Exactly, it seems to me that animals communicate within the context of the current situation (e.g. a dog would combining a specific bark, body orientation, neck

Exactly, it seems to me that animals communicate within the context of the current situation (e.g. a dog would combining a specific bark, body orientation, neck fur standing up, to signify "there is something in this direction and I don't like it"). Decoding any one part of the expression wouldn't make us able to understand the whole meaning. This is also what makes two-way communication so hard – we are so focused on our language that we often fail to develop or account for our other ways of expression, (and if we do rediscover our non-verbal expressiveness, it often come in a way of a hacky and very verbal ted-talk or book). So for two-way communication our animal counterparts first have to learn our repressed, underdeveloped body language, gesture, posture and facial expressions.