Animals
Analysis of Videos: Dog behavior is often misunderstood
According to experts, dogs send clear signals – but people also ignore them. photo
© Jens Büttner/dpa
Isn’t it cute how the girl hugs the dog tight? It may seem that way – but viewers of cute fur nose videos miss how unhappy four-legged friends sometimes are in such situations.
Dogs have an extensive repertoire of body language, signals and vocalizations to communicate. However, many people often misunderstand these instructions or don’t even notice them, it goes on to say. In many of the videos presented on social media, the dog is visibly not feeling well, but viewers still expressed a “like” with their like.
The team led by Elizabeth Ann Walsh from the Cork Pet Behavior Center (Ireland) analyzed 190 particularly popular videos with many likes on social media platforms that show dogs being played with or petted and hugged. What signals the dogs give about their mood through their behavior were recorded.
The animals often show discomfort, fear, confusion and anxiety – which the people interacting with them obviously did not notice, as the researchers explain. Typical stress indicators include turning the head, blinking, freezing, yawning, licking the person, laying back the ears and panting.
It is worrying how people interact with their furry companions without understanding their body language or vocalizations. A typical example in videos is hugging and holding, which is sometimes difficult for dogs to interpret and understand: When dogs put their paws on another dog – analogous to human hugging – this is often said to be intimidating.
Submissive, on the other hand, in many cases means licking the mouth – and is by no means always a sign of love and affection. People often find it amusing when a dog yawns heartily, smacks its lips or turns its head away – but these could be signals of discomfort, stress, fear or nervousness.
Often the people seen in the video, as well as the video viewers, obviously did not notice how unhappy or uncomfortable a dog actually feels in the situation shown. This not only means suffering for the dog, but also a risk for its owner, because in some cases the animal can react aggressively at some point if it feels too harassed by hugging and pressing.