Our Multilingual Dogs

Our dogs are far more amazing than we frequently realize.  If we could read them just half as well as they read us, training would be so much easier! 

First, of course, they can hear us.  But for a dog, hearing is just a very small part of the dialogue.  Their noses put ours to shame. Picture a postage stamp sitting on a bandana.  That's the difference in the area a person's olfactory cells cover (the stamp) compared to the area a dog's cover (the bandana).  An experiment conducted by researchers at Duke University found that a fox terrier, selected at random from a group,  could, after three weeks, detect the scent of a fingerprint on a glass slide when compared to four unused slides.  When the researchers placed the slides outside, exposed to rain, wind, and dust, the dog was still able to pick out the slide with the fingerprint after it weathered for 24 hours.  Our dogs smell everywhere we've been, and every emotion we feel.  That's pretty amazing.

Then there's body language.  Not only do dogs communicate amongst themselves in incredibly subtle ways, they learn at an early age the body language of humans.  Whatever you're feeling is expressed in the way you move and hold your body.  And your dog knows exactly what's going on in that head of yours.

And that's where we, as dog lover's, often fail, and why I think some people just seem to have a natural knack for training dogs.  When you get right down to the basics of training dogs, it's pretty cut and dried.  One of my biggest challenges in training people to train their dogs is in getting them to put their whole body into it. Everybody seems to know that you should praise your dog in a happy voice.  But we're not fooling our dogs, they really couldn't care less about a squeaky voiced sound of approval, although for many of our dogs, that's as good as it gets.  I've also had people who only wanted to use "positive methods" to train their dog tell me that when their dog does something wrong, they cross their arms and turn their back.  Wow.  That's a pretty big slap in the face to a dog, and not what I would call only using positive methods. Not that I think there's anything wrong with doing that, I find it very effective for jumping and certain other problem behaviors, I just think it's interesting that someone who feels saying "bad dog" is wrong doesn't look at this as a "punishment", when, in my opinion, most dogs will take a "bad dog" over a turned back any day of the week.

So don't leave your dog feeling unfulfilled and always hoping for more.  When you call her and she comes to you, make happy eye contact, smile,  open your arms wide, and  tell her how wonderful she is in your best "good girl" voice.  Let your praise radiate from your whole body.   If she finally sat or stayed or downed the first time you asked, make it a party.  Conversely, if you've fought to get compliance from a dog who knows exactly what you're asking for and just doesn't feel like it, you still need that whole body praise, even if it comes from your victory in winning the battle, but minimize it, and save the horns and confetti for the really good behavior.  If your dog is an excitable sort, especially if you're working on stays, you'll have to tone this down, of course, but still, your dog will know whether you really care about that perfect sit or not, so don't her down, make your praise come from the heart.   

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