A Little Less Conversation....

The same goes for the limits on a dog’s memory for vocabulary. At the top end, very brainy collies and other working breeds have been trained to master up to 250 words - whereas at the other end, your average dog will probably know about a 100 (though with some of their ‘best’ words, I think they may even recognise them when we spell them!). Again, compared with a human child, even the most able dog is coming in at the preschool level.

I found that pretty surprising when I learned it. Sometimes I think my dog looks so knowingly at me that I feel she’s almost looking right into me.

So, what can we take from that to help us communicate better with our dogs and help them to better and happier lives?

Well, a big thing for me has been to ‘say less’ to my own dog - and the dogs I work with when training. I have had to unlearn the habit of speaking to children and young adults.

I don’t know anyone who really enjoys being bossed. But no-one likes a bossy teacher! A good way to give instructions and make requests when working with young people is to use ‘softeners’: pleases and thank yous and would you minds…etc.

The effect is usually very effective because it is soft and unprovocative - but it can be quite wordy. A request to a child that you just want to sit down might be: ‘Hey, good to see you - would you sit over beside so-and-so today because we are going to be working in pairs this period?’

Out of all of those words spoken to the child, most (but not all - humans are individuals too) are able to pick up on the bit that gives them their ‘instruction’ and can follow that.

Of all of those words, this time repeated to a dog, which of them would they even know?

Good. Sit.

So all I actually need to say to my dog is, ‘Sit!’

Yeah, well, it’s easier for sure.

Instead, I frequently catch myself embedding the request word in a big long phrase that my poor dog has to puzzle out.

We are trained to be polite, we dislike being bossed ourselves and we want to show good manners so we often end up speaking to our dogs as though we were talking to a child! It is a very human foible.

Here’s the thing though: this is one time where less is definitely more (or is that fewer??). Our dogs will thrive on nice clear requests. Single word quests. Some thinking time for them to process and co-operate. A nice clear reward word to reassure them that they are doing the right thing.

That is what dogs want. To work with us and co-operate with us. A dog in a good relationship with its human, loves to make them happy.

Kids in a classroom don’t want to be bossed - but they do want to be led. They do want some direction. And that is maybe a good way to help to change our mindset when it comes to our dogs.

We are not bossing them or domineering them - we are giving them direction, guidance and leadership - and we are doing it in a way that suits them.

There is some debate about the brain power of our dogs but not that much. Most dog experts and studies in dog psychology have concluded that dogs are capable of a similar level of cognitive ability as a 2.5 - 3 year old human child. So in terms of the brain activity, reasoning, thinking and remembering that a dog can do: we are looking at a preschooler.

Even when we are thinking about our cleverest dogs.

The same goes for the limits on a dog’s memory for vocabulary. At the top end, very brainy collies and other working breeds have been trained to master up to 250 words - whereas at the other end, your average dog will probably know about a 100 (though with some of their ‘best’ words, I think they may even recognise them when we spell them!). Again, compared with a human child, even the most able dog is coming in at the preschool level.

I found that pretty surprising when I learned it. Sometimes I think my dog looks so knowingly at me that I feel she’s almost looking right into me.

So, what can we take from that to help us communicate better with our dogs and help them to better and happier lives?

Well, a big thing for me has been to ‘say less’ to my own dog - and the dogs I work with when training. I have had to unlearn the habit of speaking to children and young adults.

I don’t know anyone who really enjoys being bossed. But no-one likes a bossy teacher! A good way to give instructions and make requests when working with young people is to use ‘softeners’: pleases and thank yous and would you minds…etc.

The effect is usually very effective because it is soft and unprovocative - but it can be quite wordy. A request to a child that you just want to sit down might be: ‘Hey, good to see you - would you sit over beside so-and-so today because we are going to be working in pairs this period?’

Out of all of those words spoken to the child, most (but not all - humans are individuals too) are able to pick up on the bit that gives them their ‘instruction’ and can follow that.

Of all of those words, this time repeated to a dog, which of them would they even know?

Good. Sit.

So all I actually need to say to my dog is, ‘Sit!’

Yeah, well, it’s easier for sure.

Instead, I frequently catch myself embedding the request word in a big long phrase that my poor dog has to puzzle out.

We are trained to be polite, we dislike being bossed ourselves and we want to show good manners so we often end up speaking to our dogs as though we were talking to a child! It is a very human foible.

Here’s the thing though: this is one time where less is definitely more (or is that fewer??). Our dogs will thrive on nice clear requests. Single word quests. Some thinking time for them to process and co-operate. A nice clear reward word to reassure them that they are doing the right thing.

That is what dogs want. To work with us and co-operate with us. A dog in a good relationship with its human, loves to make them happy.

Kids in a classroom don’t want to be bossed - but they do want to be led. They do want some direction. And that is maybe a good way to help to change our mindset when it comes to our dogs.

We are not bossing them or domineering them - we are giving them direction, guidance and leadership - and we are doing it in a way that suits them.

Another time we will get into how we can use dog-to-dog communication with our dogs - in other words, we will learn some dog! But right now, let’s round this off with this little fact: did you know that your dog can read your facial expressions? There are very few animals that can but dogs have evolved so closed to humans, really they wouldn’t exist but for humans so it is not surprising they really do read us.

So, give your dog a big smile with their reward words. Show them that you are happy with them. And, because smiling is good for us too - everyone’s a winner!

Bring on that oxytocin!

So, give your dog a big smile with their reward words. Show them that you are happy with them. And, because smiling is good for us too - everyone’s a winner!

Bring on that oxytocin!