All dogs are descendants of wolves, and like us two of their most important needs for survival are food requiring hunting and reproduction requiring mate selection.
If you watch a group of dogs play and see one of them constantly barking for apparently no reason, the other dogs will correct it to a point before eventually ostracizing it. This is hard wired into them because why would you want a dog that constantly barks in your pack, they will scare all the game away. In addition to that, who would want to mate with someone who constantly yells but communicates no information. It’s a sign of a mental disorder.
Humans have the gift of gab, but suck at communication. When we say something, even to someone that speaks the same language as we do, we expect them to know exactly what we mean and get angry if they don’t and we have to explain ourselves. That’s why it is even harder to communicate with someone who speaks a different language. You can see where there might be a breakdown when we try to communicate with another species. When you tell your dog something and they don’t immediately respond what do you do, well of course you say it over and over but louder. If I don’t understand what you are saying in another language, no amount of repeating or amount of volume will help. When this happens, over time both parties get angry and hopefully walk away before things get physical.
There are three types of communication listed here in the order of frequency-
Non-Actionable Information (NAI)– this is most of communication between both people, and people and dogs.
Contradictory Information (CI)- when you think you are communicating one thing but are actually communicating the exact opposite. This makes up about 90% of the way we communicate with dogs.
Immediately Actionable Information (IAI) – this is when the communication immediately results in the desired outcome. This is the unicorn when it comes to communicating with dogs. Using IAI is what allows me to get any dog I encounter to immediately not do things they do to others without having any previous relationship with the animal. To get dogs to do things using IAI, you first have to have a relationship with them based on eye contact, movement, and touch. What you see me do with dogs is nothing more than the result of the elimination of everything but using IAI. Every move and sound I make is used to communicate something with the dog. This is why I only talk to dogs when I give a command and when I praise them. I never give a dog a command that I am not 100% sure they will immediately do because if they don’t, I have failed, not them. When I praise them, I do so with my entire body using movement and sound, no “Good dog” BS. That is also why I don’t need to use treats.
Let’s give some everyday examples of each type of information.
Non-Actionable Information- anything you say to your dog besides praise that does not correspond to a Previously Trained Physical Response (PTPR). An example would be telling a dog that you as an individual had never taught the dog to sit, telling the dog to sit. Here is a list of some of the most common NAI words used as commands-
No
Stop
Enough
Quiet
Come
Down
Off
Be quiet
That’s too rough
Back
Give me that
And the list goes on and on, basically telling the dog something but never showing them what that something is.
Contradictory Information CI- This is probably the biggest one because it shows just how little people understand dogs.
The absolute best example is standing facing your dog yelling at them to COME. In canine culture, facing your dog means stay back. Even if your dog knows the command COME, the physical canine command you are giving will override the verbal command every time. So, what do you do repeat it louder and louder.
The next best example is trying to get your dog to come to you as you chase them. First of all, in canine culture whoever is getting chased is in charge and the more you are pursued the faster you run. It’s not just a game, it is one of the primary ways that dogs establish pack structure. This is why they give each other a dog bow upon meeting each other. A dog that ignores it or goes the other way is the higher ranking dog. Why do you think we get so mad when one of our kids or dog runs from us, especially in front of others, because we are being made a fool of.
Last, but certainly least, is the knucklehead advice of some trainers who tell people to turn your back to a jumping dog, as previously explained this means “come and get me let’s play”. Just what you want for the dog to think when Grandma comes over.
All this misunderstanding would be comical if it were not for the thousands of dogs rehomed and euthanized every year because people don’t understand that our language is not theirs. How could so many people who love dogs so much know so little about a species that have coexisted with us for thousands of years. The understanding of and implementation of this is the goal of Focused Based Canine Training.
If you want to have to give your dog a treat to get them to do everything, you have an employee and not a volunteer. You remove the paycheck, and the employee will stop working. If you make it about love, respect, mutual benefit you have a volunteer that will work harder than any three employees. Decide what you want for you and your dog. If it is what I have described, schedule with us.