Dog trainers have an odd sense of humour.
Gareth and I often tease our dogs by saying horrid things like “I hate you, I’m going to feed you to some crocodiles” – and seeing how much their tails wag. (I told you we have an odd sense of humour.)
It’s because dogs don’t really understand that many words. Although most learn “walk”, “biscuit” and “gerroff”. The cleverest dogs in the world know around 300 words, but most pet dogs know only a few.
What they do learn to understand is your tone of voice. In other words, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Even if you say horrid things, if you say them in a happy, kind tone, your dogs will enjoy and wag their tails.
Equally if you say things in a hard, harsh way, no matter how kind meaning your words are, your dog will interpret them as unpleasant.
But the most common mistake people make is not putting any positive emotion into their praise – jut saying “good boy” or “good girl” is only praise if it’s interpreted as such by your dog.
Today’s Talking Tip is all about how we need to think about the tone of voice we use – and how powerful good vocal praise is.
You can find it here: https://www.downdog.co.uk/tips
Watch and enjoy!
Keep training
Carol