled their ears one time too many. A cat may howl while mating, but they have a different howl that indicates the female is ready to mate. As any cat owner knows, they have yet another ear-shattering sound to indicate that it wants in or out, or in then out, then in again, but maybe out, oh meow.

Making pet noises as a bedtime game is an excellent way to teach them what growls and howls really mean. Not only can it help to protect both child and pet from each other, but it can also stir the first feelings of empathy and concern for others in the child. It might be the first opportunity a parent gets to show their children how what they do impacts others around them, and how they can be impacted as well.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment