THE FAMILY DOG HELPLINE
Bakers Acres Dog Blog
6 Steps to Better Communication With Your Dog
When communicating with someone who speaks a different language, it’s helpful to learn their language to help them understand you!
- Article Written by Bakers Acres Founder: Sara Baker, owner of Bakers Acres K9 Academy
Why our dogs don’t listen
“Buddy, come!” “Come...” “Come! Come here!” “Buddy!!! COME!!!”
We have all found ourselves in this situation or one similar to it. It is so frustrating and sometimes terrifying! And oftentimes gets our dogs into a lot of trouble or danger if they don’t listen.
But why does this happen so often?
The problem lies in the fact that our dogs are dogs...not humans. Let me say that again. Dogs aren’t human!!! Dogs are a different species and as such they speak a different language. When communicating with someone who speaks a different language, it’s helpful to learn their language to help them understand you!
What can we do to help our dogs understand us?
As with all relationships, communication is the key! Learning HOW an individual communicates is even more crucial.
Dogs rarely communicate verbally, or vocally. For instance, they only make noise when they’re demanding attention, hyper, anxious, afraid, or aggressive. Other than that, they’re quiet. Or they should be. A happy, healthy dog, is a quiet dog. They speak more with their bodies than their voices. So, if you want your dog to understand “human” you need to first speak “dog”.
STEP 1: Be calm
Take a deep breath. Relax. Are you ready? If you’re frustrated, angry, upset, or scared, pause a second to gather your wits. In the event of an emergency, just don’t say anything. Loud, scared, emotional voices often create or add to the problem. It’s better to remain silent.
STEP 2: Get your dog’s attention
Say their name in a friendly, yet assertive voice. Think of your Grandma and the respect she deserves. Be Grandma.
STEP 3: Speak clearly
Use one word for a specific command and only use that word for that command or context. For example, sometimes we slip up and say “down” when we really want our dog to get “down” off the couch. Differentiate the two commands by choosing a word that means “to lay down” (we like the word “DOWN”) and a correction that means “to get off” (we use the word "OFF").
STEP 4: Give one command and wait
Allow your dog time to hear, understand, and comply with the command. Silence and patience are golden. Repeating the command or saying anything at all can actually cause confusion and your dog will probably just walk away or join in the “barking!” Avoid repeating the command unless it will add clarity.
STEP 5: Follow through until your dog complies
If they turn away to avoid doing what you’ve asked, or something else grabs their attention, say “nope” and bring them back to start over at Step 1.
STEP 6: Throw a party!!!!
When your dog understand and listens, throw a party! Give them a treat! Sing their praises! Show them what a good dog they’ve been.
BONUS MATERIAL
We recommend commands with 1 word, 1 syllable, and a strong vowel sound.
SIT (instead of sit down),
DOWN (instead of lay or lay down),
COME (instead of here or come here),
PLACE (instead of bed or get on your place),
OFF (instead of down when commanding to get off of or down from something),
OUT (instead of drop it or release),
CRATE (instead of kennel or bed)
GET IN (load up in the car)
We love using marker words while actively training or interacting with our dogs.
"Good" means keep doing what you're doing.
"Yes" means good you completed that task, take a brief break before starting a new one.
"Break" means we're all done, go have some fun.
"Nope" means that's not what I wanted. Try again.
"No" means NO! Don't ever do that again.
Cloning Your Pet
While cloning your pet might sound like every pet owner's dream come true, it is not at all healthy for the dog...maybe even for the owner.
Image courtousy of akc.org
Article Written by Bakers Acres Founder: Sara Baker, owner of Bakers Acres K9 Academy
The pet world is all ablaze with the news that Barbara Streisand recently cloned her beloved Coton de tulear who passed away. (Read more about that here). While this might sound like every pet owner's dream come true, it is not at all healthy for the dog...maybe even for the owner because there might now be an unhealthy attachment to a dog that is similar in some respects, but vastly different in others.
Cloning will most likely lead to a smaller and more unhealthy gene pool. Plus there is no guarantee that this "new dog" will be the same as the "old dog." Yes, they might look the same, but temperaments and personalities can be completely different. While genetics does play a large part in how a puppy acts, you have to take nurturing and environment into account. A cloned puppy would probably be treated as a surrogate for the grieving pet parent. And thus would be subjected to very vulnerable and unstable human emotions at a very young age. Too young to understand human emotions and too immature to make wise decisions in a strange world.
We have seen it a LOT with owners who bypass the grieving period and get a new puppy right away. The owner unknowingly place a lot of emotional baggage on the new puppy and the new puppy, overwhelmed with the inability to understand human emotion, acts out in the only way it knows how, attack or flee. Another scenario is when new puppy owners who get a puppy thinking they can serve as their Service Dog or Emotional Support Dog without a temperament test or any previous training and they try to train it themselves when the puppy is not SD or ESA material. Hence the reason why so many puppies and dogs have major behavioral issues at such a young age.
When a beloved pet dies, do the healthy and humane thing...let your pet pass away in peace and let your heart heal from the loss. Then, when the time is right and you are ready, get a new dog that is the perfect temperament and energy level for you.
Dogs Are Dogs, Not Humans
They are not little fur babies, little humans, babysitters, nanny dogs, etc. They are in no way, shape, or form genetically related to homo sapiens.
“Most of the problem behaviors we see in today’s society will disappear if we treat our dogs like dogs.”
A recent vital video depicting a polar bear patting a dog on the head is being grossly misinterpreted.
"When we insist on seeing animals [like humans], we do them a disservice. We assign them the responsibility that comes with being human, including a code of morality that other animals [our dogs included] simply cannot follow." (Read more at, http://qz.com/841693/that-video-of-a-polar-bear-petting-a-dog-turns-out-to-show-us-a-predator-playing-with-its-prey/?utm_source=parBBC)
This is a problem that many of our domesticated pets, dogs especially, are continuously burdened with. We treat them like humans, expect them to behave like humans, hold them to the same accountability as humans. And then when they fail under such a heavy load, we're shocked. The dog ends up at the shelter, on death row, for our own stupidity and unwillingness to see them for who they truly are.
They are not little fur babies, little humans, babysitters, nanny dogs, etc. They are in no way, shape, or form genetically related to homo sapiens. In fact, they are a completely different species!!! Imagine that. They are Canis Familiaris, genetically 98% of they're wild forefathers, Canis Lupus, i.e. wolves...not humans...wolves.
Most of the behavior problems we see in today's society (separation anxiety, containment phobia, general anxiety, over excitement, aggression, reactivity, hyper arousal, household destruction, etc), behaviors we think can be fixed with medication or more love, will disappear if we treat our dogs like dogs.
Show your love, share your affection, when it is appropriate and earned. Then give discipline at the right time with just the right amount of information to teach your dog how to cope with domestic life.