Dog Love Languages - Embarkvet

Have you ever wondered if your dog really knows how much you love them? Most of us are familiar with the idea of there being five love languages: affirmations, service, gifts, quality time, and physical touch. The idea of love languages was first proposed by Dr. Gary Chapman and the idea has since become part of popular culture and the way that we understand intimate relationships. The idea behind love languages is that there are five ways that love can be expressed, but that each person has a primary love language, and those other expressions of love won’t be as meaningful to them. Practically, the idea behind love languages is that because each of us experience love differently, conflict within relationships can be avoided by understanding your partner’s love language, and then intentionally incorporating that into your interactions with one another. This got us thinking about the conflict that can arise from our expectations around loving our dogs.

Before you got a dog, you probably had an idea, a vision of what life with your dog would be like. Maybe you pictured hiking together, cuddling together on the couch and watching movies, or competing in agility! Each of us wants different things from our relationship with our dogs, and similarly, each dog is looking for something unique as well – a love language if you will. Each dog is an individual, but there are breed and breed group traits that we think can correspond to some broader dog love languages….