Let Me Be Perfectly Clear

Communicating can be frustrating

I love my Mom but there are times … Our friend Kathi is an Animal Communicator.  She is so easy to talk to.  She is a really good listener and she understands when we tell her things. 

I wish Mom was more like Kathi.  I know she understands us.  Like when I want a cookie and she is watching TV or reading.  It’s not like she is doing something important and I know she can see me sitting right in front of her staring but she is not listening.

After a really, really long time of trying to get her to understand that I am starving and need a cookie she’ll say “Not happening, Sweetie” and tells me to go sit on the couch.  So frustrating!

And then there was the other day.  It was really scary.

Mom was at a business thing and didn’t get home until it was way past bed time.  DixieLee and I were waiting up. After she came home I went in the room with her where she keeps her nicer clothes so she could get into her comfortable clothes.

I was busy making sure there were no strangers hiding in the closet or behind the big mirror and the next thing I know, the lights are out and the door is shut.

Well, I immediately told DixieLee what happened and she tried to get Mom to come back and let me out but Mom would not listen.  DixieLee kept running to Mom and then back to me but Mom kept watching TV.  DixieLee was very frustrated because Mom kept telling her it wasn’t time for bed yet and that she should settle down.

Well, finally, Mom decided it was time for bed.  We sleep with Mom and Dad so when DixieLee stopped at the door to the little bedroom instead of going to the big bedroom, Mom thought she was being silly but opened the door anyway.  That’s when she realized she had locked me in! 

I was so relieved!  It was the most awful 30 minutes of my life! I could have starved to death!

I wish I could get Mom to be more like Kathi.  I read recently that humans can be better communicators with their animals.

The first step is to get our humans to talk to us more.  We do understand their language as long as they use the same words all the time. 

We have to get them to ask us only one thing at a time.  They should say, “would you like a cookie?”  Not would you like a cookie now or should we go for a walk first?”, that’s too much all at once.

Once the ask they need to be quiet and give us a time to respond.  Now, if you ask me if I want a cookie, I will either tilt my head, lift my ears or head over to the cookie jar.

Once the animal has responded, it’s the humans turn to react.  The right response to my head tilt is to go to the cookie jar and give me a cookie. They could say "good girl" or something but going to the cookie jar is the best response.

It’s so simple but it takes time.  I am going to practice with Mom now, you might want to practice with your humans too.

Love,

Zeva

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Can We Talk?

I’ve read lots of articles and blogs about how humans can learn to understand dogs.  Our language is pretty simple and complex at the same time.  We can obviously talk.   My sister Dixie likes to tell long involved stories, which are mostly about me and of course are untrue.   She barks up a storm, going on and on, throwing in a growl or whine for emphasis.   I will tell a story now and then but prefer to use more subtle forms of communicating.

If I back into you, it means I would like you to scratch my back.  If I sit in front of the cookie jar or my bowl it means I would like you to get me a cookie or feed me.  I save my voice for more important things like alerting the family that the mailperson or the delivery person is coming or a squirrel is on our yard.

If humans just watch us dogs closely, they will notice that we use our ears and tails a lot when we communicate.  If they just listen with their eyes and they’d hear exactly what we are saying.

But I didn’t want to talk about how dogs communicate with humans.   Like I said there are lots of articles you can read about that.  I also didn’t want to talk about humans communicating with dogs during training.  Training requires special words and body language.  You can find lots of article about that too.

What I wanted to talk about was simply taking to us.  I love when Mom talks to me.  I’m her business partner so she talks to me a lot about stuff that’s going on with the business.  She asks my opinion about new gift basket designs she wants to add to the line.  Even those that aren’t for the Pet Division, which is my department but for ones she does holidays or is custom designing for a client.  When we ride in the car she tells me where we are going and what we are going to do.  When she is going in the car by herself, she tells me where she is going and when she is coming back.

When she started working from home, she talked to me lots more than when we were in the shop and people came and went all day long.  She doesn’t talk baby talk to me or talk in a sing-songy voice either.   She talks to me like an adult, which I am.  I’m a good listener and very good at keeping secrets.   She says I’m a good sounding board for ideas and the best therapist, whatever that is.  

I love to hear the sound of her voice, except when Dixie does something wrong, like tips over the trash and she talks really loud.  I like it much better when she talks in her regular voice.  I can sit quietly and listen to her for hours.  I really like when she tells me I’m her best girl or that she loves me a lot. When she talks to me I know that she cares about me and that I am safe and loved and am an important part of her life.  Those things are very important to me.  Even more important than even cookies.

I’d love to know what kind of stuff your human talks to you about.  Unless it’s a secret because I bet you’re a good secret keeper too.  We dogs know that it is better to way our tails, not our tongues.

Your friend,

Zeva

P.S.  Blatant self-promotion.  If you are listening to your dog, he or she is probably telling you that they would LOVE one of our Puppy Power Gift Baskets.  :)