animal vs human non verbal communication

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I want to bounce off what someone said about dogs being easier to communicate with than humans , on the "do you ask questions" thread, but i'm curving my habit of going off topic and so here is this thread.
It made me wonder, if our problems with non verbal communication are so prominent, how come a lot of us refer to animals of other species than ours like cats and dogs as "easier to understand"? We are supposed to be super verbal people who cannot decipher a raised eyebrow. So why do i see dogs smile? And understand if it means that they're just amused, or that they want to do something and are trying to put me in the mood to do it by smiling? I don't even own a dog, and i'm not a dog person, because i hate their smell, but I remember that when i was a child, a woman brought her dog to our clas and "taught" us how to behave with dogs and recognise their non verbal signals, with ears and growls and very basic things. And i was thinking, i never really look at a dog's ears, they can speak with their eyes...
So : NTs teach children to recognise animal body language the way we teach ourselves to decipher human body language. Facts, what muscles move to indicate what state of mind, etc.
But for me, it was all instinctive, i just read the animal's face like an open book. Am i the only one, and if not, does that mean....something?
I can read birds body language, head tilts, shoulder shrugs. I can see when a cat is resentful in a split second, i can feel when a horse likes me but really isn't in the mood to joke around, i can instinctively feel the moment when a spider goes from "omg hide " to "you, i'm going to get you, even if it costs me my life" ( yes, we have those kind of agressive spiders where i live...slowly getting used to them )
So why don't i just know if someone likes me? Why can't i see if someone is in the worst mood ever until they snap at me? Why am i only blind to my own species body language, and who else is the same, and any science guy has an explanation for that? ( see, i DO ask questions after all )

Animals are easier to read because they don't lie.

If my cat is mad, he's going to either lash his tail, stomp around the house, or pee on something he knows he isn't supposed to.

I find animal body language very easy to read, especially cats and dogs. I don't really know why this is, but I can look at a cat and tell mood - and I can interact with them in such a way that I can generally get along with them unless they're difficult to get along with in general or mad at me specifically for some reason.

I find it strange when dog owners act like their dogs are being hostile to me when the dog is obviously being very friendly, and I am okay with the friendliness (I hate the smell, but I am okay with dogs otherwise), and they're acting like I'm being put upon. It's odd. Also seeing other people get intimidated by dogs who are obviously friendly and trying to greet them. It's pretty easy to introduce yourself to the dog and get it over with, but people act like BITING IMMINENT. Odd.

Yes Verdandi i've had the same thing happen to me, it's like people don't even know their own dog, and then are very surprised when the dog let you come close...When i was a kid i had the habit of going to unknown dogs,the dog could be barking his head off, but with the right smile in your eyes, you can turn them into friends. I used to practice that a lot, and i remember getting comments such as " how is that even possible?" from the grown ups around. Of course it won't work when a dog is not that kind of dog, when he means business and WILL bite you if you go, but you just know which ones that is. So, i can read intentions. Just not in humans. Did my mirror neurones somehow think i was the family dog's daughter as an infant and plugged themselves on HIS body language instead of my mother's?

When I was 18, I lived at my grandparents' farm, where they had a feral cat colony that kept rodents under control, and they kept the cats fed. These cats were fine with the food but they did not get along with people, you know? I think within a month several of them wanted to sleep in my bed with me (I lived in a camper - the only spare bed available. It had power and heat, so comfortable). When a neighbor kid saw me with the cats he tried to pick one up and got mauled pretty badly. I'm just glad his father heard me say "Leave them alone, they don't like people."

One thing they'd do sometimes is follow me into the house and sit with me while I watched television or whatever, but if I left them alone they'd totally freak out and try to escape the house. Okay, this only happened once because it only needed to happen once (the cat was asleep, I didn't want to wake her - she woke up and lost her s**t while I was in the bathroom).

Some never let me touch them, but they were more okay with me being around than other people.

I think that human body language, especially facial expressions are a lot more subtle than animal body language. With humans, the difference between a slight smile and a half smile makes a huge difference. Just think about the subtleties of eye contact. There are times to make eye contact, but if you hold it too long, then you're staring. There are just so many small details in human expressions. I think that animal body language is just simpler.

Strange that you can read animals but not humans, because I think it is the same. Animals can lie. My cat uses her body language to mislead me to think something else is going on. Horses do the same. I notice it though, as much as I notice it in people. By my point of view: body language is the only language I trust.
I have been tricked by animals before and sometimes, my cat still manages to trick me, for example when she has done something wrong. She just hopes I wont see it, or tries to become my best friend, so that I wont be so mad at her when I find out.
Also if something is embarrassing, she acts as if nothing happened and hopes nobody noticed. That is ultimatively funny.

Maybe you are distracted by peoples words?

My cat did the same thing - extremely (and deliberately) misleading body language. She would suddenly sit up, prick her ears, crane her head and shift her front paws, wagging her tail, and stare at the front door. Me, thinking the other cats wanted in or someone was at the door, would get up and go look. There was no one there, but when I came back the cat had claimed the arm chair.
Generally though I'm the same, and find animals easy to read and understand, where I completely fail with humans. I used to have horses, and they were the same. Reading their body language saved me from getting thrown potentially badly more than once. I don't know what the difference is - mainly humans are more complex, their motivations behind the body language more obscure as maybe aspies don't share it or understand where it's coming from. Who knows.

I find it interesting that people are suggesting that their pets share their perceptions of right and wrong.

Not that animals don't learn that we consider some things to be off limits, but I am not sure this translates into a sense of "it's wrong to do that" more than a sense of "if I do that, I don't like the consequences of getting caught at it."

Animals don't have to hide who they are in order to eat and drink and survive. Humans do, and this has far reaching implications on how we act. It's not just as simple as humans lie, it's much much deeper than that. Lying by itself doesn't account for serial killers and nymphomaniacs.