Hi
This year the summer music chart was dominated by one song, Despacito by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee ft Justin Bieber. The song is primarly sung in Spanish. Despite the fact most people had no idea what the lyrics actually were they went mad for it!
It’s not just Despacito, we have enjoyed listening to songs we don’t understand for, well since forever! There was Gangman style in 2012, The ketchup song is 2002 all these songs went to number one in the UK with lyrics the majority of the population will have no clue what they mean!
But what the hell does this have to do with dog training!!
Bill Murray posted on Twitter back in 2015 ‘Imagine being naked in a room full of people who speak a different language and everyone wants to touch you. That is the life of a dog.’
Dogs don’t speak our language, they actually rarely use vocalisation as a form of communication. Dogs number one way of communication is via body language.
We do communicate with body language but it’s way down our list. Think about how people cross their arms when uncomfortable or unsure of a situation. We sometimes subconsciously pick up on these but we rarely consciously think about it.
Watching dog body language is fascinating, the subtle movements and changes. We often miss out on the signs our dogs are showing us, pushing them more than we should.
I talk about stress signs in class that we often don’t even know exist. If we ignore these then our dogs have no choice but to escalate their behaviours to growling, exposing teeth and even then we ignore them or even provoke them! Then BAM!! The dog bites and whos fault is it?? The dog of course!! We never saw it coming, they gave no warning.
No……
Your dog did, especially if you have had them from when they are puppies but guess what. You didn’t know the signs or maybe you even thought it was funny. Those videos with kids cuddling a growling dog take my breathe away and not in a good way!!
Our dogs deserve to be listened to! They deserve to have a Mum/Dad that sees they are uncomfortable and helps them out. They deserve to look to you as their protector!
Guess what, I can teach you this!! This is something we worked on last night in my puppy and intermediate classes. Listening to our dogs, letting them take their time, building confidence and knowing when to back off.
If you are interested in attending class and learning these skills then contact me today.
www.dedicatedtodogs.co.uk
info@dedicatedtodogs.co.uk
07557983529
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