Communicate with your Dog

 Dear Readers,

If you are viewing this then you might be like me and want to know how to communicate with your darling dog. While there really is no way of speaking fluently to your pet, there are ways to communicate. In a dogs world they use visible body language and tone of voice to speak with one another. If you ever have witnessed two dogs play and it gets a little too rough, the one that is agitated might use a deep growl or even bark, while posting up into a big stance. If they want to give affection, they nuzzle each other's sides and do a higher pitched sound. 

So if we too want to communicate, using these two things can be extremely beneficial. If we want to praise our puppy for doing something, we have a high voice and lower our bodies. If we want to be stern, then we need a low and FIRM voice with a big body. 

We need to take how we communicate as humans and throw it out the window when it comes to our dogs. I say this, as many of my clients hate getting on to their dogs, which leads to a host of issues in the future. From a dog that jumps and won't take no for an answer, or runs out the front door into on coming traffic. 

Pet parents say their dogs are like their own children, but let the dogs get away with everything, leading to dangerous situations that could be prevented. With human children we run the risk of them getting run over or any number of other issues. That is why we discipline and educate kids on right and wrong, but how do you educate when it comes to dogs?

There are three steps to doing this. The first is setting up boundaries. A big boundary for many people are the dogs should not be jumping. Which is a good boundary, but, this would be considered a rule, not a boundary we can teach a dog yet. To make it into a boundary the dog would understand is by teaching them spacial recognition. Ways of doing this is making it where they don't get on furniture and have to sit in order to be petted. 

Once a boundary is set, consequences are next. I say consequences rather than punishment because consequences don't have to be a violent thing. However, just like with kids who break a rule, there must be an action so they don't do it again. For dogs we need to keep in mind that they understand through tone of voice and body language. So if the dog jumps on the furniture, you get really big and say "NO!" in a nice firm voice. Then you go and make them sit and stay away from you. No pets, no reward. They do not get to be rewarded for following the rules after breaking them. Dogs have a simplistic outlook on life, the way we think is not the same for them. So if you reward what you think is a "good behavior" after they got in trouble, it actually confuses them more.

A few forms of consequences are:

- using tools (if you have been properly educated on a prong collar or e-collar and I repeat PROPERLY educated)

        - A prong collar can be tested on a person's wrist. If you do the correct technique then there should be pressure, but NEVER EVER pain associated. 

        - An e-collar if properly fitted and again PROPERLY EDUCATED then this is good to help ground a dog that is going through flight or fight mode. This will have a separate article along with the prong collar.

- If you are training with treats the moment the action occurs, do not give praise or a reward. That includes the treat.

- Ignoring the dog, dogs are pack animals and thrive off of being around one another. In packs, if a dog crosses a boundary, the other dogs will growl, get really big, then go and ignore that dog for a while. This practice helps keep the peace within the pack and make the dog that's in trouble rethink their action.

Of course, consequences need to be in line with how your dog acts and responds to certain aspects of its environment. In another article we will talk about how to evaluate your dog and see the best way to setup a training plan.

The third and final step may seem like a random piece of the dog training puzzle, but it plays a bigger role than most people think. Stability. The more a person stays on giving rewards and consequences for the same thing, the better the understanding the dog has on what they are being taught. Just like children are consistently taught to say 'please' or 'thank you', dogs need stability in the same manner. 

In summary, before a consequence can be given a boundary must be in place and action must be taken every time over the broken boundary.