I have written this blog How to teach your dog human words and know your dog is listening to help anyone who is trying to train their dog to be responsive to their commands. Firstly I will explain a little to why they do not know what you are saying.
Noise, confusion. weakness, instability are some of the basics of what our dogs hear and feel from us when we speak to them as humans. Let me explain.
The record number of words learnt by a dog is 1022. That is 1022 individual nouns, not in sentences. Individual words attached to an individual sound or spoken word. This is a Border Collie named Chase. It took over 3 years of intense training to achieve this and her owner is a Psychology Professor. Border Collies are the most intelligent breed of dog, granted, yet even this super intelligent dog with a super intelligent owner took 3 years of intense training to achieve this and they are individual words not in sentences.
So why did I say noise, that is because dogs do not understand what comes out of our mouths, to them it is just a noise until we attach it to a particular task and then do it repeatedly. Dogs are very clever animals and very adaptable yet they are a totally different animal to a human being. Totally different. People often challenge me on the fact that dogs do not know what we are saying. I usually have 2 replies the first being that a new born human baby knows zero words and it takes months and months of effort and repetition before they learn their first word and even longer to teach meanings to them words. So by the same principle if a baby was raised by any other species other than human beings they would not speak a human language. If a baby was born to German parents in Germany yet raised in the USA by American adults. That baby would not know any German words. So how can we possibly expect our dogs to know what are saying. This usually gets met with "its in the tone of your voice". Wow. Remember Chase was not taught over a thousand words because of a tone of voice change. Every word is delivered in the same tone!
My secondary response is I ask if my customer has ever been around Cats or Horses? I ask this because Cats, Dogs and Horses have all been domesticated by man over time, more so than the other farmyard animals that we see today. Yet we rarely humanise a cat or a horse the way we humanise a dog. We rarely expect a cat or a horse to know what we are saying. We are far less likely to think that we can hurt a cats feelings, instead we admire them for being a different kind of animal that happily lives amongst us.
So do you believe me? If you do read on if you do not read the first part again. I love dogs with all of my heart yet they respond to me because I treat them like dogs. So my rehabilitation of dogs has been so successful not because of the tone of my voice, it is because I treat them like dogs and I do not expect them to know what I am saying or what I want from them until I teach it to them!
This is how to teach your dogs words, first thing to do is make sure the space you are working in is manageable by you and more importantly, the second aspect is to set them up to succeed. Try to work in a space that has as little distraction to the dog as possible. My commands are short and simple. I deliver my command in a straight meaningful way without anger or ego, I am also very aware that it is a command not a request. Yet that does not mean I have to show authority in my voice or body language. Just a calm assertive energy with a mind set of this is going to happen. I have a mind set like that because I am always conscience of what energy I portray.
I give a single command in the way I have described and then I see it through in silence. Complete silence. I do not repeat myself. Once I have given my command I then give the dog a chance to do it (the more you practice the more you will learn your dogs intention) we are not entering into doggie competitions or dog shows, so please show some patience at first. Once I have given the dog a chance to do it and he has shown no intention to act I will physically make it happen. With the same calm assertive energy I started with and still in silence. Now I know saying things once is difficult especially when you have gotten into a routine of saying things multiple times. I also know that it is possible for us to learn how to do it. Likewise I know that if we repeat ourselves and our dog is still not doing the thing we have commanded them to do then those words become associated with not doing the thing that we told them to do instead of being associated with the thing you have told them to do. I hope that made sense. Please remember that our dogs are fixed minded so they always live in the now and present. So if we say something once and then see it through in silence then our dog will associate that command and the thing we are telling them to do together. If I give a command I always see it through. This teaches a dog that I am prepared to see it through whatever I say. This is then teaches the dog that any command I give will be followed up with action. So in return the dog will start to do what I am commanding. They will start to trust what I say because I will consistently see it through.
So I have given a command, I have given them a chance to do it and I have seen it through in silence so the task is complete. Then I do it again from scratch I give a single command, I give them a chance to do it then I see it through in silence so again the cycle is complete. Then I do it again all over again and again. Remember the effort it takes to teach a human words? So be prepared to practice.
It will not take much practice before you can give your command and your dog will do the required task without you having to see it through. I promise.
As soon as this happens no matter what the task is let them know how pleased you are. Your dog has just done what you requested without you having to make it happen without you having to raise your voice. The best dog in the world!!!!!! I truly mean that, your dog is doing what you ask of it without fuss or drama at the time you request it then there is no better dog. So let them know. Remember that if we set our dogs up to succeed we have a far higher chance of success and when we have success we can reward them more often. Which is great because then it will motivate them to keep doing what you want them to do.
So my command is straight forward, it is short and my energy is correct my dog has just done exactly as I have commanded. The reward for the dog doing the task is rewarding enough to encourage him to keep doing it. I have practiced enough so I know that they do it on command, then I am ready to practice doing it in other situations with more distractions. When teaching our dogs anything especially something new we start with as little distraction as possible around the dog. Remember set them up to succeed.
Eye Contact is hugely important, especially when we are training our dogs. Yet first let me explain how I give eye contact. Quite simply put it is exactly the same gaze as I look at my customers with. Exactly the same. I am not trying to give any particular look, like when a parent gives a knowing glare to the child of "you had better not do that again" and usually, rightly so the child will not continue to do what that look suggests they should stop doing. Yet my eye contact does not change. If anything it might get a little softer when a dog is not responding well to me. It will never get harsher I will never try and intimidate a dog with eye contact. That being said if I have eye contact with a dog and I give a command my chances of that dog completing the task are greatly improved. So lets start rewarding non aggressive eye contact. It is just a form of communication that dogs use and understand. It is just eye contact nothing more. Eye contact is a good thing honestly. It is a very good indication that our dogs are listening and they are in tune with us.
Practice practice practice the more effort that you put into teaching your dog words the better the results will be and your dog will love you for it.
I hope that you enjoyed this blog. If you require my services please get in touch. Or click the button.