what does a dog hear

 

 

et within communication with our dog, voice is an important part, because we humans are so focused on words. We cannot do without them, we have difficulty thinking around them. Fortunately, dogs can learn a few individual words - or rather, sounds. But in doing so, we have to help him properly.

 

 

 

Commands

 

 

 

Since the dog can only learn to recognize sounds, we must be very careful when choosing a command and keep a few points in mind:

 

 

 

For example, a command should not be too long, preferably one syllable, two at the most.

The command should not already be used for another behavior.

The pronunciation of the command should not be too similar to that of another command. For example, "lie down" presents a problem if you are already using "sit" as well. The dog doesn't hear the difference well enough.

 

 

Also, your intonation to a command is important. Sit can be said in at least ten different ways: cheerful, smiling, focused, neutral, angry, impatient, as one or two syllables ("zìhit"), etc. Try to always pronounce your command in the same way - or consciously teach your dog your different pronunciations of sit.

An extremely positive British behaviorist had his trainees teach their dog to respond to a bars or harsh how-to command. Why? Because people in emergency situations rarely have the presence of mind to call their dog to them in a cheerful tone. And a cheerful, inviting "here" sounds very different to a dog than a frantic "here."

 

 

 

One tendency we as humans have when the dog does not listen to our command the first (few) times is to repeat the command, often louder and louder. What would be the thought? If the dog doesn't hear you the first time, maybe it will hear you if you just roar loud enough? Since dogs hear much better than we do, it is much more likely that your dog does not understand you or is momentarily too busy with other things. Then you had better take measures against that, for example by finding another place where less exciting things are happening around you, so that your message does get through to him.

 

 

Another tendency we humans have, is to say the command something else all the time, for instance "down", "go down", "lie down now", "come on, go down". What should that dog do: come, jump up, go away or lie down?

Sometimes we also try to explain to the dog what to do. In spoken language. Of course a dog does not understand this. If you want to convey something in words to your dog, you should really limit the language part of your message to what he knows and needs, and nothing else around it: the command.

 

 

 

If a dog is so bad at human language, how come he seems to understand so much of what you say? That has a lot to do with your way of speaking as well as your body language. I will not go into the latter now. There is quite a lot to tell about the former.

 

 

The way you speak can be divided into pitch, volume and voice.

 

 

 

Pitch

Your instructor will probably have told you something about pitch during the course.

 

 

 

High tones are usually liked by dogs, and they are therefore good to use for praising the dog or inviting him to come to you. If you praise a dog in a low voice, it will seem like you are growling, so your dog will not notice that you are pleased with him.

 

 

 

A neutral voice is often soothing to a dog. This is also a great pitch to praise the dog when you are doing a quiet exercise with him that he should continue, such as the down or the stay. With a high, i.e. inviting voice, you are in fact asking your dog to get up in such a situation, even though at that moment you are giving a command that tells him otherwise: the tone goes for the dog before the command.

 

 

 

A low voice soon associates a dog with growling. Such a voice can therefore be used if you want to make it clear to your dog that you disapprove of what he is doing at that moment. If you say "foei!" in a high tone of voice, your dog thinks you are praising him, even though he knows the word so well.

 

 

 

What I often see is that students praise the dog in the same tone and show their disapproval. And then what I always see in the dogs is total confusion - or not even that: they don't understand that there is anything to understand, and just keep doing what they were doing!

 

 

If you always address a dog in the same tone of voice, he never understands when he is doing something right or when he is doing something wrong. He does not understand what you are trying to tell him. That's too bad, because you can make a lot of things clear to your dog with your voice!

 

 

 

Many people think they come across as dominant if they just yell loudly at their dog. However, when you look at a natural alpha dog, you don't see any busy macho stuff at all. Most of all, you see calmness and composure, which makes dogs in a group automatically impressed and calm down.

 

 

I have experienced dog owners who did not notice that their ranking dog was ranking until after the death of their ranking dog - because the other dogs now behave very differently!

 

 

 

Screaming is especially inflammatory to a dog. If your dog is about to tussle, yelling may help stop your dog. BUT... Usually it acts as encouragement and your fussing ignites the fuse!

 

 

 

If the boss often yells and roars, the dog gets used to it: "well, he always roars like that, why should I listen better now than the other times he roars like that - yawn".

 

 

 

Yelling also does not teach the dog respect for you, at most fear (and that is something completely different!). Fear will cause the dog to respond with calming signals, for example, such as moving slowly, coming in a big bow, stiffening up. For many people, this behavior only fuels their anger because they see it as resistance. This, of course, is the opposite of what the dog wants to achieve, but little does he know, a dog really can only communicate in his own canine way!

 

 

 

Someone who is quiet and calm usually radiates more leadership even with people than someone who talks and moves very loudly or busily. Dogs certainly feel this way. Moreover, yelling at a dog is rarely necessary: after all, dogs hear many times better than we do. It is a matter of teaching your dog to obey gentle commands. Don't escalate to yelling the command louder and louder. You are repeating yourself, whereas you should always give a command only 1x: your dog will only learn to "count," assess your level of irritation, etc. , instead of listening to the command.

A much better tactic is to make sure your dog GRAVES to listen to your whispered commands, because then something great fun happens! For example, since I've been doing clicker training, I only extremely rarely need to give a command in a loud tone. I just don't need it anymore!

 

 

 

There is an added benefit of quietly giving commands and directions to your dog. IF you then yell at your dog once in a while, at least he knows something special is going on and focuses his attention on you too!

 

 

 

Voice use

 

In addition to pitch and volume, you can use your voice in other ways. Here are some examples and the effect it can have on your dog (and other animals).

 

 

 

Rapidly repeated, short sounds, usually in a high pitch, often have an inflammatory effect on the dog, causing him to move faster. For example, this can be very desirable when coming heel (ko' ko' ko' ko' ko' come!). The 'hierkom' signal of the whistle in hunting corresponds perfectly to this. Hunters hereby start with 'bicycle-fiet' (already a quick repetition), if the dog does not come, they escalate the signal with 'bicycle-fiet, bicycle-fiet, bicycle-fiet'. Many breeders also use this phenomenon when they call their puppies before feeding, "puppy puppy puppy".

 

 

Repeating a command as I point out here goes against everything you learn in obedience: eventually standing rigidly upright, turned straight to the dog and calling him with a single, short command. This way of calling your dog is really only suitable for what I call "dressage" or "sport": teaching your animal to do all kinds of things perfectly on a minimum of signals that are naturally appealing to him. With raising a dog it has less to do. At our EG, such a way of calling your dog is also not punished that heavily (1, at most 2 points), but at the higher courses it results in more deductions.

 

 

In agility and flyball, where you may communicate with your dog in just about any way as long as he does what you want, you may of course use this form of calling here. Although in agility you usually only have time for one, short, highly pronounced word, preferably an abbreviation of the dog's name.

 

 

 

Elongated tones, usually at a neutral pitch, often have a calming, soothing effect on the dog. If my dog is running too fast next to the bike, I ask him to slow down with calm, drawn-out tones (ruuuuustig, hoooooomaaaar). Also, if you want an animal to be calm in other situations, such as when cutting nails or cleaning ears, talking to the dog in a quiet, flowing, calm manner helps, preferably keeping a deep, calm breath yourself.

A short, single, loud tone, usually at a low or neutral pitch, often has the effect of stopping an active behavior (e.g., running) accutely. For example, if your dog is running toward a ditch to jump in and you don't want him to, you can often stop him with a loud, short tone: "Ho!" or "No!" (Follow this up immediately with a cheerful, inviting "Here!" in a high-pitched tone if the dog does indeed slow down and turn toward you).