5 Things We Do That Confuse Our Dogs

Have you ever stopped to think and wonder if your dog knows what you’re doing? From the basics of everyday activities, tasks, and behaviors to the complex, most are strange to our dogs and other pets in the household.

What are the things you do that confuse your dogs?

What are the things we all do that confuses dogs, generally speaking?

Let’s get to our list of 7 Things We Do That Confuse Our Dogs.

1. Trying to get privacy or alone time.

The last thing your dog wants to be is to be left alone, so when you head to the bathroom or think you’re getting any alone time, chances are they’re following right behind you. Dogs descend from pack mentality and dogs are social and gregarious.

When we set guidelines or restrictions for our dogs at home and in public, they might get really confused and separation anxiety gets triggered.

READ NOW: How To Handle Your Dog’s Separation Anxiety

2. We smell different and change scents.

Believe it or not, your dog doesn’t identify you just on sight alone. Dogs are highly motivated by scent and it helps further define their environment. Their sense of smell impacts their ability to recognize things. Humans might rely on vision to get through their day, but a dog? They’re all about the sniffer.

They have the ability to smell between 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans, making dogs capable of detecting odors in parts per trillion.

So when our dogs are around us, they get different scents to identify us. You might smell different to them after time at the gym, after a shower, after you use body spray or cologne, etc. 

3. We show affection differently.

If you have a territorial (or playful) dog, you’ll learn this fast: Dogs get confused by how humans show affection towards one another like through hugs. According to VetStreet.com, “Closeness between people can confuse a dog. Hugs, for instance, are abnormal in the canine world and can be viewed by dogs as threatening. Dogs may also view intimacy as play, which means they want to play, too.”

4. We are visually stimulated differently as well.

Sometimes you might catch your fur baby watching television, but most of the time, they’re just hanging out with you. Dogs don’t understand the appeal of sitting and staring at a loud, flashing screen. Dogs' visual stimulation comes from different sorts of activities.

This is not always the case though. Things are changing.

According to Psychology Today in their look into if dogs can see television images, “Because dogs can resolve flickers at 75 Hz, a TV screen probably appears to be rapidly flickering to dogs. This rapid flicker will make the images appear to be less real, and thus many dogs do not direct much attention to it. 

“Even so, it is true that some dogs ignore the apparent flickering of the television and seem to respond to dogs and other interesting images on the TV screen if they are interesting enough. However, changes in technology are beginning to change the number of dogs that watch TV. High-resolution digital screens are refreshed at a much higher rate so even for dogs there is less flicker, and we are getting more reports of pet dogs who are very interested when various nature shows containing images of animals moving.”

5. We share spaces with others.

Whether it’s roommates, families, or pets, we share spaces with others. This concept may be confusing to your dog if they are not familiar with the other residents of your home. But it goes beyond the living space. Think about the last time you saw a friend’s dog, pet them, and came home. That odor latches onto you and can confuse your dog.