What is your most powerful training tool? The training collar? A leash? Favorite treats? Not quite. Your single, best, most versatile and most powerful training tool is.... your voice. In this article we will help you with the fundamentals of using your voice to your best advantage when training your dog.
Keep Things Simple
Learning to link a sound with a desired behavior is not easy for a dog and he needs your help. Your job, as his teacher, is to make the lessons as easy to comprehend as possible. Using one or two word commands and using the same words consistently allows your dog to understand what you want as fast as he can. Common Owner Errors: changing the words; "Sit Down," "Sit Here," "Here, boy, sit" are all common and confusing variations on the correct command "Sit."
How You Say It
While dogs may not immediately understand what we are saying, they are masters of understanding how we say things. As humans, most of us are not used to giving orders. We tend to either ask in a questioning tone or we demand, in an angry tone. Does this sound familiar? "Sit?" "Rover, rover, rover?" "Sit?" "Sit boy....." Dogs understand the questioning tone as one of lack of confidence and authority and respond randomly, at best.
The flip side of the coin is the ordering tone. "Dog! Sit!" we say gruffly. Not only does this intimidate some dogs, but it leaves you with a dog who will only listen when spoken to harshly. This is not pleasant for anyone. Dogs learn to respond at exactly the point where you make them respond. So if you give a calm, controlled, confident "Rover, sit." and then gently place him in position with praise, he'll learn to respond to a normal tone with a wagging tail.
How Often You Say It
Dogs, dogs, dogs are not dumb, dumb, dumb. Say a command once. If the dog does not respond he is either a) not understanding the command or b) ignoring you. Neither case is benefited by repetition. Commands mean ACTION! Either your dogs or yours. But don't repeat.
When You Say It
Dogs learn to associate the words you say with the action they are doing at the moment you say it. So if you chant "Off, off, off" at a dog who is jumping on you, he is learning that "Off" means jump up. Instead, use your hands to block him and say, “Off” as his four feet hit the floor.
Good Puppy!!