Many behavior problems arise from normal dog behaviors such as chewing and barking. Oftentimes, we think we are being clear by acting and vocalizing to our pets, in reality, we are not communicating in a way that our dog can understand. Even though your communication with your pet seems obvious to you, it is often as if trying to understand a foreign language to a dog. They can only interpret the best way they know-how.
It is important to understand how your dog communicates so that you can be more effective when training/teaching your dog. Don’t expect puppies or adult dogs to understand and read your mind immediately. as different dogs work at a different pace. Participating in training classes and working with certified dog trainers from an early age can be very helpful.
Understanding your dog’s experience and gaining insight into how its mind works can truly make you a better teacher, leader, and companion to him. Seeing the world from your dog’s perspective will help promote communication and enhance the relationship between you.
In dog training, we have a term called “trainer babble.” These are all the words that dogs tune out, because they can only focus on so much at a time. If you are moving and talking at the same time, your dog is responding more to your body movement than to your words, because the movement is more salient, meaning it will overshadow your words.
We should understand dog body-language to keep ourselves, our dogs, and other people and dogs safe. Every dog has the equivalent of a dangerous weapon – teeth. How they wield that weapon is affected by environment, genetics, and training. Regardless, it is vital that we be able to read a dog, to prevent and avoid any potential conflict.
When a dog’s hackles went up, you will have a sense of urgency to diffuse the potential conflict. Rather than react