Say there is a dog without a tail (a natural bobtail or a docked breed).  People often say, “He can’t tell other dogs how he’s feeling without a tail.”

Let’s think about that comment.  With that exclamation, there are two inherent suggestions.  Firstly, the notion that dogs are consciously manipulating their body and, secondly, they are doing so with the intention to communicate.

Is it a colloquial slip of the tongue, or is that genuinely what we believe?

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Let’s think about dogs manipulating their body.  Clearly, we can train dogs to consciously manipulate their body.  We can train tail wags, lip licking, head turning, paw lifting, and many other complex behaviours that dogs would do naturally.  There is no doubt when dogs perform behaviours on cue, they are doing so consciously and so consciously manipulating their body.

However, when they are interacting with other dogs, are they consciously changing their body to reflect their emotions?  To me, I think this is a big fat no.  Do you consciously decide to put your grumpy face on when you’re feeling unhappy? Or do you consciously smile when you see a puppy?

Now let’s consider a dog having the intention to communicate.  From Googling definitions, it seems communication is defined as ‘passing on information’.  While this may seem simple, in reality, it’s quite a complex proposal.  It suggests dogs have theory of the mind.  That is, it suggests that dogs are aware that other dogs are aware – that they understand that other dogs are psychologically capable of understanding their emotions.

Though it’s nice and succinct to describe dogs as ‘wanting to show how they’re feeling’, in reality, they are probably not thinking much about it.  In all likelihood, their level of arousal and psychological state is changing their body physiologically, without their conscious thought, and other animals have learnt to interpret these.  At the most, dogs may have learnt to display some behaviours in order to elicit a desired response from another dog.  (For example, a dog may learn that snarling makes other dogs go away, or a dog performing a play bow make decrease the distance between themselves and another dog.)

Are you guilty of framing dog behaviour is communication terms? E.g. “He is telling us how he’s feeling.”

I admit that I do use it a lot, but mostly in classroom contexts. I do work talking to young children, from 4 years to 12 years, about dog behaviour and avoiding dog bites.  The succinctness of talking about a dog’s feelings is beneficial in this context.  However, with adults (particularly dog-savvy adults), I’d pick my words more carefully.