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All dogs have a tremendous capacity to learn complex social behavior and to interpret varied body language and sounds, and, like many predators, can react to and learn from novel situations. The requirements of coordinating complex social behavior requires that canines have the ability to sense and deliver a wide variety of cues via body language, more so than for even humans, who can use language for the same purpose. Physiologically, this correlates with such features as a large number of nerves innervating the facial muscles of dogs, allowing subtle control of a wide variety of facial expressions; in contrast to cats, for instance, who have many fewer nerves governing their facial muscles, resulting in a smaller repertoire or "vocabulary" of expressions. This ability to read and deliver nonverbal cues makes dogs expert at reading human beings, as well, often even more so than other humans are, who rely on language. Most dog owners have a large collection of stories about their dogs recognizing individuals by their footsteps outside the door, and so on. |
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Dogs 101 
