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Perhaps the biggest pet peeve of all dog trainers that work with owners and their pets is this: they repeat themselves over, and over, and over, and over….it never stops.

Anyone who knows dogs can look at a helpless pet on the other end of the leash and see the confusion and frustration plastered on their face.  After all, all our dogs want to do is please us.  The problem is, we’re not speaking their language.

One client always comes to mind when I think of this topic.  His conversation with his dog went something like this: Picture a man with treats in one hand, his dog’s leash in the other.  His dog stands expectantly in front of him knowing treats are soon to come.  The dog has never been trained, so even sit is foreign language.  ”Sit Fido,” the man says. One second later, “Sit, sit, sit,” he says quickly. “Fido sit down,” he tries. “Sit, siiiiiiiit, siiiiiiit, sitsitsit!” he exclaims this time.  If I had not stepped in, it would have gone farther.  In fact, no matter how many times I stepped in, he continued.  The dog would remain standing the whole time, sometimes dancing his rear to one side and then the other, sometimes tilting his head, he’d stand on his back legs and reach for the treat, and even ended up barking at his owner once.  His owner remained poised with the treat, bent over slightly, treat between his thumb and index finger, eyebrows raised in expectation of his dog’s obedience.  Obedience never showed its face; frustration hovered around them like a cloud of horrible funk…I won’t go into detail about the funk, this is sickening enough right?

There are many sad, sad things about this story though.

First, you’ve done it.  You know you have, don’t lie to me or yourself.  I’ve done it…there…I said it.  I’ve done it.  Because all of us have been uninformed dog owners at one point.  We all expect our dogs to just understand us from day one, or we all did when we didn’t know any better.

Second, the poor dog is waaaaay more frustrated than the owner.  The owner is just frustrated with the dog.  Maybe a little bit with himself, but he sees nothing he’s doing wrong, he’s being “clear” with his words, saying them right, trying to say them different ways so they may get through Fido’s thick skull better.  He’s tried it all.  Fido on the other hand is frustrated with himself and his owner.  Not only is his owner making no sense what so ever, but he’s trying his hardest to please his owner and just doesn’t seem to be getting it right.  In the end, he got the treat.  Boy was it good! But his owner turned away from him after that for a while.  Next time his owner came back they played the same “game,” but this time, Fido got the treat for doing something else.  The first time it was when he stood on his hind legs, this time, its as right after he wagged his tail and moved his rump two inches to the left.  So what does “sit” mean?  Is it the same as “sit, siiiiiit, sit?” How about “sit down?” Do you see where we’re getting with this?

The third thing, and by far the biggest misunderstanding of most pet owners, is the language barrier.  Yes, dogs are domesticated.  Yes, you can probably point and your dog figures out that he needs to look where you’re pointing.  But that has nothing to do with language and everything to do with body language.

Dogs communicate 99% of what they’re saying through body language and here we are trying to talk them into obedience.  Imagine listening to someone speak a foreign language and trying to decipher what they’re saying.  If they repeat the same thing in fast succession three times does it mean the same as just saying it once?  What if they add a second word at the end? Do you even know where one word starts and the next begins?  If you’re like me, you don’t.

I’m not a computer geek, but this is a good example; do these all mean the same thing?

01

010101

01010000010000101

010101 01000 010101

Probably not, right? Does “to” mean the same thing as “too?”  If you don’t know, the answer is a resounding “NO!” Please visit dictionary.com right now and check it out.

Anyway, have I made my point? If you don’t see it, the point is that dogs don’t understand what we’re saying unless you teach them.  By teaching, we mean showing.  Our children don’t run before they walk and this is the same way.  In our obedience classes and private lessons, we always teach the dog the motion before we teach the command.  If I’m going to teach Fido how to sit, I’ll start by pushing his rump to the floor while I pull up on his collar gently.  When his rump hits the floor, he gets a treat.  We do this for a few days before we even add the word “sit,” and when we add it, we only say it when their rump is on the ground and they get a treat.  Sit is an easy command.  By the end of the week if you’ve worked with your dog daily for 15 minutes, your dog should be able to hear the command and follow it promptly.  All of this work though, and you’ve got to continue working for another six months.  If you don’t, your dog won’t commit it to long term memory and you’ll be back at square one.  Scooby learned sit in obedience class and graduated with honors, but tell him to sit now and he’ll look at you like you’re nuts.  He doesn’t know it because we don’t use it with him.  He knows “place” and “down” though.

What’s so ironic and sometimes humorous to me is that while we dog trainers tell people to stop repeating commands to their dogs, we are constantly repeating ourselves.  My students probably all mimic me to their friends, “say the command once, only say it once, just say it once, stop repeating yourself.”  Picture some smart face and a whiney voice.  You know, like a teenager does when they’re making fun of their parents or teachers.

When you’re teaching your dog a command, and you’ve already showed him how to do it without words, and he knows the meaning of the word, your lesson should go something like this:

“Fido, sit.”

One second pause and Fido doesn’t follow the command.

“No,” give Fido the correction (a quick, not too harsh, short jerk on the collar), mold him into the sit, “sit.”

Give Fido the treat the second his rump is on the ground.

So, if Fido doesn’t do what they are supposed to, you have 1.3 seconds to catch them in the act, correct them, and tell them “no.” Now that you’ve marked this unwanted behavior with a “no,” you can show Fido what you want him to do, say the command again (this isn’t repeating, now you’re showing him what the command means), and mold him into the command.  Treat.  Well done.  Rinse, lather, repeat.

The moral of the story is:

STOP REPEATING COMMANDS TO YOUR DOG!!! All you’re doing is frustrating yourself and your dog.

Another point to parents out there, or wives maybe; the more you repeat yourself the less they listen until you start yelling.  When you start yelling, chances are your dog is cowering and doing what he’s supposed to only out of fear.  We don’t want fearful relationships with our dogs.

If you’re ever in one of my classes, or any obedience class for that matter, and you hear the trainer tell you, “Only say it once, please,” please do as they ask.  It’s for both your sanity and theirs….and most importantly your dog’s.

Watch yourself this week now….how many times will you repeat commands to your dog? More than you think, more than you think.