Sarah Whitehead - Clever Dog - Understand What Your Dog is Telling You

» Choose a training class that uses kind, fair and effective methods. The days of choke chains and ‘yank and jerk’ training are long gone.

» Use brain, not brawn. If your dog tries to manipulate a situation by engaging in a battle of strength, immediately disengage and use your superior intellect to defuse the situation. Many dogs enjoy physical confrontation – so you will ‘win’ by refusing to compete in this way.

» Replace negative commands with positive ones. For example, ask your dog to sit rather than nagging him not to jump up.

» Clicker training is a great way to teach dogs new tricks that can have an effect on their emotional states and the way they behave generally, not just their immediate actions. They also impress humans.

Clicker training is fast, fun and kind, and can be used in all sorts of ways. The clicker – a small plastic tool that makes a double click sound when pressed, effectively acts as an ‘interpreter’ between human and animal, marking the behaviour that earned the reward, and making the whole learning experience one that is focused on trial and success, rather than trial and error. This, of course, has an impact on emotion, too. I know how my dogs look and behave when I get out the clicker to do some training – it’s the highlight of their day, and it also has the effect of making me feel happy, too. Want to try clicker training but don’t know where to start? Find a good instructor or class at www.apdt.co.uk or watch easy-to-follow demos on the Internet. My favourites are www.trainyourdogonline.com and www.clickertraining.com, where Karen Pryor demonstrates by training a fish. Try it for fun – you’ll be amazed what your dog can do.

Over the past ten years, there has been a huge increase in awareness about animal behaviour – and, in particular, dog behaviour. Not a day goes by when there isn’t some news item, television show or a headline that involves dogs – and this has made my life as a behaviour specialist both easier and more difficult at the same time. On the plus side, owners now know that they can get help for their pets when things aren’t going according to plan. Those TV shows make my phone ring! On the minus side, the idea still endures that dogs are attempting to take control and are secretly trying to find ways to dominate their owners – despite the fact that their lack of opposable thumbs makes it impossible for them to open their own dog food!

There’s a simple but extremely effective way of keeping an open mind when watching dog programmes on TV: watch the dogs, not the people. Dogs don’t lie. They don’t try to look good for the camera. They don’t nod and smile when they feel dubious and uncomfortable. Dogs express their emotions in ways that are unique to canine society, but which are also remarkably similar to those that we know and understand. With a little extra effort, humans can become proficient in speaking ‘canine’ and they can then have free-flowing and honest communication with their dogs. Next time you watch a TV show about dogs, look at an internet video clip or gaze at your own dog, try to decide what he might be saying and what message he is trying to get across. I bet you any money it won’t be a statement about rank, challenge or dominance; it’s more likely to be a plea for understanding and the desire to be a player in a well-balanced team.

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