Communication Methods in dogs

Dogs communicate in four main ways.

Smell: This is their leading communicating style, dogs essentially sniff their way through the world.

Sight: Dogs have good eyesight and they use this sense to watch for stimulus, like hazards in their environment.  This also means they watch for the body language of other dogs, animals and humans.

Vocalisation: Dogs vocalisations include barking, whining and growling.  All vocalisations have different meanings and it is important to interpret them correctly.  There are 5 different barks that have different meanings like excitement, disturbance, boredom, stress or pain.

Non verbal communication:  Also known as body language.  This can mean communicating their message with their whole bodies or showing small changes like ear position or tail movement. Dogs body language is complicated and can sometimes be obvious or very subtle.