How do dogs ask questions?

You might be wondering how and why dogs ask questions. That is a very good question. I will give you some answers here.

When I first started with Dog Listening, I started by just ignoring my dog. He knew that I did not like him to take my socks from the laundry hamper. He sat down in front of me with a sock, staring at me. He sat there and stared for an hour. Suddenly I saw from the corner of my eye, that he started to blink slowly, he had trouble keeping his eyelids open. After that he started to nod, falling a sleep, dropping his head and wake up because he had dropped his head. When he had done this for a little while, he left me with the sock and went into the bedroom, hopped up in bed and lied down with a very loud sigh of relief. He had asked the first question that I answered appropriately. As a result he was calm and relaxed for the first time since we got him. He realised that he did not have the responsibility for my safety anymore.

Other ways that dogs are asking questions, or testing could be for example:

• Barking, looking at the owner
• Not eating
• Peeing in inappropriate places, whilst looking at the owner
• Jumping up at the owner or other people
• Stealing items and destroying them in front of the owner
• Pulling on the lead when out walking
• Refusing to walk

Please, tell me in the comment section how your dog is asking questions, how are they testing you. What are the challenging behaviours that you experience together with your dog?

On the next page, you can tell me about your journey with your dog.