How to Make a Dog Happy

Happy dogs: A dog has the ability to let us know how he is feeling whether it be happy or sad by through his body language. Giving your dog petting is how you make a dog happy. When a dog gets a lot of affection and touches on his body and head his muscles automatically perceive if they are pleasurable or not. Pleasure is the opposite emotion of pain and it can be seen in the dog's body language as well as through his voice which allows us to know without a doubt that the sensations that he is feeling are of happiness and pleasure. If you were to accidentally stomp on a dog's foot he would get scared and would cry out in pain while withdrawing his foot. If you were to scratch behind his ears though, he would show pleasure and happiness. It's pretty obvious that communication through body language is a very rich source of information, and it is something that dogs need. Almost all animals whether they are terrestrial, aquatic or avian need physical contact in order to feel pleasure, protection etc; man is not exempt from this need either. This leads us to believe that dogs might experiment and feel some similar sensations to those of man in certain circumstances and situations.  Even though we know little about the interpretation dogs have towards stimulus, we have to recognize, as occurs with all mammals, that emotional feelings are not possible without an active brain.

Dog shadows: It seems that dogs are not able to recognize their own shadows but they get on guard when they see someone else's. According to some behavior studies, it is believed that in order for there to be a reaction to a stimulus, the dog must use at least two of his senses; these include smell which is the main one and hearing. There does not seem to be any response from the dog to stimulus that only requires them to use one of their senses. When a dog sees his own shadow one of his senses comes in to use but none other. However, when the shadow is a stranger's the dog uses both his sight and smell; he is able to smell the odor of another dog event when he has not yet seen the dog, and this causes a reaction of his defensive reflexes. When a dog sees his own reflection in a mirror it does not seem to affect him in the least bit.