Many people cannot imagine their lives without a cute furry friend that will love them no matter what. This year has shown that many people cannot stay alone with themselves and need someone to interact with. It was the main reason why people were ready to stay in lines to take home an animal from a shelter at the beginning of a total lockdown. However, a pet is not just a remedy for loneliness. It is a huge responsibility for a living creature, and you should be ready for it both from the financial and mental sides. And if you have never had a pet, you should know how to behave with it and what things can improve your relationship.
Respect for pets
To strengthen your relationships with pets and create meaningful communication, you should get rid of some common prejudices and stop attributing to them certain feelings that you would like to see in them. Today, the Internet can provide you not only with information about the top rated cat foods, for example, but you can also find guidebooks on how to understand animals’ behavior patterns and signals they send to you. And you cannot do without patience and respect. The latter is of key importance since it creates a foundation for building healthy relationships.
Relationships with a dog
Getting a dog can bring you various benefits and get rid of loneliness. You will always have someone happy to see you after a hard day at work and ready to hug you. Oddly enough, the very presence of pets at home reduces the level of tension and aggression. Research confirms that when you interact with dogs, your body produces oxytocin. Nonetheless, the quality of the relationship with your dog is crucial here, so you should work on it.
Don’t send mixed signals to your dog
People incorrectly decode the signals sent to them by animals, and it is not surprising since they treat their pets as “little fluffy dudes” only, while the latter perceives the world in a completely different way. Cognitive research shows interesting results. For example, when a dog is wagging its tail, it can show both its joy and familiarity with the object in front of it.
Dogs like to know what is expected of them and what they can expect from you, so they need a clear understanding of the rules. However, people often don’t realize that they give mixed signals that confuse their pets. If you want your dog to do something, give one command at a time, and if it does everything right, praise it and treat it with the top rated dog foods.
Try to walk your dog oftener
Everybody knows that dogs have an excellent sense of smell: the number of olfactory cells in them ranges from 200 million to a billion. And thanks to the peculiarities of the respiratory system and the structure of the olfactory organs, they can capture both pheromones and hormones and, apparently, can even determine your mood by smell. Dogs have a special “secret way” to exhale air through the side openings of the nostrils. Thus, they can inhale and exhale at the same time.
And dogs determine the time and state with smell as well. While we are looking for visual signals in the mirror, dogs track changes using their sense of smell. Therefore, it is so important not to block this communication channel. So, if you want your dog to feel more comfortable and cope with anxiety and aggression, walk with it outside more often and allow it to smell everything it wants.
Relationships with a cat
Understandably, humans and cats may face misunderstandings in their relationships, but it is up to you to build a strong bond between you two. Just the very first thing you should do is to accept the fact that you have different psychologies. People are socially active and, as a rule, need someone else’s company, but it would be weird to expect the same from cats. So, you shouldn’t get upset if a furry friend doesn’t sit with you for five hours in a row while you watch TV.
Cats show fewer emotions
Bear in mind that cats are less active in expressing their emotions. Unlike dogs, they choose passive ways to show that they are anxious or uncomfortable. When you yell or cry, the cat prefers to hide. In stressful situations, they go away to observe and gather information about what is happening in a quiet environment since such an approach helps them feel more secure.
Cats communicate differently
While people communicate with words, cats send signals in a slightly different way. For example, with the help of smells, body language, sound signals. So, for example, if you bring your cat to the vet, and it starts purring, it does not mean that it likes what’s happening there. Your pet calms itself in this way: the vibrations of the purring make the cat feel better.
As you understand, it is important not only to notice the signals and signs that pets give you but also to decode them correctly. How can you create optimal habitat for a cat? Firstly, you should provide it with a comfortable place, for example, somewhere at a height with a good view. This is a guarantee of a feeling of calmness and stability. Second, satisfy its hunting instinct through play and activity.
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