Canine communication with Julia Collins

Parlez Vous POOCH?!

Blogger and qualified ‘Dog Listener’ Julia Collins explains how hand signals and a whistle can help with canine communication

How many of you have trained your dog to respond to hand signals as well as voice commands? Not many, I bet, and even fewer bother with a whistle. When you set about forging a bond with your dog, it makes great sense to use as many means of communication as possible.

Many of us will have experienced trying to converse with someone who doesn't share our particular language. We use our hands, often acting out that which we do not have the vocabulary for. So why not take the same approach with our dogs? Imagine this; if we are desperate to ask a burning request of our pet, wouldn’t we turn ourselves inside out to get what we need, giving the situation our all in terms of emotion, intent and ingenuity?

So, when gazing into those liquid brown eyes, try seeing yourself as one of two equals. Then, bound by affection and ready to move forward, dissolve complications and difficulties as you go. Adding hand signals to your training commands clarifies and emphasises your instruction and proves a valuable addition to your canine tool box if distance or windy weather prevents your voice from carrying. When your dog cannot hear your voice, he will still look for your signals. P Put it this way – if he can’t hear you, and you haven’t factored in any other communication system, he won’t be looking for anything from you! While you are on the job, use a whistle. Another weather buster and a great attention grabber! You can soon polish up a sequence: whistle to gain attention, followed by signal and voice to forge a strong join-up, thus keeping the focus firmly on you – the leader. The hand signals to use occur to us so instinctively that they barely need mentioning. ‘Come’ – opening your welcoming arms wide (as we do for children) works a treat, and is nice and clear from a distance. ‘Stay’ – one outstretched arm, open palm towards dog. ‘Down’ – indicate just that with downward sweep of the arm ‘Sit’ – upwards from the forearm with a flat palm. Then add your whistle. Multiple peeps as you call your dog in. One long blast for sit at a distance, and I use one short peep for sit and two for down, but you can develop your own system.

Parlez Vous POOCH?! articles are also available on the Oracle, an audio information magazine for visually impaired listeners, which is part of Wymondham and Attleborough Talking Newspapers. To access all the Talking Newspaper recordings, go to

www.watn.org.uk

Julia Collins @walksoflifessuffolk www.walksoflife.co.uk