can you read animal's expressions?

[alien girl]

all right, we're lousy at reading humans' expressions and enterpreting tones of voice, or analyzing humans' motives behind their actions. but can you read silky's eyes, or rexie?
i had two cats and i swear their eyes were so expressive. i could read the male cat's eyes: wild and hyper and dominant because of his nature, but loving. (he was the most scary looking cat i've ever seen and some people were scared of him. the mailman said he looks at him like he wants to kill him.) and the female with her gentle and adoring look.
i knew from their tone of voice and body language and look in the eyes when they wanted food, when the male was angry, when they were scared or sick or wanted to play.
what about you?

 

[Needtobreathe]

Nope! not at all.

 

[Jessica]

Personally I find it easier to read animals more than humans, it's hard to explain I look at them and I seem to understand them somehow on a completely different level to humans.

 

[MumToA&D]

Interesting question.
A as a toddler would annoy the hell out of our dog, not know when to let her go when petting/cuddling her to the point hwree one day our lil dog bit her! :wtf: its like she never saw the reason for that, i put it down to age but now i look and think possibly AS... however now with our cat i think she is much better (we still have to dog and seperated A and dog for a long time, we have had no drama's since as A has matured)

 

[Gomendosi]

I have been thinking about this as I don’t have any animals handy at the moment to test the theory with.
Yes, I can sort of read animals expressions but, animals faces are not usually as expressive as all that, mainly their body does the talking.

If a dog’s lip recede and his fangs are on show he could be angry or he could be ‘human smiling’, depending on what his body is doing at the time.

If a cat has facial expressions they must be subtle, I know if they are purring they are content. I can grade the different noises they make for different reasons though.

That’s the one thing I have to give to my family is that there were always pets around for me to be friends with.

 

[Arashi222]

Ahhhh I don't think so I do I tend to annoy the hell out of my dog, but she loves me. I wonder if that is something that some Aspies are good with though.

 

[BlackandWhite Kitsune]

for me ever since i was young ive always felt like foxes were trying to communicate with me be it through facial expressions or telepathically. for example i was a t work and i looked up and there sat a fox a few feet away from me and i looked it and he looked at me and we both nodded and then he ran off to catch a bunny. so i think there's some sort of connection between animals and people

 

[Kelly]

I'm not sure, I always know what my dog wants or what's upsetting her just by her face and body movements. When I lived at home with my mum (who kept my other dog) the two dogs would often fight..well they'd try. I was so tuned in to their behaviour, expressions and movements that I knew long before they even attempted a fight that it was brewing. My dog would have this look on her face, i can't even describe it but when I saw that look I'd pick her up before she even growled or the other dog even noticed. Then I'd have the other dog trying to jump up at me to get to my dog. My dog can be unpredictable with dog sin the street when we are out walking but I'm pretty good at guessing which dogs she'll like and which she will growl at. She has one particular dog who is her absolute nemesis and if that dog is across the street she will go ballistic. I find I can get her excited just with a certain look or smiling at her a certain way, there are lots of little expressions she has and I can tell what sort of mood she's in just by looking at her. I also know when she's feeling really ill just by the way she walks and looks.

Animals seem to like me straightaway too. When I first moved in with my husband, his cat was notoriously viscous (it would attack anyone and everyone except my husband), I walked in he came right up to me, i stroked him he purred and that was it. The cat used to attack my mother in law if she tried to pick him up but if I picked him up he was fine and used to like being held like a baby.

 

[Spinning Compass]

I am much better at understanding animals' body language and expressions than I am understanding people's words. I think it is because animals don't deceive in the ways people do (although some animals do appear capable of deception, it is not the same kind of deception or for the same reasons.) As the title of a recent book put it, "Horses don't lie about love." Neither do dogs or cats.

 

[alien girl]

Ahhhh I don't think so I do I tend to annoy the hell out of my dog, but she loves me. I wonder if that is something that some Aspies are good with though.

aspies are good with animals, or aspies are good with annoying the hell out of everyone? because i seem to be good with both...

 

[Gomendosi]

Me personally, I think that we identify with animals easily because like them, we appreciate honesty.
However, they are better at spotting a faker though, because we have too much going on to see the obvious whereas animals only have to go by the simplest of things, like voice patterns and modulations. Aspergical persons are more often not trying to hide anything in the way that we say things and animals can get that.
Also, non human animals are by default, nurturing, and I firmly believe that unless an animal has been soundly abused in its life, it will recognize somebody that needs affection and then provide the same, unconditionally.

Disclaimer;
I would like to add that I am not a vet so this may not necessarily be entirely accurate, so don’t just go cuddling any wildlife you see ; ]

 

[Arashi222]

aspies are good with animals, or aspies are good with annoying the hell out of everyone? because i seem to be good with both...

Me tooo. Usually my dog is good I annoy her but I love her and she tolerates me...cats on the other hand seriously hate me and often takes swipes at my head.

 

[alien girl]

Me personally, I think that we identify with animals easily because like them, we appreciate honesty.
However, they are better at spotting a faker though, because we have too much going on to see the obvious whereas animals only have to go by the simplest of things, like voice patterns and modulations. Aspergical persons are more often not trying to hide anything in the way that we say things and animals can get that.
Also, non human animals are by default, nurturing, and I firmly believe that unless an animal has been soundly abused in its life, it will recognize somebody that needs affection and then provide the same, unconditionally.

]

yes, non human animals are probably more nurturing than human animals, less shelfish, and less mean and decieving. i fed feral cats in my parens' yard and there was this blind kitten and they all let him eat first, even though they were very hungry themselves, and dont even get me started about dogs.
animals often come to me and like me better than anyone else. many dogs owners told me their dogs dont let strangers pat him, but they let me. they do feel when someone needs their affection.
Disclaimer;
I would like to add that I am not a vet so this may not necessarily be entirely accurate, so don?t just go cuddling any wildlife you see ][/QUOTE]
so now i'm going to go to the zoo, get in the lions' cage and brush their mane (i THINK that's what you call it). thank you for the idea. i'll let you know how it went when i come out.
or if i come out.

 

[Jessica]

That always happens to me when owners tell me their pet is unfriendly and not to go near it because it will bite me or something, but they seem to love me. I think although animals are very simplistic they are very intelligent and their intuition is remarkable. I honestly don't know what i'd do without my cat, over the past few years I have been down a lot with depression/anxiety and my cat can see that i'm upset and he always does something really cute that will make me feel better, he'll sit by me or curl up on me for hours. It's amazing how much they understand and that's why I much prefer animals to humans I guess also they kinda make you feel like you're not so alone because they seem to understand how you're feeling more than people who actually speak the same language as you do haha.

 

[Gomendosi]

It is a mane, yes. I suspect they would be wiry to touch like a beard sort of.
Also, I predict you will be end up either the main course for dinner or the main attraction as a lion tamer

 

[garnetflower13]

I have this weird connection with horses. I have had awful nightmares about them, yet feel drawn to them in my waking hours. I sometimes go with my husband to a nearby farm where there are some horses pastured near the road, and I feed them jaggery sugar. They come running when they see me and I have overcome my fear enough to let them eat a piece of sugar off my palm and even pet them but still they terrify me! Sometimes we stare into each others eyes intently, or if the horse yawns I pretend to do the same. I wish they didn't scare me so.

Also, no I can't read the horse's expressions; I guess that is why they make me nervous!

 

[Vanilla]

Me personally, I think that we identify with animals easily because like them, we appreciate honesty.
However, they are better at spotting a faker though, because we have too much going on to see the obvious whereas animals only have to go by the simplest of things, like voice patterns and modulations. Aspergical persons are more often not trying to hide anything in the way that we say things and animals can get that.
Also, non human animals are by default, nurturing, and I firmly believe that unless an animal has been soundly abused in its life, it will recognize somebody that needs affection and then provide the same, unconditionally.

Disclaimer;
I would like to add that I am not a vet so this may not necessarily be entirely accurate, so don’t just go cuddling any wildlife you see ; ]

I agree with your statement that animals tend to be more honest, so the only thing we have to decipher, is how they feel, not how they want us to think they feel. I too understand animals more easily I find. I feel like I don't read them so much as sense them.

 

[umbrellabeach]

I swear I can read my cat. My brother once claimed that cats are always smiling, but I can see a difference between the face my cat makes when he's happy and the one he makes when he's upset.

 

[Sev]

Seeing as I communicate more with my cat, than with actual people, yeah I guess I can understand my cat's body language. I can tell when shes hungry, tired, needing a hug; simply by looking at her.
I reckon she understands me pretty well also, she lets me pat her when I'm sad or otherwise "distressed", as if its her way of comforting me. Though, all this could just be happening inside my strange mind of mine.

 

[Licorice]

Animals are even harder for me than people! I just think I've often had an advantage because I don't assume that dogs or cats think or feel the same as people...