02 May Communicating With Your Dog

Telling the dog No!

When our dogs do something that we don’t want them to do, we immediately say “No Sam” (their name), or hopefully no ma’am or no sir.  But what I have found is we are still not fully communicating with our dogs.  We tell them no, however we are not saying what we want them to do.

For example someone comes to your door, and your dog is jumping all over him or her.  We grab the dog by the collar, pull them away and tell them no, but we don’t tell them what to do.  Often we yell, down all while the dog continues to jump.  What you want to do is interrupt the dog, and stop the behavior as it is happening.  A sharp verbal interrupter such as an “eh-eh”, “stop” “nope” any word you choose to let the dog know that you disapprove of their actions.  Now here is the opportunity to cue the new behavior and make sure that you reward the dog for their actions.  What you are doing is redirecting the dog’s actions to the behavior that you want or is acceptable.  Many so “no jumping” but assuming the dog has not been taught the cue “jump” he has no idea what “no jumping” means.

The Go To Behavior…”SIT”

I use the command “Sit” for my go to behavior.  This will always let my dogs know what I am trying to communicate with them.  What you will want to do is to condition your dogs to sit automatically at specific situations.  The way you do this is to start asking for a sit in those given situations all the time. Condition your dog to always “Sit” for food, putting their leash on, opening doors, and any time or place that fit into your family dynamics.

Once you see that your dog is regularly sitting for the conditioned items, now you will NOT ASK FOR THE SIT. The sit should become so automatic for your dog they will know in those given situations they must automatically sit. This will teach the dog to “think” for themselves and this also helps them learn self-control.  Sometimes I will have to remind my dogs what it is they are supposed to do, and I say just that!  “What are you supposed to do?”  Now I am sure they have no clue what that means, but it is kind of cute when they sit right after!  Its like “oh yeah, I remember!”

Remember an “eh-eh”, “stop” “nope” by itself may put stop to the behavior but it will only be temporary.  If you don’t replace the undesired behavior with the proper behavior, you will have no long-term improvement.  So don’t just say ” eh-eh”, “stop” or “nope ” because you will just have to keep repeating yourself and that is what we don’t want!

For more help in communicating with your dog call Kim Paciotti at 704-877-7821 or email her at kim@trainingcanines.com Visit our website at www.trainingcaines.com Our new dog training club!  www.caninetrainingassociation.com