Communicating With Your Dog

By Coral Atnikov

Most behavior problems with your dog are the direct result of failing communication. Dogs are not human and they don't speak English, so you need to incorporate an effective communication system that allows you to teach your dog the rules of the household? If you don't have an effective way of communicating, then how do you expect your dog to understand and learn what behavior is expected.

When you watch a group of dogs interacting together, you will rarely see confrontation. Why? Because the dogs are communicating with each other. The problem that we (people) run into is when we bring dogs into our homes we somehow forget that they are NOT part of the Human race, and that they do NOT instinctively know what we expect. We have created this image of the dog as being so human-like that we often attribute them with human skills, emotions, and thinking patterns. As wonderful as dogs are, they are dogs and not people. If you want them to behave in a certain manner, then you need to communicate with them in way that they understand.

The first step to communicating with your dog is for you to know what it is that you expect him to do. You can't teach your dog how to do something if you don't know exactly what that something is. Most of us have a few basic ideas, such as not peeing in the house. After that, things get a little vague. When asked what they want from their dogs, some people will say that they want their dog to be well behaved, or they want them to be a good companion. That is great, but how do you teach those things to your dog, you need to be clearer on your goals. What does your dog need to do to be well behaved, or to be a good companion.

Make a list of what behaviors you feel makes a well-behaved dog, or a good companion, or whatever roll you have planned for your dog. If you are not clear on what you do want from your dog, try making a list on the behavior that you DON'T want. Beside each "bad" behavior, write the behavior you would like your dog to do instead. When you have completed that you will have your blueprint for what you are going to teach your dog.

Next, you are going to teach your dog what your expectations are. The way to do that is to let your dog know when he is doing something right. When you reinforce something, anything, you are making it stronger. So every time you reinforce a behavior you are making that behavior stronger. You can reinforce behaviors in many different ways, food, toys, attention, praise, etc. But to be very effective, and make the behavior stronger faster, it must be something your dog really wants. The most effective reinforcement would be want every your dog wants most at that moment.

So when you see your dog doing something that you like, reinforce it. When you ask your dog to do something and he does, reinforce it. If you see your dog doing something that you don't like, redirect him to do something that you DO like, and reinforce that behavior.

When you are clear and consistent in what you want, you are communicating to your dog in a way that he can understand. When he understands what the rules are, you will have a much easier time teaching your dog what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

Go to http://www.dogztore.ca for more articles on dog training I am Coral Atnikov and I have been a Clicker Trainer for 9 years. I was introduced to Clicker Training when I adopted my dog Tess from the Humane Society. They were offering Clicker Training class so I enrolled. Prior to this I had never heard of Clicker Training, and my only other training experience was 'traditional' training methods using a pinch collar and leash corrections. After some initial skepticism, I completely embraced this new training method when I saw how eager Tess was to play the 'training game.' My previous dog (traditionally trained) never got enthusiastic about the training process. Rather than being something he enjoyed doing, he seemed to just want to get it over with. Before adopting Tess, I had decide to get involved training dogs, but was unable to accomplish this goal when I realized there was nowhere to learn the skill of dog training in my Province let alone my city. But when I voiced my interest to the class instructor she suggested I apprentice with her. After my apprenticeship program, I was offered the opportunity to take over her classes and I jumped at the chance. My apprenticeship program was just the beginning of my education, and eight years later I am still teaching, still learning, and still fascinated with dog training! Please check out my site at http://www.dogztore.ca for more articles and fantastic dog products.