Man’s Best Friend Essay Example

want attention they tend to rub against or lick their owners, they slightly wag their tail, and also lower their ears to exclude any noise and concentrate on only their owner’s affection.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph, emotion was one thing that changed animal behavior. Not only does the aging process affect the physical appearances of an individual, but it also affects people and dogs mentally. Like humans, dogs age too and the older they become they begin acting and feeling like their age. As a child, everyone is always so full of energy and as we get older we seem to get lazier and loss interest in everything around us; well the same goes for dogs. Some of us become handicapped, lose hair, and our senses just become weaker.

Most of these dogs in shelters aren’t adopted because caring for a dog is just too much responsibility. The average cost of basic necessities for dogs (food, medical supply, training, etc. ) is around six hundred to nine hundred dollars a year and because of these high prices, people are practically forced to return their dog to a shelter. (ASPCA, "Pet Statistics. " Last modified 2010. Accessed October 29, 2012. aspca. org). Having those dogs in shelters is abuse, because they have them locked up in cages, and with so many dogs to watch not all of them get the amount of attention that is necessary.

There are many other types of abuse that people might not even consider as neglect. Emaciation, obesity, dehydration, cuts, bruises, burns, lack of grooming, parasite infestations, abnormal urination, and defecation are all signs of

neglect (Sutton, Emma Riley Sutton, eHow contributor, "Signs of Neglect in Dogs. " Accessed October 14, 2012. www. eHow. com). If you see dogs with these symptoms, they have most likely been abused by their owners. When dogs are abused it can affect them both physically and mentally.

Those symptoms include: submissive urinating, hand-shyness, cowering, mistrust, social withdrawal, depression, aggression, and even separation anxiety with a new owner (Bettmann, Theresa Bettmann, eHow contributor, "Mental Effects of Abuse on a Dog. " Accessed October 14, 2012. www. eHow. com). Communication, another way of changing behavior, is the way people express each other’s thoughts, feelings, and information to one another and comprehending it easily. As Debra Horwitz say, “Communication is a behavior. ” (Kesling, Joyce. CDBC, "Canine Communication. " Last modified 2005.

Accessed October 29, 2012. Responsibledog. net). We humans all speak, although not all of us understand each other because different cultures speak different languages (Spanish, English, French, etc. ). Animals have their own system of communication, or it can be thought of as them having their own language. Communication allows us to understand what others are saying. Without knowing, there is a sense of panic and vulnerability because you have no idea what is going on around you and going back to the previous paragraphs, feeling a certain way causes a certain behavior.

Through research I found that there are three components to communication: 1) the person sending the message, 2) the person receiving the message, and 3) the communication signal (Kesling, Joyce. CDBC, "Canine Communication. " Last modified 2005. Accessed October 29, 2012. Responsibledog. net). So, when an owner and dog

cannot communicate it is difficult to know why your dog is acting a certain way. For example, if a dog starts whimpering or yelping, it could be trying to tell us it is in pain or distress.

If a dog starts growling, it can be taken as threat, unless it is a playful growl. Dogs also use their body postures as a form of communication, also known as communicating visually. (Kesling, Joyce. CDBC, "Canine Communication. " Last modified 2005. Accessed October 29, 2012. Responsibledog. net). For example, when a dog has their ears flattened back and has their tail lowered in between their legs, that shows they are frightened. Along with humans, our body language is also a way that allows us to communicate with other people.

If a student is sitting straight, has their eyes on the board, and is taking notes it sends a message to the teacher that the student is paying attention. There are also other types of communication between humans, which would be formal (where most people use a type of business or corporation speaking format) and informal (which is where people have more unrestrained conversations); and although it isn’t completely discovered yet, there might be the possibility of different types of communication between dogs, since there are several different barks, howls, and growls made among the conversation of a group of dogs.

Although there are several differences between us and dogs, there also seems to be a great amount of similarities that can help us figure out more about domesticated animals. As you can see, emotions, aging, and communication are all prime examples. Scientists have a

hard time telling why animals behave a certain way because we cannot just simply go up to a dog and ask them due to lack of communication.

But, little by little we get closer to this information through assumption, common sense, and observation because even though we are not a hundred percent sure, the explanation is pretty clear. The dog is not as much of a complex animal as we thought. In fact, it seems to me that the dog is the one animal that we understand the most, but the one animal we have so much more to learn about. After all, a man’s best friend should be someone we truly know about.