I Wish They Could Talk

Author: Anant V Joshi DVM

Wish they could talk? What do you mean 'Wish'? I mean they Do Talk! Except we don't know how to decipher their language ... their body language. See, we Homo sapiens 'talk' with our tongues. That is how we communicate a major chunk of our thought content to others. Well, now in 2013 things are a lot different than they were in, say, 1813! There was no phone, internet, photography ... other human ways to communicate. But coming back to our other living beings, animals I mean. They primarily 'talk' with their bodies ... only if we are willing to 'listen'. 

From making a straight eye contact to blinking an eye, from perking up their ears to wagging their tails, from crouching on the ground to laying belly up, from whining to growling, from a straight down hair coat to standing hairs, they are trying to communicate a thousand emotions.

From reading our posture to responding to our pace, from listening to our heart beats to smelling our sweat, from licking our hands to tugging on our slacks: they are listening to our bodies' intended and unintended messages and responding appropriately. And when we fail to respond to them in their 'language', they get confused, frustrated, angry, anxious, sad, depressed and un-attached.

Imagine living in a place where people did not understand 90% of what you said ... let us say it was a language barrier. We have the same situation here ... our animals may be thinking that we humans do not really understand them. This is sad.

I believe it is our moral and ethical responsibility to try and learn the 'Animal Language'. Nay, we should learn their language because we love them. Without communicating with them, what is our love's worth for them?

Anant V Joshi DVM

www.clarkvet.com

The opinions and ideas in this blog are mine.

Following photo taken from the internet. Credits were not available.