22 Mar Your Dog: Did You Know?

Canine Learning

I don’t think owners realize how smart their dogs really are.  These creatures are amazing.  Just their senses alone are so far superior to ours.  We really don’t give them the credit that they deserve.  We often call them stubborn, when in all actuality they are not that at all.

Did you know?

TOUCH- The earliest and possibly the most important of all dogs’ senses.

HEARING- The hearing is 4 times more accurate than ours.

SMELL- Their smell memories last a LIFETIME!

SIGHT- Our dog’s peripheral vision is 270 degrees, ours is 180 degrees.

TASTE- This is the only other sense functioning at the birth of our dogs. They have 11,706 taste buds we have 9000.

Male’s scent in tracking is stronger than females.  Dog’s nasal receptors replace themselves every two weeks.

Your dog’s hormones have a profound effect on their behavior, just as your children’s hormones do!

Dogs communicate with each other by sound, facial expression and scent.  With scent being the number one communicator.  That is why they always sniff butts!

Did you know?

1. Normal dogs learn at any age up until their mental capabilities deteriorate in old age.
2. Patience and Rewards- Our patience in training is a must.  Rewards must be given in one second for the dog to understand!  This is extremely hard for us to do. That is why you should use a marker word or a clicker, it will give you the extra time you need to deliver the treat to your dog.
3. Value of the reward must equal the value of the behavior.  The reward must be rewarding to your dog, not rewarding to you.  A hundred dollar bill is rewarding to you, a dog treat to your dog!
4. Mental activity is more tiring for your dog than physical activity.  Play games with your dog that challenge his mental awareness.
5. Short training sessions work the best.  If you are training for an hour or so, mix it up and give the dog time to take a break.
6. Train the most important commands first.  I train Come-Sit-Stay-Down-Down Stay in that order.
7. One word commands.  Remember Down is down, off is off.
8. Have your dog learn from one person first, then from another.  Conflicting cues and commands do nothing but frustrate you and your dog.
9. Quiet environment when trying to teach something new.  After the dog knows what you’re asking, then take it to a different environment.
10. Punish with care.  Time outs and the removal of your attention produce greater results than yelling, or worse yet hitting your dog.

Did you know?

The most common way a dog learns?  Observation.  The saying goes “watch and learn” and they do.  Many times I have seen one dog with bad habits teach a perfectly well behaved dog to change their ways.  The amazing thing is it only takes a few displays of the bad behavior for the new dog to learn.  Especially if you have an owner yelling at the dog.  The new dog watches and thinks, hmm…. so I can make my owner do that!  Be careful what you do or say in front of your dogs!!