In my last post I touched on how dogs process the information we give
to them. Basically, our praise and touch and treats say yes to
whatever behavior was just offered by or asked of the dog. On the
other side, the withholding of praise,touch,treats, or issuing a
correction, says no.
By focusing your training on not just saying yes to the behaviors that
you ask for, but also being able to say no to behaviors that you don't
want or could be unsafe for your dog you're able to have a full
spectrum conversation with your dog.
When thinking about having this sort of conversational relationship
with your dog it's important not too take the word "conversation"
literally. One of the first things that I tend to address with new
clients is the issue of "chattering". Dogs generally learn language
through association, i.e. we repeat the word sit every time they sit
on their own or by command. Before long they learn that sit means to
put their butt on the floor.
What happens when we constantly chatter at them with every thing that
flows through our stream of consciousness is they learn to disregard
our voices as having nothing important for them. We essentially turn
ourselves into the teacher from the old Peanuts cartoon spouting an
endless stream of nonsense words.
Teach your dogs yes, teach them no, and teach yourself to communicate
both to them clearly and fairly.
