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Choosing Dog Training
Commands |
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Article |
Dog Training Commands are obviously essential, but the choice
of commands is often overlooked by dog owners without giving
that choice the importance it deserves during their dog's obedience training.
When choosing which commands to use for a dog, don't do as most
people do and just use whatever you think sounds 'normal' or
most common. These are often the least effective commands to
use. Regardless of how well you train a dog to respond to its
commands, the words you use will always have a huge impact on
the overall effectiveness and reliability of the dog's responses
to these commands.
The most important thing to bear in mind is how OFTEN your dog
is likely to hear that word or sound. If you use a word which
your dog will be likely to hear often when it is NOT actually
being used as a command, then you will always be on an uphill
struggle with your dog's sharpness and responsiveness to that
word.
A good example of this is NO. Whilst many see this word as a
correction, it is not, it is a command, and we should try to
think of ALL words in the same way. NO is not a way to tell a
dog off, but a way to command it to STOP what it is doing immediately.
Therefore if you wish to have a quick response to such a command,
why use something so commonly used in everyday language?
Imagine you are a dog who has been taught that NO generally means
he must stop doing something, and usually the dog will sense
that whilst its not a punishment, it IS a correction through
the tone and situations when this command is used. So you understand
this word, you are laid in your bed in the corner of the room,
and your owner is on the telephone to a pushy sales rep, are
you getting the idea?! If your owner were stood there saying
NO, NO, NO repeatedly throughout the conversation, you would
probably be lying there rolling your eyes, ears back and licking
your lips in anxiety. Whilst this is a problem in itself (i.e.
its not fair on the dog) it is also a perfect way to DESTROY
the accuracy of the command when it is directed at the dog.
Use words which sound weird or unfamiliar to you now, these will
be words which you don't often say and therefore make great words
to use for commands. With my dogs, i don't use the word NO, i
use a sound, and each dog has a different NO sound, it might
be PSSSH, or AH AH, or NEIN (german for No, don't use if you
are German!) etcetera. The reason is because i never make these
noises or sounds OTHER THAN when speaking to the dog in a situation
which requires a correct reaction. Foreign words are perfect
for this, but literally anything will do, as remember a dog knows
nothing of language, just sound associations, so as long as you
make a sound and make it the same each time, its perfectly effective.
By using and CHOOSING commands which your dog is almost certain
never to hear other than when you WANT the dog to hear it and
understand it, you will make things much easier for yourself
and your dog, and your dog's obedience will be FAR more consistent
in return. |
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