How to Speak Dog: Mastering the Art of Dog-Human Communication Book

This book is thus far the most enlightening, beautifully written piece on dogs I've come across, and that is not just in comparison to all of the frivolous responses to my Google queries. (Well, maybe it is.) As a first time dog owner, I had more questions than a search engine could reasonably answer. What is this thing about being an alpha dog?! Is my dog painfully bored during my long workday? What is it about his greeting that seems to put all the other dogs in a tizzy? Why is he constantly scratching himself, like a kid biding time, whenever I am trying to teach him something?

To my relief and amazement, Stanley Coren wittily answers all of these and more with thorough, thoughtfully curated topics from ethological studies, history, animal psychology, and his own anecdotes. I learned, for example, that yawning could be a nonchalant sign of friendliness and peace toward an aggressive dog. I learned that pointing at something with your body and head is more easily understood than pointing with your finger (the chapter about which had me laughing to myself). But the book does more than explain how to communicate with dogs. Coren breaks down the various components by which dogs communicate -- their sounds, the rotation of their ears, posture, facial expressions, tail expressions, etc., and for that, I am greatly indebted, because my eyes were opened to so much of what my dog was saying that I couldn't understand before. My dog wasn't just excited to see other dogs; his eye contact and broad-chested posturing was letting every dog know he considered himself the boss, even if he was half their height. His endless bouts of itches during our training sessions was a sign of confusion and frustration, so I needed to slow our lessons down. And happily, his excited shoulder-rubbing all over the couch and floor after consuming a homecooked meal is not, in fact, the result of an allergic reaction so much as an expression of ecstatic joy. Most importantly, understanding why the expressions mean what they do (in relation to their wild nature, history of domestication, interactions with their litter and their birthmom) permits me to discard the dominance theory in favor of a relationship built more on familial friendship and understanding, which is what I'd prefer to have with my precious one.

Needless to say, I'm so grateful to have found this book. Yes, much more of it deals with theory than with practical advice (though there is also advice to be found, too). There are a lot of resources out there about how to train your dog, but when those techniques don't work, this book can help 'debug' the process, so to speak. I can't recommend it enough.