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The reason dog are so popular today than any other pets is that it has a higher intelligence compared to most other animals or pets. Throughout the history, dog has played many important role, be it in war, or work dog, companions, and now even work for the police. So, what makes dog more special than the other? It is their ability to communicate with human, they do have feelings and they show it. Yes, we all know, dog can't talks like human, but then, we can't talk like dogs either, could we?

As I said before, communication is the key when it comes to 2 individual or more when they want to work together. In this case, we human and your dog. To establish a good communication though, we have to understand what each other say and feel. "Understanding", that my friend, be the key of dog training basics.

When it comes to barking or growling, dog does express their feeling through it. For example, when they come close to you and move around your front in a short distance, with eyes staring at you, they are trying to get your attention or simply "request". The next steps is to identify what kind of attention they want, are they asking to play? or are they hungry? or did they found something suspicious? What you can do next is to look at the direction their eyes are pointing and follow them.

What might make them trying to get your attention is that they are bored. Imagine, if you are a dog, and you have a master who work outside everyday for around 8 hours a day, while leaving you at home with nothing to do, will you be bored? Of course you will. That is simply one thing that discontent your dog. Some of them even put dogs in a "jail" or as many human define it: "training crate". Come on, do you put your friends in a jail? I'm not surprised that so many dog breeders complain that their dog bark continuously and trying to destroy their house without "reason". Well, now you know the reason.

Another thing they might express is sad feeling. How to identify that, you might ask. Well, same as human then, dog express it with high toned voice, as if he is crying. Now when it comes to this, what you can do is to spend more time and give some hugs to your dog as if you're accompanying your friend. You want somebody to share your feeling to, don't you?

The other one which is not uncommon, is when a dog angry, hopefully it's not your own dog. Usually dog will do a short and loud bark to warn. But when they growl slowly and they seems to "freeze", they are preparing to bite you. Dog are intelligence type of animal, but... they are animal too, they have instinct. When you do something that displease them, they get angry at you. What one can do is, just stay if a dog warns you, and possibly stare back and then walk away slowly. Remember that when you run, you show fear, and that simply means you are asking him to play chase with you. And some type of dog are trained just for that!

So starting from now, spend more time with your dog, more quality time and avoid using crate like plague 'cause it can only make your dog look like an inmate and might be possibly harder to control or make your dog depressed. You will realize very soon that understanding is the key to dog training basics. Remember, understanding is the key when it comes to group. After all, dog is your friend, not just a pet.