Can You Watch My Words?

In my recent conversation with a client over the phone I made an inappropriate joke, to which she laughingly retorted: “Watch your words.” The next day I called and apologized, but this little encounter got me thinking. But “How can we watch what we are saying?” After all, words are sounds, which we listen to, not watch? The answer came in a San Francisco Chronicle article on August 31, 2016 titled, “Good Boy! Dogs Understand What You are Saying.” For the dog, it is not so much important which words the owner uses, but rather how they say them. “…the dog is looking at your body language and your eyes, and perhaps starting to infer that “stinky mess” is a word of praise, if you are saying it with a happy voice.” Apparently, the reaction in dogs like in humans has to do with the evolution of the brain. “As with the people’s brains, parts of dogs’ left hemispheres react to the meaning and parts of the right hemisphere to intonation – the emotional content of a sound. Perhaps this is why I do not like to communicate with my clients (or anyone else for that matter) through social media, but rather prefer to meet them in person whenever possible.

The article pointed out that the study of dogs who were trained to enter a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, confirms the 7% rule.
In 1971, Albert Mahrabian published a book, “Silent Message”, in which he discussed his research on non-verbal communication. According to his observation, 55 percent was assigned on the speaker’s body language, another 38 percent to the tone and music of the voice, and only 7 percent on the credibility of the words. Since then others have challenged the assigned percentages, but the fact remains: when it comes to humans, 7 percent can still build or ruin relationship. Therefore, watch what you are saying.

In the recent weeks I’ve published two stories about dogs. One of my readers sent a very interesting comment…

Regarding dogs, based on my experience, I agree owners need training. Most owners anthropomorphize their dogs. This can be a serious error. Dogs are pack animals that follow a very rigid hierarchy protocol. If you don’t understand dog protocol and follow it explicitly, you can have a lot of unwanted problems, particularly with larger dogs. For example, people usually like it when their dog seeks attention to be petted, like putting their head under your hand. If you pet the dog, a positive thing for you, the dog also sees it positively, but not the way you think. The dog sees it as submission by you. This tells the dog they’re alpha and the behavior exhibited by alpha dogs who’re encouraged to be alpha can be very problematic. The best book I’ve read on this, and it’s an interesting read, even if you don’t own a dog, is The Monks of New Skeet. They’re a religious order of monks in New York who breed and train German shepherds.

Enjoy and Share.

P.S. People love dogs and often spoil them by treating their pets as children. Those four images will end up in my forthcoming (probably next year) “42 Encounters with Dog Lovers.”

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,