Animal Language

I really think it is fascinating, how everything changes between you and an animal, if you just try to understand it, to feel how it feels and to "speak" to it, so it understands you. I could spend quite some time just with studying about animal language and actually getting in touch with the animals. And as I want to be close to the nature, it really makes me happy to be able to communicate with a living creature which is not from my species.

 The dogs and me

Photo: Sarina Weber (2014)

The dog is the major part of animals I get in touch with. when I took my experience proof certificate, I learned a lot about dog language, although I already knew a lot about it. Learning about it really improved the relationship between Sammy and me. I understand her. I have to admit, sometimes, I'm still a bit moody and unfair to her, but nobody's perfect, neither humans nor dogs. I can also see who doesn't understand his dog, or who simply doesn't care about what his dog is trying to tell him. Okay - I won't deny that sometimes, I really really really don't know what Sammy's trying to tell me. For example, when she's lying in her basket, she looks at me as if she was waiting for something. And I really don't know how to react in that situation! Most often, I just turn around and try to ignore it, because I know that, if Sammy actually wanted something, she'd find a way to tell me. I'm really excited to learn more and maybe to find an opportunity to be really close to a dog someday. I would lie if I'd say that Sammy just isn't the right dog for this because she's living too far away.

The birds and me

(2013)

It is not difficult to understand these cute creatures, but it's really difficult to get through to them and to make them accept me as a member of their "family". I was at a similar point some time ago, but I did the mistake to let it wind up when I got a boyfriend. I really have to work with them every day to make them trust me again, and for now, all I'm doing is to lie my hand into their cage. But it's really interesting how they react: I can check if they're scared or not, if they allow me to get closer or not. Saphira usually is super sceptical, but also curious, always hiding behind Lilla and making a long neck to see everything. Yesterday, Lilla could even clean herself when my hand was lying on their perch. When I got closer, her eyes were widening, her breathing became faster and she eventually made a step towards Saphira. That was the point when I took my hand back to show them that I wouldn't hurt them. And using my voice, I could give them the possibility to try to understand me, too. I often see that they're listening and they react to my voice and know when I'm adressing them. They are really clever and it's really exciting to use the right language to communicate with them.

The horses and me

Photo: Vilma Alderheim (2013)

Horses are still a big mystery to me. I remember when my neighbour took me to one of her riding lessons and after that, I really wanted to take some, too, but my mum didn't allow me to. I actually rode a horse for the first time when my sister took me to her Egon in preparation for my Sweden vacation some weeks later. Being in Sweden, Vilma's mother complimented me for my riding posture and the skills I had after only riding once my life. I really enjoyed the weeks in Sweden and got in touch with the horses a lot, but I'm just at the beginning of learning how to understand them and their body language. It's really fascinating, because they are so big, strong and also strange, which makes them interesting. This year, I'll probably go on an equestrian holiday near my town. Riding is an expensive hobby and there is a cheap horse ranch where I could take riding lessons this year, but in a holiday, I could use a lot of time for only one horse and apart from the riding sport, I'm just really interested in how a horse communicates and how a human could get through to it, as I read it in my friend's blog posts. I really like the idea and hope to realize it.






You can see that I don't love languages for the linguistic aspects only, but mainly for the communicative aspects. This sums it up quite well. As a person who feels happy and confident out in the nature, I'm not only interested in nordic languages, such as Finnish or Swedish (they spend a lot of time in the nature, more than Germans at least) but also in the "animal languages". I would like to hear your thoughts about this. :)