doubt on this. The more we learn about dogs, the more we realize that their past may not be as closely aligned with wolves as previously thought.
Whether dogs started out as wolves or not, they are now a long, long way from Canis lupus. Can you imagine a pack of Pugs taking down a caribou? Not likely. Humans have shaped dogs, for better or worse, into the domestic animal we know and love today.
Why is this important to understand? Because if you think that your dog is behaving like a wolf, and you try and respond accordingly, you will be way off base. Wolves are pack animals. A pack has a nuclear family consisting of a breeding pair and its offspring. Males take part in raising the young. There is generally a hierarchy, from an “alpha” male and female at the top to the lowest “omega.”
Experts used to think that dogs were pack animals, but as they study village dogs all over the world, they are starting to realize that this is not likely the case. Village dogs are dogs that may have once been owned by people but came to be strays, or they are descendants of previously owned dogs. They sometimes are claimed by local people who feed them on occasion, but they are not in-home pets like the dog that you’ve brought home.
Such dogs have fallen into a natural state, living near dumps and in cities where they forage for food. They don’t form packs. Instead, they form transitional acquaintances, sometimes teaming up with one or two other dogs for a brief period of time and then moving on. Males do not help in rearing pups. The village dogs do not team up to hunt together. Instead, they are mainly scavengers. It is not in the best interest of a scavenger to team up with buddies.
People who try to treat their dogs like wolves are barking up the wrong tree. For example, your dog growls at you when you reach for his collar, so you assume that he is jockeying for an alpha position. You flip him upside down in an “alpha roll” and hold him until he stops struggling. Big mistake. A dog may growl at a collar grab because the gesture has been associated as a negative experience or because he is afraid. Now that you’ve forced your dog into a frightening position and held him there, you’ve convinced him that he was right all along! Hands around his head are now really scary to him. Your dog may growl at you sooner next time. What you thought was a play for rank was really something else altogether, and now you have a worse problem on your hands.
Your dog knows that you’re not a wolf or another dog. You don’t look or smell a thing like a dog, so trying to act like one will just confuse or startle him. Your dog won’t understand any message that you’re trying to convey, and you could create some serious problems in the delivery.
Early Training and Socialization Benefits
The sooner you can start training a dog, the better. You’ll stop bad habits from developing and becoming ingrained. If you properly socialize a puppy during his critical socialization period (up until about sixteen weeks of age), you’ll help prevent serious behavior issues later.
You can start training your puppy as soon as you bring him home. This goes for adolescent and adult dogs, too. It’s never too late to start training a dog. Some people worry that their puppies are too young to start or that their adult dogs are too old. Neither is the case.
It is true that your puppy may not be able to attend a group class until all of his vaccinations are complete, depending on the class. But you don’t have to wait for a class—start training him at home. Puppies are clean slates, and they tend to learn fairly quickly. Older dogs are not too far behind, however. They may already have some habits that you want to fix, but they also have much better attention spans than easily distracted puppies. Once you teach your older dog how much fun positive training can be, he’ll become a stellar student.
Chapter 3: Communicating with Your Dog
In order to train your dog successfully, you need to communicate with him. Sounds easy, but it’s not always easy to communicate with animals that don’t think like we do.
The most common problems between dogs and humans are based on poor communication. You want Fido off the couch, but he thinks that the couch is a convenient perch for looking out the window. You want him to potty outside, but he thinks that you let him outside to chase squirrels. You expect one thing to happen, but your dog may have a completely different idea.
You may think that what you’re telling your dog is crystal clear, but it’s likely he doesn’t have a clue what you’re saying. Dogs don’t speak English. They can learn your words, but you have to teach them. You need to communicate to him in terms that he can understand. So, if you say, “Fido, Come!” and he doesn’t run to you, it’s not surprising. Repeating the cue over and over again won’t help him learn it any faster. Saying it louder or in a stern voice won’t help, either. He can hear you, but he just doesn’t understand what you’re saying. You have to train him to understand what “Fido, Come!” means. This book will help you!
You do not need to yell at your dog or use a mean tone of voice for him to perform. Who wants to have to yell at their dog all the time? It’s just not necessary, especially if you use positive methods to train. You could whisper the cues and he would respond happily.
Your dog may be able to hear you, but that doesn’t mean that he understands what you are saying.
Get the Behavior First and then Add the Cue
Since dogs don’t understand your verbal language, it’s more effective in training to get your dog to do the behavior first, before putting a verbal label on it. If you try to teach your dog a verbal cue when you are first training a behavior, it just clutters the situation and can confuse your dog. You’re going to want to talk to your dog—it’s a human thing to want to do! Just remember that your words mean very little to your dog until you teach him.
Once a behavior is reliable, then you’ll attach a cue to it. It will take many repetitions for your dog to understand that when he hears a cue, he should perform a behavior. It’s harder for dogs to learn verbal signals, so it will take him a while to connect them to the correct behaviors. This doesn’t mean that you should run boring, repetitive drills when training. Training sessions should be very short—only a few minutes at a time. You want to leave your dog wanting more, not bore him so he loses interest.
Using Effective Cues
To get the best results, here are some things to keep in mind when communicating with your dog:
•Keep cues short, and they will be easier for your dog to understand. Saying, “Come!” is more effective than saying, “Come over here!”
•Use one cue to mean one action. If you use the cue Down when you want your dog to stop jumping on you, don’t also use Down to tell him to lie down on the ground. This is too confusing for your dog. How is he supposed to know which Down you mean?
•Be consistent with your cues. If you say, “Come!” once, and then, “Come here!” another time, and later “Come on!”, you will just make it harder for your dog to learn what you want. Pick one cue for each specific action. Make sure that everyone who interacts with your dog, such as other family members, uses the same cues.
•Use a friendly voice. Some people make the mistake of delivering every cue in a stern “no-nonsense” voice, but this is not necessary and can even make it harder to train a shy or fearful dog. Dogs don’t understand your language, but they do understand your tone. If you say all of your cues in a stern voice, your dog could interpret it to mean that you are unhappy with him. Even happy, bouncy dogs don’t need you to sound like a military drill instructor. Save your stern voice for when your
