One of the first things that I teach clients is that there are three ways that dogs should hear our voice and only two of them should get the dog’s attention.
The first is COMMANDS. The most important of which is the dog’s name. Just as if you were getting a human’s attention, this is basically their “call sign” and should be their favorite sound to hear. The sound of their name should subconsciously provoke a feeling of well being and excitement, especially when said in a praise tone.
Unfortunately for most dogs, the most common time to hear their name is when when they are being corrected for an unwanted behavior. When we are doing so, our body language is that of a predator, big, squared off, and intimidating. Dogs are predators and therefore repelled by a predator. They develop the total opposite response to their name than what is needed for behavior modification. To better understand this, think of your cell phone ringing. When some people call, you have an automatic positive response and want to answer, but for others you have an immediate negative reaction and don’t answer.
So for starters, don’t use your dog’s name when you correct them. You will probably already be close to them, your movement and body language have their attention. The primary purpose of saying their name is to get them to focus on you. If you already have it, there is no need to speak unless it is a command that they have been trained with to elicit a certain physical response. For example, a popular command is “leave it” for when they are nosing something we don’t want them to. Say they are are nosing a dead animal in the road. Saying their name may get them to look at you, but not necessarily move on from the roadkill. If the “leave it”command has been trained correctly, they recognize it means stop what you are nosing and move on.
I hear people say “stop”, “settle down”, or “that’s enough” to their dogs. When I ask them what they expect their dog to do in response to those words, they just look at me. If you don’t know what response you want to illicit with a command, how is the dog supposed to know? The commands “down” and “stay” are great for stopping movement all together since it is needed for most problem behaviors.
We deal with a lot of rescues. Many rescues come with histories of abuse. Their name is often associated with their abuse. This means that just saying their name will often cause them stress. Dogs are not attached to their names like we are. It is just a sound, but we need that sound to have a 100% positive response. If you rescue a dog and know they have an abuse history, or when you say their name they become stressed, consider changing it. Don’t overthink this. We can use the command ‘cupcake” to get the dog to sit instead of the command “sit”.
Before saying anything to your dog, ask yourself if it is beneficial to what you are trying to accomplish. If it is no, then don’t say it. The less you say, the more they will respond. Just like us, they tune out those who never stop talking.