Dogs have their own language and culture, local expert says

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“Do you speak dog?”

Those are the words that Phillip Levine hears each time he meets a new four-legged friend. Observers, on the other hand, might just hear a bark or a playful growl.

“They say this to me,” maintains Mr. Levine, who fancies himself a “dog whisperer” of sorts, and who can often be seen on Main Street in Southampton Village, and elsewhere on the South Fork, with his German shepherds relaxing on the hood of his white SUV. “Dogs have their own language and organizational structure.”

Mr. Levine explains his understanding of canine language this way: “Imagine you’ve been in a foreign country for five years, and no one speaks English. Then, you’re at an open market, and you hear it spoken. You’d immediately perk up and [be] drawn to it. It’s the same way with dogs.”

Mr. Levine is the owner and founder of Companion Dogs Ltd., an East Hampton-based company whose philosophy is: “You don’t have to have special needs to have a special dog.”

Though he trains some dogs to be search-and-rescue canines, and others so they can work with the disabled, most of Mr. Levine’s clients simply want a responsive, loving dog that can be a part of their lives. “A companion,” he adds, pointing to his company name.

Mr. Levine says he is primarily a “teacher-trainer” of dogs, and that most of his clients simply want the companionship of a “well-mannered and properly civilized dog.” Hey says that each dog is unique, and that there is no “clean slate” upon which you can design a dog’s personality or behavior.

Mr. Levine says he “teaches-trains” dogs at any age and can work at owners’ homes or, in some cases, has the dog live with him during the “teaching-training” phase. He says he only works with a small number of dogs at a time, as the work he does requires a great deal of attention and effort. “This is something you can’t crank out,” he says. “This is a concentrated effort.”

Every once in a while, Mr. Levine will take in a stray and, when ready, will place that dog with the appropriate family. He says a good portion of his business is selling dogs that have achieved a higher elevation of training and cultivation. “It’s not inexpensive,” he says. “But you can either buy a Ford or a Ferrari.”

Mr. Levine believes his ability to relate and communicate with dogs is a God-given gift that he has had for his entire life. “I’ve always struggled to be understood,” he says. “But I’ve always felt that I was able to understand dogs, and that they understood me.”

He considers himself a student of dog culture—a culture that, he explains, is instinctive and primarily sensory. “We know that dogs perceive things with their eyes and ears, but understand things based mostly on their ability to smell.”

Though he is a lifelong pupil of dog culture, Mr. Levine quickly adds that he will never fully be able to comprehend it. “Just like I may speak enough Japanese to function in their culture, I will never be fully able to understand it, because I’m not a native,” he says.

Mr. Levine says his grandmother was the first to recognize his special gift with dogs, and it was she who encouraged him to nurture it. “She told me that God gives everyone a gift,” he says. “But that you have to be able to recognize it.”

Through the benevolence of a neighbor, Mr. Levine began taking in stray dogs when he was 7 years old. Growing up in Queens, he says, his mother would never let him have a dog. “She grew up in the Depression and had to wait for the dogs to leave the garbage cans so she could see if there was any food left,” he says. “So she had a bad association with dogs. But that’s changed now that she’s older.”

Mr. Levine credits the neighbor, Mrs. Brissman, for cultivating his gift. When strays would wander onto his street in Queens, he would take them in and keep them in her garage. “There I would teach them and socialize them,” he says. “I would bring them back to health and then sell them.”

At first, Mrs. Brissman subsidized Mr. Levine’s business practice. But eventually, using money he collected from selling dogs, he was able to sustain the business on his own and pay for the cost of food and veterinary care. “Mrs. Brissman provided me the opportunity to realize my calling in life,” he says.

Mr. Levine explains that the major difference between dog culture and human culture is that dog culture is innate, whereas human culture is learned. “Dogs are not random creatures,” he says. “Nor are they simply composites of behaviors imposed upon them.”