Dog Training Insights

The Use of the Voice

The purpose of sharing the following information in our first newsletter is to help our readers become better handlers, in this case, through awareness in the use of the voice. Our training relies on the voice as one of the primary reinforcement tools, and too many times we hear dog owners say, "my dog doesn't listen to me... has selective hearing... is stubborn... or, has a mind of his own...". Furthermore, "I know my dog knows basic obedience, but sometimes he will just ignore my commands - I can yell 'sit', 'sit', 'sit', 'no', 'sit', 'good sit', 'stay', 'NO', 'STAY', 'NO!', 'SIT', 'now STAY!' 'I said stay, stay, STAY', 'NO! Listen to ME!'... all day long and by the time I get him to do what I want, he's tired of me and runs off to chase a squirrel."

This is an extreme example, but the point is to illustrate how your vocal choices translate to your dog, more importantly, how to make the choices that actually motivate your dog to respond. Here is a review of the vocal choices for study:

• Your Vocabulary
• Your Vocal Patterns
• Your Vocal Pitch
• The Volume of your Commands
• Your Inflection

Vocabulary

As humans, we enjoy, and respond to a variety of complex communication. We use all sorts of metaphors, euphemisms, colloquiums, not to mention, a rich vocabulary to convey very similar messages, as it helps define us as interesting, intelligent creatures. To us, telling our dog to "lie down" versus "down" isn't complex at all, on the contrary, it's the exact same thing, right? What if your dog is on the couch? Do you use the command "down"? Have you caught yourself saying "Get Down" when they jump on houseguest's? If "down" means rest your body on the floor, how does it mean "get up and get off the couch" and "don't jump", too? What if you use the command "down", and your dog responds with a proper "down" - if you follow your command with another, such as "Good. Down", what you are actually doing is giving an action command with a word your dog knows, followed by a non-action command with a word your dog knows. It's no doubt that you've taken the time to have a practice session, but did you really accomplish what you think you did? This is not to suggest that dogs have no intelligence whatsoever, but if you consider if "SIT" was the only word you knew as part of a completely foreign language, and you were in a seated position and someone approached you with "glurk!t-dome SIT", would you make any further connections? It is fair to say that many dogs hear "good", as in "good boy/girl", whilst getting a nice pat and are able to make the association of "good" as something favourable. It is also fair to say that if a dog hears "lie down" or "get down" it may react to the word they know, or they just may also get confused over time and stop listening (think of this as a foreign word being mixed into words they know at random that will over time cause the dog to tune out the whole command). Either way, it's asking a lot, and in the training process, it's much more effective to pay attention to the words you use and make them consistent and exclusive to their meaning.

With this said, start to take note of every command you give your dog followed by what your expectations were for that command. For many who take on this exercise, it won't take long before you realise how confused your dog must be much of the time! Determine your working vocabulary with your dog and stick with it!

Vocal Patterns

Picture yourself with a horse-challenged dog waiting at a street corner as a horse rider comes galloping towards you. What would be your natural vocal reaction to steady your dog? Would it be "steady, steady, steady" uttered quickly and repetitively, or "Steeeaaaaddddy" in two, slow elongated syllables? Consider the following direct quote from Patricia B. McConnell's "The Other End of the Leash"

" The sounds that we animals make when we're excited do a lot more than indicate our level of emotional arousal. They can also have a profound effect on whoever hears them, and that includes a nonhuman animal. "

Dr. McConnell spent five years of graduate research on 104 animal handlers and 16 different languages to find that a universal use of short, rapidly repeated notes speed animals up and a single, continuous notes to slow or stop them. It is an easy concept to remember, but often times is elusive in putting to practice. For example, try to recall the last time you were exasperated by something your dog did. Did you yell, "Ah! Ah! Ah!" to stop the behaviour? If you did, and depending on the situation, it may have caused your dog to increase the intensity, or speed up the behaviour, whereas, a firm "Ah!" or "Ahhhhhh!" might have been the better choice to stop them in their tracks.

Pitch

As with the above example, pitch will play a factor to getting the response you desire, as both dogs and humans share an interpretation of high and low sounds. Low pitch signifies authority or confidence. High sounds are associated with excitement, fear, threat or aggression (depending on the situation). It is ok to use a high pitch, if you are trying to initiate play with your dog, or as a tactic for recall. But as a general rule, dogs respond to handlers who have established leadership through bonding and proper obedience, and the authority and confidence of the voice play a big part in assuming this role over your dog.

Volume

When evaluating how loud you give a command effects the results of the command, consider how dogs in the wild communicate with each other. The juvenile pups are the one's creating the racket, barking is relatively rare from experienced, confident adult wolves. Dogs don't respond to loud noises as we primates do - loud noises may startle them, and it may get their attention, but it doesn't earn their respect. Another scenario would be to ask yourself if you'd be more frightened by a frantically barking dog, or one with a frozen stance, staring deep into your eyes whilst giving you a deep, throaty growl? Barking is often times a response to fear, and the louder and/or faster the bark, usually the greater the fear. This is not to say that a barking dog will not produce fear-generated aggression, but the quietly, focused confident dog with the growl is the one you should most fear. Given both of these examples, it is safe to conclude that dogs don't read our loud vocal displays as dominant or impressive. Whist there is a time to yell "NO!" at the top of your lungs (to stop your dog from running into traffic), as a general rule, long term, your dog will respond better to "Sit!" versus "SIT!!!" in their compliance to your commands.

Inflection

Before the intensity of your voice (via use of volume) is misunderstood, the inflection of your voice is very much a tool you should practice using to your favour. Commands are typically verbs, as you are asking your dog to do something. Dr. McConnell suggests that you take this one step further and say your command as if it were an adverb, in other words, how you want your dog to perform the task. Give the word a purpose. Here is an example: If your dog is happily sniffing the ground off in the distance, and you find a long-lost toy, you might yell "come" with the suggestion in your voice that you have something fun in store. If, however, your dog is running into traffic, you would yell "COME" as if you've never been so serious in your entire life. And, somewhere in the middle, you might recall "Come!" to communicate that it's cold, you're tired and it's time to return to the house for the night.

And, since we've already stated that yelling "DOWN!!!" at your dog is not likely to endear you as your dog's leader, a creative "DOoowwwn" makes best use of your dog's responsiveness to vocal pitch + vocal patterns, and clearly communicates to them, "as your leader, I command you to perform this action". Again, record what you say to your dog, and in this exercise, how you say it. Pay attention to be more consistent. When you vary your voice, your dog remains interested, when you don't, commands may blend together into a big mass of mush before you get them to do anything.

We sincerely hope that our training insights have inspired you to be more aware and consistent with your voice to maintain control of your dog. We, by no means wish to discredit the extensive research performed by countless Animal Behaviourists, and certainly encourage further reading from The Other End of the Leash by Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. as she most appropriately states, "Happy well trained dogs understand a wealth of information from the sounds that their humans make." And, if you can conquer basic commands through your new skills, imagine the possibilities!

A well trained dog is a happy dog! - Royvon Dog Training Schools