Communicating with your pet
It goes without saying that pets are more than just animals — they are companions, confidants, and above all, they are family. They provide unconditional love, comfort, and emotional support. As owners, you must also provide the same care and affection in return. Communicating with your pet to understand them better is one of the ways you can start. Effectively communicating with your pet can deepen your bond and help you build stronger relationships. In this article, we will explore how you can improve your communication with your buddy to foster a strong and unbreakable bond.
Understanding your pet’s body language
A good relationship starts with learning to gauge your furry friends. An animal displays different moods, feelings, and emotions through different body language and voices. You need to pay attention to their vocalisations, body language, and behaviours to understand their needs, prevent misconceptions, and ensure their well-being.
Here are some examples to help you understand an animal’s body language:
1. Observe the body posture: In a relaxed and comfortable state, they have a loose body posture, while in a scared or anxious state, they have a stiff body posture.
2. Look at the tail: A wagging tail indicates excitement or happiness, while a tucked tail suggests fear or nervousness. A straight, stiff tail indicates aggression or alertness.
3. Pay attention to the ears: Relaxed and forward-facing ears indicate contentment. However, flattened ears against their heads indicate fear.
4. Watch the eyes: A relaxed state accompanies soft, relaxed eyes, while a frightened one comes with wide eyes with dilated pupils. In a state of aggression, the stare is stern with narrow pupils.
5. Listen to the vocalisations: Different vocalisations such as howls, whines, and whimpers indicate different emotions. For example, a low growl may indicate aggression or protectiveness, while a high-pitched meow may indicate excitement or playfulness.
Learn to listen
Communicating with your pet is also a two-way street. It’s important to listen to your animal buddies as much as you talk to them. By expending time and energy to understand what they wish to convey, you can create a holistic environment for them to grow. Here are some tips that help:
Pay attention to body language and vocalisation: Learning about your animal’s body language, facial expressions, and vocalisations takes time, but with the right resources, you can learn what different gestures and voices mean. As you spend more time with them, you will start to understand how they react and behave in different situations and how to deal with them better. You just need to be attentive and patient.
Give undivided attention: When you plan to spend time with your furry buddies, put away all distractions and focus on spending quality time together, as you should ideally do in any relationship.
Practice active listening: When your furry buddies reach out to you, actively engage. This can include responding to your cat’s meows or your dog’s barks.
By learning to listen and respond appropriately to their needs and emotions, you can strengthen your relationship and create a happy and fulfilling life together.
Use positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a highly effective method of communicating with your pet. Here are some ways you can implement it:
1. Reward desired behaviours: For any desired response, such as sitting when told or coming when called, reward them with treats, praises, or toys. This reinforces good behaviour, and they are more likely to repeat it.
2. Ignore undesirable conduct: Ignore any undesirable actions that they do, such as jumping on people. Further, you can withhold attention until they stop such conduct. Once they stop, reward them with attention or a treat.
3. Use a clicker: A clicker — a small mechanical noisemaker — is a useful tool used to mark good actions.
4. Be consistent: Consistency is the key. If you want your fur buddies to develop good habits, you will have to reward them every time they behave desirably, and you will have to continue to ignore all wrong actions.
5. Use treats wisely: Treats are motivators for animals but use them wisely. Use high-value treats for more challenging behaviours and gradually phase them out as you start noticing consistency in behaviour.
6. Use a calm tone of voice: Animals are highly attuned to emotions. They can sense when you are upset or anxious. By using a calm tone of voice, you can soothe them and create a sense of safety and security for your fur babies.
Spend quality time together
Building any relationship takes time and effort. Spending quality time with your furry friend helps develop trust and empathy. With consistent measures, you will be able to enjoy a deeper and more meaningful relationship. Some ways to spend more time together are:
Daily exercise and playtime: Exercise and playtime are essential for an animal’s physical and mental well-being. Take your furry buddies for walks, play fetch, or engage them in other stimulating activities.
Training sessions: Regular training sessions will help your animal companion identify different commands and gestures and distinguish right from wrong. All this will make it easier for everyone to function while building stronger ties.
Grooming: Grooming is not only important for good health but is also a bonding experience. Brushing the fur, bathing them, and cleaning their teeth can all help you grow closer.
Quiet time: Spending quiet time with your furry companion, such as cuddling on the couch or enjoying the rain together releases happy hormones and increases love.
What you can do while communicating with your pet
Using physical touch:
Physical touch is a love language. Petting, hugging, and cuddling increase the happy hormones in both of you and help build trust and deepen the bond. Further, positive body language like smiling, nodding, and other gestures also create a sense of positivity and trust.
Learn about your furry friend’s likes and dislikes:
Just like humans, animals have personalities, likes, and dislikes. By learning and acting upon what your little friends enjoy and what they don’t, you create a more positive and rewarding experience for them.
Be patient with them:
Building trust and rapport takes time, and it’s especially essential to be patient with your animal besties. Since they don’t understand anything you say and their reactions are based on pure emotions and intuitions, don’t expect immediate results and be prepared to work on improving your understanding and bonding over time.
Establish clear boundaries:
Clear boundaries regulate the conduct of your furry companions. By setting clear rules and boundaries, you help them understand what is acceptable and what isn’t.
Use playtime as a learning opportunity:
You can teach your dogs, cats, and birds new skills during playtime. You can also use various activities to increase their trust and reliance on you. More fun time equals more happiness and love.
Use scents:
By using scents, you help your pet feel safe and secure and reinforce your bond. Here are some ways scents can prove to be a gamechanger:
1. Use familiar scents: Animals are more comfortable and relaxed around familiar scents. You can use your scent by wearing a t-shirt or other clothing item for a day and then leaving it in your pet’s bed or crate. You can also incorporate scents it knows, such as the scent of its favourite toy or blanket.
2. Use pheromones: Pheromones are chemicals that animals use to communicate with each other. Synthetic versions of this help calm anxious animals or ease tensions between pets in a multi-pet household. You can find these products as sprays, diffusers, or collars.
3. Use scent to mark territories: Animals often use scents to mark their territory, and you can use this behaviour to your advantage. For example, if you want to introduce a new cat to your household, you can use a cloth to rub the scent of the new cat on furniture and other objects in the house. This will help the existing cats to become familiar with the new cat’s scent before they meet in person.
4. Use treats with scent: You can also use strongly scented treats to train your animal companion. For example, you can use a small piece of cheese or meat to lure your dog to a specific spot in the house or to reward them for good behaviour.
Use toys:
Toys improve communication with your pets. By paying attention to their body language and using toys as rewards and redirection tools, you can enhance your bond. Here’s how you can use them to your advantage:
1. Use toys as rewards: You can use toys to reward your little buddies when they do something good. For example, if your dog follows a command or performs a trick correctly, you can reward them with a toy they love. This reinforces positive behaviour and helps your pet associate good behaviour with positive experiences.
2. Use toys to initiate playtime: Playing with your pets is an excellent way to foster a closer relationship and deepen mutual understanding. Use toys to start playtime, and watch how they react to different toys. You’ll quickly learn which toys they enjoy the most and which they aren’t interested in.
3. Observe your pet’s body language: When playing with pets, pay close attention to their body language. This helps you comprehend their feelings effectively. For example, if your dog starts wagging their tail and jumping up and down when you bring out its favourite toy, you’ll know they’re excited and happy.
4. Use toys to redirect behaviour: Attention from any undesirable behaviour, such as chewing on furniture or shoes, can be diverted through toys. Offer them a toy that they enjoy playing with and praise them when they start playing with it. This helps them understand what’s acceptable to play with and what isn’t.
Effectively communicating with your pet is the key to building a meaningful bond with them. Whether through body language, verbal cues, or simply spending quality time together, the relationship between pets and their owners is strengthened by understanding what the other is trying to say, even when the languages are nothing similar. So, continue to work on your communication skills and show your pets the love and attention they deserve.
Lastly, animals have unique personalities and communication styles, so what works for one may not necessarily work for another. Be patient and persistent in your efforts to improve your ways of communicating with your pet, and if you are still not able to make progress, don’t hesitate to seek the help of a professional trainer to fix major issues such as anxiety or grave disobedience. Always remember that a happy and healthy pet means a happy and healthy you. After all, they are not just animals, they are family!
