3 minute read
Pet Training - How to Speak Dog
How to Speak “Dog”
Resident Submission by Jason Robbins with Cornerstone Dog Training Tips
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Communicating with your dog in a positive and effective way is easier than people think. I’m here to show you how!
My name is Jason and I’ve been training dogs for years. For me, dogs bring so much love and friendship to life and my passion is to help dog owners have a better relationship with their furry friends. If I could save all the hurt and heartache that comes from lack of communication between dog owners and their pets, my mission would be accomplished!
Dogs understand pressure and release — it’s how they communicate boundaries. There are many ways that dogs use pressure with each other, from growls and nips to full-on fighting. For us, we can use a leash (easiest and most common), but our dogs aren’t always on leashes.
This is where proximal pressure comes in handy! Proximal pressure is all about space: the space around you and around them. What does a dog do when it enters a new room? They walk around the entire room and check out every inch and corner! They think to themselves “okay, if this is my space to take care of then I gotta know what’s in here: every smell, every person - I gotta know it all!”
In short, space matters to them.
To use proximal pressure and release effectively, we need to understand that dogs are a lot like teenagers. They push back against pressure! (Thank goodness teenagers don’t read magazines…)
This is useful for those moments when your dog is not on a leash and he’s doing something undesirable (such as chewing the table leg for example). You want to respond by walking towards them — they sense you are taking up their space (proximal pressure). The faster you walk towards them, the greater the “pressure.”
But applying pressure is not enough! There has to be a release! So the key is, once you get their attention and they stop the bad behavior, release the pressure and give them their space again. If they go right back to chewing on the table leg, you take another step toward them. This lets them know you don’t like what they’re doing and are going to assert your dominance by taking up their space. When the puppy stops to look up at you, step back and release the pressure. Repeat as needed.
Let’s compare this to a more typical scenario. An owner notices an unwanted behavior, and they go over to the puppy and maybe grab them, or pick them up and move them, or stand there and talk at them while shaking their finger “no, no, no! Don’t do that! Bad!” Etc. etc.
The owner has applied extreme pressure (likely more than needed), but even worse, has maintained the pressure by standing in the dog’s space, grabbing it, and talking over it. The dog is confused. “What’s wrong? I stopped, I stopped!” he thinks. When we apply pressure by stepping into their space, and they stop to recognize that pressure, our backing away is a reward to them. They begin to learn that they can maintain their freedom as long as they don’t do the unwanted behavior.
This is the key to training a well-behaved dog! Grant freedom as they earn it. More freedom requires more responsibility, so you must allow them to earn it by proving that they will behave appropriately with the current freedom they have. In this example, that freedom is physical space (and it’s a BIG one for dogs). This is especially important with puppies. It is best to start out by restricting their space because they are not capable of handling it yet. Too much freedom for a dog will end poorly. Far too many people give their puppies the world to roam around in, and then discover that they’ve created a monster.
But dogs can always be trained by talking to them in their language. So even if your dog is older and still does unwanted behavior, don’t give up on them! Apply pressure and release principles, and be sure to look for dog trainers who understand this as well. Patience and consistency will always win out with a dog, no matter how stubborn they seem.
