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Dog Whispering
By
Larry Parr
Writer
and animal trainer Monty Roberts made the concept of horse whispering
famous and dog whispering is based on the same principals.
Basically
the concept behind dog whispering is that we need to stop shouting
abusive commands like “sit” and “come here” at our dogs and instead learn
how to read their body language as a means of direct communication with
them.
Once we
understand what our dogs are actually saying to us then we can effective
use positive associations as our primary method of training. These positive associations, say the
dog whisperers, are considerably more effective than barking out barely-understood
commands.
According
to proponents of dog whispering, the “command”-style of dog training
doesn’t really work because your dog is simply doing what you say as a
way of avoiding punishment. These
people go on to say that your dog really doesn’t respect you – it merely
fears you.
Dog whisperers
prefer a style of training that gets to the heart of what a dog is thinking and feeling and bases training on mutual
understanding and mutual respect.
For
example, dog whispers have identified up to 29 different ways that dogs
try to avoid conflict. When a dog
turns away, sniffs the ground, wags its tail and blinks its eyes it is
trying to ease tension and to avoid conflict.
The
problem comes when humans fail to understand what their dog is “saying”
to them. For example, if you order a dog to come to you and your dog puts
its nose to the ground and appears to walk aimlessly, most dog owners see
that as a form of disobedience and yell louder at their animal.
To your
dog, however, putting its nose to the ground and walking is a way of
easing tension and of making the world a better place. What humans do is yell
at the dog for this calming behavior, which simply confuses and
frustrates the dog.
What
many humans fail to keep in mind is that dogs are not smaller four-legged
humans. Dog’s brains are not
smaller versions of human brains.
Dog’s brains are as alien to human brains as Martian brains would
be alien to human brains. Dogs are the equivalent of Martians.
DOGS ARE AN ALIEN SPECIES.
When
you say “Good morning” to your dog YOUR DOG DOES NOT UNDERSTAND
YOUR WORDS. Your dog DOES NOT
understand what the words “good morning” mean. You know that “Wa-Wa”
sound in a Charlie Brown cartoon every time an adult speaks? THAT’S what your dog hears when you
speak.
We were
all brought up on Disney cartoons in which animals have the same thoughts
and ideas and understanding as humans – but you and your dog do NOT live
in a Disney cartoon.
Your
dog may “understand” a few command words, but the rest of the time your
dog judges what you say by your tone of voice and – possibly –
your body language.
According
to the proponents of dog whispering, a large number of problems between
humans and dogs could be solved if humans took the time to learn dog body
language. For example, if you are
confronted by an aggressive and barking dog, the best thing you can do is
to stand still, turn away and blink rapidly. The aggressive dog will understand this
as a non-aggressive calming device and will most likely respond by
calming down.
Shouting
at dogs to stop them from fighting only adds to the dog’s stress level
and generally prolongs the fight.
Kicking a fighting dog is useless since the moment the dog went
into “fight mode” endorphins were released into the dog’s system which
makes it pretty much impervious to pain.
Dog
whispering takes time – it is equivalent to learning a new language – but
the rewards for putting in the time can be much happier dogs and a
greater understanding between species.
©2005 by Larry Parr
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
There
are two excellent dog training programs which I can personally
recommend to you. One I have
personally used, and the other my sister-in-law used and both programs
worked miracles.
You can read all about the
program my wife and I used to train our three dogs HERE.
Read about the program my
sister-in-law used to train her old hound dog HERE.
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