I spent the weekend watching funny dog clips… What I found interesting was that in a lot of videos, the small dog breed was the one making it funnier. We often saw the smaller dog breeds wearing some funny mask scaring a bigger dog breeds. Check out this video for context.
After you have checked out this video, there are tons of these sort of videos online. What is it about smaller dog breeds being comedic relief in a way. We also saw many small dogs constantly barking at Bigger dog breeds in these videos and then when confront by the big dog the smaller dog breeds would play dead. Check out this video too.
Here's what I noticed about power dynamics and code switching in animal communication systems.
- Dogs do have communication systems : vocalizations (growls, whines, barks) and body language all operating like human linguistic registers.
- Small Dogs seem to be code-switchers: when small dogs bark aggressively at big dogs, they play dead when confronted, by switching communication codes. This play dead moment displays calming signals based on external factors such as the distance between the sender and recipient. I would look into Turid Rugaas on calming signals if interested.
- What Humans and Dogs seem to share is that we both adjust communication codes based on power dynamics. We both code-switch but why small dogs? The smaller breed has more of a reason to code-switch because of actual physical vulnerability and the stakes being severe. This is similar to the case with Humans with lesser social power (i.e., minorities) also engaging in these same dynamics.
- Multi-Modal Communication where dog communication uses: smells, sounds, and visual cues, maybe even cultural too, for them, if they live in the same household. These cues are more significant than vocal communication.
References: Rugaas, Turid. On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals. 2nd ed., Dogwise Publishing, 2006.