7 Ways to Say “I Love You” to Your Dog

Every day, before or after going back from work, countless of you, dog owners, want to express your love to your pooches by saying how cute they are, how much you miss them, or complimenting them like a good boy/girl. Unfortunately, no matter how smart canines are, they can sense your moods, but they can’t understand those loving words we say to them. You need to say “I love you” to your dogs in their language.

If you think buying your dogs the best toys, high-quality food, or a lot of flavorful treats makes your dogs understand your love, you will be disappointed. You might feel confused since saying loving them doesn’t work, nor treating them nicely. So how to express your love to your four-legged buddies? In fact, some of your daily activities with your dogs turn out to be love language to them without even you recognizing it.

So how to say "I love you" to your dog correctly? Try these 7 signs for affection to get your dogs’ hearts in their language.

One of the significant signs to know your dog loves you or not is how often he/she leans on you. Once you get their love language, use it.

When you guys spend time together, surprise your buddies by leaning against them. They will look at you with weird eyes, but trust us, they are happy to be there for you to lean on.

Facial expressions are also effective in communication. We might not be able to speak the same language as our furry friends, but they can read our feelings by the look. You and your dog actually have eye contact all the time but you just don’t know when they understand that you want to express your love.

According to a study from Science Direct, gazing into your dog and raising your left eyebrow are positive love signs that your dog can interpret immediately.

However, you only stare at your dog or the dog that you know well. With strange dogs, looking straight into their eyes might be taken as an attack sign and lead to unwanted situations of hurting yourself.

Just like humans, dogs love physical bonding activities. So why don’t cuddle up! Those actions benefit both sides. You have a relaxed time with your dog after a long day or a stressful week, while your dog has a chance to be closer to you and exchange physical contact.

Massaging your dog proves a good communication tool to express your love as well. However, to massage your dog correctly requires a professional canine masseuse, or else you might end up hurting your dog or even angering him.

Fortunately, rubbing your four-legged baby's ears is the most simple yet effective massage that they enjoy a lot. Taking their ears and massaging it between your finger and thumb, and gently moving towards the tips on both sides. You can go down to their neck where there is a lot of skin and massage across their neck and back.

If you are sure about your dog’s hygiene and your health situation, letting your dog sleep with you is one of the best expressions of love. No matter how much time you spend with your dogs in the daytime, they still want to be near you as much as possible.

A little cuddle, hug, and licking your face are their favorite things to do before falling to sleep. Those will also relax your mind and make your sleeping time more fun and peaceful than ever.

Instead of trying so hard on how to say "I love you" to your dog correctly, listening and focusing on their behaviors is a powerful alternative way to express your love to them. Let them know that you understand what they like, dislike, and how they want things to do in a certain way.

Sometimes your dog tries to say a lot to you through its bark or mumbles. Funny that even you couldn’t figure out what exactly those barks mean, you are still able to understand the general message.

So after certain events, your dog will try to communicate with you verbally or through their actions. Trying to understand those messages to figure out what your dog prefers will help to bond the relationship between you two.

Spending years together, pooches and you need to share the same language so that you guys can express the love as much as possible.

The 7 approaches above will surely tighten the bond between you guys, but here’re a few more tips that you can apply to show the love of your dogs to not only them but others as well:

• Making them feel especially by giving them a personalized food bowl that has their face on it.
• Wearing a personalized t-shirt featuring your dog(s) whenever you go out with them.
• Putting a customized flag with your dog picture in your front yard so that everyone can see it.
• Buying a new accessory for your dogs like a personalized bandana on their birthday or other special occasions.

Dogs just make our mental life better than we ever expect, and you know they are one of the special creatures that love humans unconditionally. So now you guys know how to say "I love you" to your dog in the right way. It’s time for dog owners express the love towards their besties and let them know that they’re worth the love.