Lesson 31 Learn to speak Dog

It was good that at the school where I work we had an assembly by a visitor who taught the children how to read dog body language.
Children sometimes swoop down on dogs to pat them without checking with us whether it is safe to do so. Luckily many dogs are usually fine with this but if everyone took the time to teach their children to ask first before patting any dog then relationships between dogs and young children would go from strength to strength.
I guess it is the same with cats or any other animal. If you know an animal, you get to know their habits and likely behaviours but if the animal is unfamiliar to you it can be harder to read their  body language.
We gain so much from animals and I love having them around. The better we get at understanding their signals, the better our relationships will become with them.