Effective Communication in Dog Training

"Effective Communication in Dog Training"," They adapt to countless situations.
 A dog's ""vocabulary"" can reach upward of 150 distinct words! However, regardless of how smart, how skilled, and how adaptable they are, dogs will never be verbal animals.
 Because of this, it's only natural that your dog will interpret your words though a ""filter"" - of body language, facial expression, tone of voice, even your attention.
 While this article is geared toward training the family dog, the fact is that whether your dog is strictly a family pet, a competitor in canine sports, or a full-time working dog, getting the most out of your training time means learning to communicate effectively with your dog.
 This is true whether you are teaching some new skill, practicing an old one, or refining an advanced behavior.
 This tells your dog that you find the behavior worthy of interest.
 They value it, and will work to get it - and this is not even considering whether or not the dog finds the behavior reinforcing in and of itself.


Bring yourself into a training session committed to focusing on your dog to the same extent that you are asking him to focus on you.
 This is basic respect and consideration, no more than you would give any good friend! To be attentive to your dog, you don't need to stare at him, but you should be aware of him.
 And if your dog gives a response you weren't hoping for? Instead of drawing attention to it, verbally or otherwise, ignore it and move on! Drawing attention to poor responses often simply cements them in the dog's brain, and makes it more likely that he will offer it again.


As you practice this approach to working with your dog, you will soon find that your dog will be working to gain your attention by doing those things you like.
 Kind of hard to find a down-side to that, don't you think?

The Body Language of Effective Dog Training

Training your dog is the ultimate expression of leadership: you are taking the initiative to teach, guide, and direct your dog.
 Let's look at the components of non-verbal communication as they affect your dog:

Invite learning with your facial expression and demeanor.
 Training should be a positive, pleasant experience for you and your dog.
 Smile gently.
 Take a deep, relaxing breath, and keep breathing! When you are relaxed and happy, you present a safe haven for your dog's attention.


If you find yourself becoming flustered, frustrated, tense, or anxious, your may find that your dog reflects your emotions:

He may seek calmness elsewhere, by avoiding looking at you, or even trying to move away from you.

He may ""act out"" in an attempt to distract you or diffuse the situation.


If any of these happen while training your dog, before you direct your frustration at him, look to yourself first.
 When training your dog, especially a dog new to you or new to training, your movements and body language should give off an air of calm, relaxed confidence.
 (Remember your facial expression? Your body language should also ""invite learning"".
 If your body needs to bend, keeping your shoulders relatively back will help maintain a bearing of self-assurance.
 He may naturally assume that you are playing, acting submissive, anything but training! Any hand signals associated with commands should be clean, simple and definitive.


Communicate composure.
 Whether you are working on a stationary exercise (such as a sit-stay), or a moving exercise (such as heeling, or a recall), focus on keeping your body language ""quiet"".
 Allow your dog to focus on your words and any intended hand or body signals; don't put him in a position to have to sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.
 But for now - first things first.
 When training your dog, keep in mind that your voice conveys more than just the command itself.
 Dog owners new to training often vary their cue delivery, switching back and forth between, for example, a nice, straightforward ""sit"", a loud and forceful ""SIT!"", and a sing-songy, not particularly confident-sounding ""si-yit?"" To a dog, each of these sounds is very different, not like the same cue at all! Again, dogs are not verbal animals.
 Do yourself and your dog a favor: keep the sound of your cues consistent.
 When you give your dog a verbal cue, your voice, like your body language, should be relaxed and even.
 As you give your cue, picture your dog performing the exercise nicely -- this confidence will come through in your voice.
 Trying to train your dog in these ""lost puppy"" tones will be an exercise in frustration.
 At the other extreme, you don't need to assume a loud, tough-sounding ""command voice"".
 First, aggressive, intimidating tones tend to introduce resistance in more confident dogs, and unthinking subservience in less confident ones.
 Second, your dog is perfectly capable of listening and responding when you speak in a normal, pleasant, everyday tone of voice.
 So, why in the world teach your dog that you have to play ""drill sergeant"" in order to have him do as you ask? It introduces unnecessary stress into training, is not particularly productive, and certainly doesn't reflect a relationship of willing partnership.
 The bottom line: to promote cooperation, teach your dog his cues in a voice that is reasonable, comfortable, and normal for you.
 All too often, we get so caught up and focused on teaching our dogs that, just when we need to relax and enjoy the moment of success, we end up giving praise that is hollow, rehearsed, and frankly, not very praise-like at all.
 Praise doesn't need to have a certain tonal quality or pitch nearly as much as it needs to convey that you are sincerely pleased and happy at that moment.


Feel free to ""test run"" different happy sounds on your dog, to see what kind of reaction you get.
 Don't think you can fool your dog - he lives with you and is fully aware of how you sound and look when you are happy, sad, mad, and indifferent.


If you do need to use your voice to indicate that you don't want a particular behavior - whether you say no, or ah-ahh, wrong, etc - the sound should be dismissive, not angry or frightening.
 Remember, as you work with one another, both you and your dog will make mistakes.
 A dog trained this way will understand your message, while continuing to want to work with you.
 Can you do it another way? Sure.
 Remember, both you and your dog will make mistakes as you go along.
 Now get out there and enjoy yourselves!




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