Over-simplification of gestural meanings in human-animal communication can be misleading.

Misreading a dog's behavior can have negative effects on their relationships with their own and other humans.

Recognizing a dog's emotional needs is, in itself, a pathway toward compassion, empathy, and respect.

How do dogs understand human gestures? Research cautions us that simple answers to questions like these can be misleading, For this and other reasons I was pleased to read a recent paper by anthrozoologist Sindhoor Pangel titled, "The open palm gesture in human–dog communication: An exploratory synthesis, Human–Animal Interactions." In it, she stresses that perhaps we should move from asking, “Can the dog decode my gesture?” to “What happens to the dog when I make this gesture and how does this impact our relationship?"

The use of an open palm held toward a dog is not novel in our interaction with dogs and is usually understood as a directive: Stop, Wait, or Stay. But her observation is that the same gesture also occurs in casual interactions in which the human does not appear to be asking the dog to do anything.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write your paper on the open palm gesture?

Sindhoor Pangal: I started noticing the gesture everywhere. In fact, this paper itself carries examples of traffic cops casually using it with street dogs, and the dogs seeming to respond to it as if this were a very natural way for a human and dog to interact.

This fascinated me and I started talking about it with my students. They then began showing me videos of it being used, both with street dogs and with dogs in their homes. Closer examination of these videos revealed something interesting: The effect of this gesture did not seem to be directing them to do anything specific. Instead, I noticed subtle signs of emotional regulations or de-escalation. Then came pilot observations from........

© Psychology Today