Question: Do dogs actually talk to each other or do they communicate with each other by movement??

Hi dragon1,

Dogs actually have a really well developed method of communicating that uses both noises and body language.

Wild dogs have an ideal body shape and pattern to make these methods of communication the most clear, so because the breeds of dog that we know today are pretty different to that, they sometimes have trouble communicating with eachother… leading to fights at the dog park!

My dog is a perfect example of that. He is a boxer. Because of the shape of his head, he has really big eyes. Also, although it is now illegal, boxes used to have their tails docked (we adopted him after this unfortunalely) so to the other dogs in the park, not only does he look like hes staring in an aggressive way, they can not easily see that his little tail stump is wagging. For this reason he often gets picked on. 🙁

The wild dog has a white tip to its tail so other dogs can easily see if it is wagging, or not. Also, the direction of the ears can give clues, the eyes and of course the teeth. Then there’s also the play bow – when dogs stick their bums in the air. This means they are playing.

They also growl, yawn, whinge and snort / snore but they don’t actually have speech.

Hope that helps!