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Monday, 20 August 2012

SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOUR IN DOGS

Communication






Effective communication is essential for the formation and maintance of social relationships. Dogs same as wolves have three main methods of communication: auditory, visual and olfactory.



Auditory communication


Auditory communication may be employed over a range of distances and is particulary useful when vision is impaired, for example in thick vegetation. Range of signals given by wolves have also been recorded in domestic dogs. They include diverse range of sounds from grunts, whines, yelps and screams to tooth snapping, coughing, growling, and of course barking.

Methods of auditory communication used by domestic dogs


Sound                                                                       Behaviour
Bark                                                                         Defense
                                                                                Play
                                                                                Greeting
                                                                                Lone call
                                                                                Call for attention
                                                                                Warning

Grunt                                                                        Greeting
                                                                                 Sign of contentment

Growl                                                                        Defense warning
                                                                                 Threat signal
                                                                                 Play

Whimper / Whine                                                      Submission
                                                                                 Defence
                                                                                 Greeting
                                                                                 Pain
                                                                                 Attention seeking


Effective communication with sound requires an auditory system that can both recieve and decode sound signals. Dogs have relatively ordinary hearing abilities compared with other mamals. Their sensitivity at low frequencies is generally similar that that of cats and humans. At higher pitches, dogs become increasingly more sensitive than humans. The upper frequency limit of hearing in four dogs did not vary with their size, indicating that high-frequency sensitivity may be a species typical characteristic.



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