On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals

This book was recommended by our dog trainer and it was great. I’ve been looking for a book that visually shows dog communication. Even though it is a little outdated, it still provides excellent information if you’d like to understand your dog more!

I have always hoped that the inner thought pattern of dogs was somehow 'governed' in the way a human's is. I had always kept a candle burning for the notion that dogs interacted, communicated and socially bonded in a self-aware and considerate manner, rather than the crazed and often unintelligible behavioral garble we are left to observe in our domesticated companions. But, as a confirmed skeptic who had faced down many an erroneous and self-serving theory about animals forced on the public by nut-jobs who hoped "Fluffy could read minds", I had my doubts about this book. I bought it because it was the book chosen by my monthly book club for behavior dorks.I was astounded, and frankly my training style will never be the same. This book has, with excellent concrete examples and full-color photos, taught me that dogs have an intricate and reliable body language that they use as effectively as we use words. It has raised my esteem for dogs as beings, enlightened my behavior around them, expectations of them and abilities as a trainer. I can hardly believe I interacted with dogs without knowing these principles.Turid Rugaas, the author, speaks in such an easy manner with her topic that it is clear how well she understands it. The book is concise, short and manageable. There are full color photos on nearly every page, depicting dogs engaged in the precise behavior patterns she is discussing (so you'll be able to start recognizing them in your own pups right away). It surprised me how things she described correlated with some of my own memories of doggie interactions. She even unraveled a few mysteries for me; for instance, does your dog seem happy for you to stand in front of him, looking down at him, but get nervous as soon as you crouch to his level? There's a social reason for that. Does your dog sit with his back to you? He's not being impudent; he's trying to reassure you. Seeing how dogs use these techniques with other dogs (and how those others respond in kind) is the enlightening selling point of this book. She never makes an unfounded claim, and has years of experience and success to back herself up. Skeptics rejoice!It's startling how thoughtful a dog's behavior really is. It won't even take a day's worth of your time to finish this book, but learning about a dog's calming signals, stress signals, threat signals and how to employ them yourself to calm and communicate with your own buddy will be worth a lifetime. Turid gives humans the gift of a language dogs already communicate with. It's like a Babel Fish for you and your hound.

Explains well how to understand actions and reactions of dogs in their own language.

This book has a range of useful tips about how to have better communication with dogs and your dog in particular. I'm looking forward to trying them out.

What I like about this book is that it clearly and concisely offers the reader the basics of understanding what is called dog language, and explains how to respond to the calming signals that a dog makes, or doesn't know how to make. It immediately helped me with my newly adopted rescue friend. After reading the book, in one sitting, I was able to apply what I had learned in our next walk. The difference it made in the relaxation of us both was amazing. And, the advances we made were significant and very encouraging. I knew we were on the right training path. I highly recommend this book. And following the video interviews of this amazing trainer.

This should be required reading for everyone who has or is getting a dog!

Calming signals are genetically inherited canine language used for communicating with each other to maintain healthy social hierarchy, since dogs, like their wolf ancestors, are pack animals dependent on sensory input, such as olfactory, auditory, and visual perceptions. Accordingly, dogs communicate with themselves through body motions, such as turning their heads to the other side (as a goodwill gesture in greeting between two dogs), lifting a front paw (showing peaceful intentions), yawning (as a way of reducing stress), bowing (releasing tension), etc. In this book, Ms. Turid Rugaas, an internationally acclaimed Norwegian canine behavioral counseling trainer, primarily focuses on the needs of understanding these signals from dogs as their way of communicating to and with their canids and humans alike. In the context of regarding the essence and importance of calming signals from dogs, this book offers a visual glimpse of what they are like with pictures of the dogs in each accordant motion, which I find helpful to perceive it.However, the book does not provide the reader with more in-depth knowledge on the calming signals on the grounds of scientific terms; rather it is more of a pamphlet introducing the basic concepts of the calming signals. In fact, this book of less than 100 pages recounts the author’s personal experience with her beloved dog Vesla, who had been her faithful and effective assistant in helping other dogs’ behavioral problems solved, in her close observation of their calming signals expressed and exchanged. It is needless to say that such personal experience saturated with her firm conviction in positive training of dogs is deemed highly valuable and thus contributes significantly to the purpose of this book, which I wholeheartedly appreciate as a kindred spirit. But it is also equally tantalizing to whet my desire of discovering more about the origins of the calming signals, the comparison with those of wolves in terms of evolutionary aspects, and more examples thereof.All in all, this book is a lovely quick read about dogs’ calming signals at a glance. In addition, the reader cannot help agreeing to the author’s view of dogs not as her subordinates to be trained with dominance but as her “children” who need love and patience because dogs as being of conflict-solving nature want to keep us in their company by trying to speak to us through calming signals. So if you just want to see what these calming signals are about in a nutshell, this is an informative and affectionate read.

A classic. Must be in every dog owner's library.

Highly recommend. Pictures are great. Anecdotes help add context.

Este livro da Turid Rugaas é de leitura obrigatória para que quer aprender sobre comportamento canino. É um clássico da literatura.Fácil leitura, muito contéudo, contém fotos.

This book should onwed by all the dog owners. This book will help you understand your dog's body language and helps you to communicate with your dog. Turid Rugaas has explained it in a very simple way.

Very interesting and easy to read. Didn’t realise dogs comunicate so clearly if you know what to look for. It will be handy for my new puppy

Sehr informativ und sachlich mit vielen Beispielen.