Dr. Con Slobodchikoff
Animal behavior scientist, author, and expert on animal communication.
For more than 30 years, I have studied how animals communicate with one another—and what their communication can teach us about the minds of animals and our relationships with them.
Explore my books on dogs, animal language, prairie dogs, and the extraordinary ways animals communicate.
Explore My Books
Explore four books that bring animal behavior and communication to life through science, practical guidance, and unforgettable stories.
How to Talk to Your Dog
Your dog is communicating with you every day. Learn how to recognize the signals behind your dog’s behavior and build a happier, more understanding relationship.
Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals
Can animals have language? Follow Dr. Con’s scientific journey into the communication systems of prairie dogs and other animals—and discover how much they may be saying.
Zephyr’s Tale: A Poodle’s Guide to the Behavior of Dogs
See the world through the eyes of Zephyr, an apricot Standard Poodle, as he shares what dogs know about friendship, training, fear, play, and the people they love.
Prairie Dogs: Communication and Community in an Animal Society
Discover the communication, social relationships, family lives, and remarkable complexity of prairie dog communities.
What Are Animals Really Saying?
Animals do not live in a silent world. Dogs use posture, movement, facial expressions, scent, and sound. Prairie dogs use calls that can convey surprisingly specific information. Across species, communication helps animals warn one another, maintain relationships, resolve conflicts, and survive.
Dr. Con’s work invites us to look beyond the idea that animals merely react. When we learn to observe more carefully, we begin to see individuals exchanging information, making choices, and responding to one another in meaningful ways.
Dogs Are Always Communicating
A dog’s tail, ears, eyes, posture, movements, and vocalizations can reveal excitement, uncertainty, fear, playfulness, and affection. Understanding those signals can strengthen the bond between dogs and their people.
Prairie Dogs Describe Their World
Prairie dogs use sophisticated alarm calls to share information about approaching predators. Their communication provides a remarkable window into the mental and social lives of animals.
Science Changes How We See Animals
The more closely we examine animal communication, the harder it becomes to dismiss animals as creatures guided only by instinct. Their signals reveal social relationships, individual differences, and complex decisions.
About Dr. Con
Dr. Con Slobodchikoff is an animal behavior scientist, author, and professor emeritus of biology at Northern Arizona University. He devoted more than 25 years to studying the communication and social behavior of prairie dogs, whose calls can convey surprisingly detailed information about predators.
His research has helped people recognize that animals have far richer systems of communication than scientists once believed. Through his books, teaching, research, and public appearances, he has encouraged readers to see animals as intelligent individuals with thoughts, relationships, and messages of their own.
Dr. Con is the author of How to Talk to Your Dog, Zephyr’s Tale, Chasing Doctor Dolittle, and Prairie Dogs.
Featured Book
Featured Book
How to Talk to Your Dog
Your dog has been talking to you all along. The challenge is learning how to listen.
How to Talk to Your Dog explains how dogs communicate through body language, sounds, movements, facial expressions, and behavior. Drawing on decades of experience in animal behavior, Dr. Con helps readers recognize what their dogs may be trying to say.
When people understand their dogs more clearly, training becomes less confrontational, misunderstandings become less frequent, and the relationship becomes more rewarding for both the dog and the person.
Follow Dr. Con
Continue exploring the fascinating world of animal behavior and communication. Follow Dr. Con for stories, scientific insights, dog-behavior guidance, book news, and new ways to understand the animals who share our lives.
© 2026 Con Slobodchikoff. All rights reserved.