I’m planning on getting a dog soon and would love some tips and tricks.
My tip is that when you take your dog for a walk, before crossing any street make them sit and wait for you to tell them to cross.
It helped when my dog got out a few times he would only walk around the block and never cross streets or run into traffic.
I 100% agree about the importance of learning doggie language, after all studies have shown domesticated dogs are extremely adept at learning human body language and are excited and motivated to learn human body language far past the point really any other animal gives a shit about doing. We owe them the same curiosity and interest in their language!
Simple things like a yawn usually means “hey I’m just here not trying to start anything” or a playbow is actually an invitation into playful energy most of the time, or how dogs evaluate how nervous to be about the threat of a nearby unfamiliar dog or person by whether the dog/human’s hips/shoulders are aiming towards them or not (a dog has to “aim” it’s shoulders at something it is about to attack, so aiming your hips and shoulders to the side is a form of de-escalating an immediate threat of violence for dogs).
Knowing how to differentiate the stress/pain pant from a normal pant is also CRUCIAL to picking up when your dog is suffering.
Absolutely. Plus we forget that dogs can be dangerous, I work in rescue and a lot of people will say a dog has “bit me out of nowhere!”
I can think of one dog that genuinely bit out of nowhere, and he had a health concern, all other dogs warn you a thousand times but the owner just hasn’t understood what their dog is saying.