Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I am
your host, alongside my co -host, Brianna. Hi.
And together, we're bringing you real -world
training insights built on leadership, structure,
and proven methods. But this show is a lot more
than just teaching your dog to sit or stay. It's
about building trust, creating calmness, and
becoming the kind of leader that your dog truly
needs. We do that with our three -pillar method
of trust, obey, and perform. Thanks for being
here on this journey with us. Let's get started.
All right, episode five, body language and tone,
communicating beyond words. Welcome to the podcast
tonight, Pawprint Academy, episode five. We're
crushing it. Hello, hello. Hello. Okay, the recap
on how this works is this is a podcast related
to dog training that is done with real -life
clients on the line. It's done in one take. from
beginning to end, recorded live with real -life
clients on the line. So tonight we're talking
about body language. The core idea behind tonight's
leadership call for Top Dog Training and the
Pawprint Academy podcast is that dogs read body
language and tone far more than the words that
we speak. And clear and consistent nonverbal
communication builds stronger leadership and
trust in us from our dogs. Case in point, when
we say things all throughout the day, when does
the dog know when to listen to us and when to
tune us out? 98 % of the language that we use,
the dog's going to tune out. Yeah. And they have
to because they don't speak English and we babble
all throughout the day. We're on the phone. We're
watching the TV. We're listening to podcasts
maybe. And there are things going on all throughout
the day that the dog's hearing. They have no
idea what is going on. Yeah. And if they don't
learn to tune that out, that's where you get
dogs that are like super anxious because they're
like, I have no idea what you're saying. Right.
They're trying to figure it out. Right. All the
time. So we typically, even though dog senses
go in order of scent, then hearing, then visual,
right? In order of strength. And we typically
condition our dogs to go out of that order, right?
Looking for visual cues. oftentimes first before
anything else then auditory and then sometimes
we throw in this scent stuff like it's a um like
a reward or something yeah and a lot of times
that's just not how dogs learn so um when we
get into the communication styles and the languages
that dogs like naturally learn the reason why
all dogs can or why we can use food luring so
successfully is because of that scent strength.
And then we can build in some auditory cues and
get the dog to kind of understand. And then we
can finally give them some visual cues. And if
we build off of that, we use the dog's natural
like strengths for the dog's benefit. Yep. So
that's what we're going to break down tonight.
Our first point is that the dogs follow. So by
the way that I just explained it, dogs follow
what they see, not what they hear. Now that might
not be what you want, but it's typically what
is conditioned in a normal household. And so
your posture, your movements. Like the energy
that you communicate with your dog, it translates
a lot more than just your commands. And a lot
of times owners will jump in and be like, all
of the sudden, to the dog, right? Not to us.
We understand kind of like the sequence of events
here. But a dog is just chilling out, relaxing.
thinking about that squirrel that they really
want to chase eventually here and then all of
a sudden we jump in with um you know fido come
uh and and they're like wait what that why how
what's going on so how can we do better than
that right um how can we do better than just
surprising them with a random command right That's
kind of what we're talking about tonight. So
when we get into the actual training of a dog,
let's use something super easy like sit. That's
usually, in our experience, sit is like the number
one thing that people immediately go to because
all dogs, like for their owners to feel like
their dog is smart. they have to be able to sit.
I don't know why sit is the requirement, right?
The next one is shake, right? Yeah, always. Everybody
wants their dog to shake. Everyone wants their
dog to sit and shake. It's not the perfect order,
but it is the most common that I see. So we're
going to talk about sit. When we teach a dog
to sit, You need to ask yourself, is the dog,
a dog that can sit, once you teach them that,
is the dog sitting because you said sit? Really?
Right. Or is the dog sitting because you bent
over towards them? Right. Or is the dog sitting
because you raised your hand up? Yeah. Is the
dog sitting because you have a treat and you
held it over their head and that gives them the
best vantage point of the treat to see which
way it's going to go? Right. Right. When you
start asking yourself that and you start kind
of dialing that in, you might find that the answer
to that question is not what you think. Right.
Because if you just stand there like a plank
and don't move your hands, your head, do anything
and just say, sit. Does your dog sit? Because
if not, your dog doesn't know what sit means.
Right. It's following something else that you
do along with the sit. Yes. And. My point that
I made earlier here about the mismatch in cues
versus the strength of those senses is that we
typically condition a dog to be more visual and
rely more on their vision, which is third ranked
down in the strength of their senses. But we
teach them that... Their vision should be the
strongest. And so what that does is, one, to
a certain degree, it doesn't prepare the dog
to as confidently interact with you. But the
second thing that it does is it makes them very
visually dependent. And they have these other
senses that are really, or senses, I keep saying
scent, I don't know why. They have these other
senses that are really, really strong that we
can take advantage of. yeah okay um so before
we even go into this um what what what's the
right way to do this um when when i talk when
i teach a client about the languages that the
dog speaks and the order that we should teach
them in i highly highly recommend that we teach
food luring first right long before sit long
before shake just teach your dog i'm giving you
the answer up front before we even really ask
the questions here but um but i highly recommend
that the first thing that you teach your dog
is how to follow food how to follow and lure
to to that food what that does is it it's so
natural for the dog to follow their nose yeah
So it gives them something that they can do successfully
right off the bat that doesn't use any words
and they don't have to rely on their eyes to
do it. And that's why a dog will succeed at it
right off the bat. And so it's one of these like
very natural cues that natural languages that
we can use to train our dogs, get them to start
to follow the scent of this yummy treat. Okay.
The next language is like a placeholder. So we're
going to come back to this for a second. But
the next language is leash pressure that we're
going to teach a dog. But not for the reason
that you think. The final language that we're
going to teach the dog is our verbal cues. And
then way down the line, once we get those down.
Then we start to visually condition the dog with
these like hand signals and stuff. We can build
off of that. But the first three languages are
food luring, leash pressure, and then verbal
cues. Now, we've talked about the two on the
outside, right? And this Oreo kind of metric
here. But this leash pressure on the inside,
why do we use the leash pressure? And why is
that more important than the verbal? Oh, me.
Right. I was interested. I'm like asking like
someone's going to answer, but I've actually
muted all the participants so they can't. I'm
sorry. I'm like staring at you like you're going
to answer. So the reason we use leash pressure
is a couple of fold. One, it gives us a nonverbal
cue to break through all sorts of other mismatches
in language. And the other really important thing
is that leash laws are in effect almost everywhere.
You're going to have to have your dog on a leash
at some point. You might as well teach them with
a pretty high degree of accuracy how to respond
to those leash cues because they're always going
to be on a leash. And so that's why we use that.
If you own... you know, 90 acres of property
and they're, your dog is never going to be on
a leash. It doesn't make sense to teach them
leash pressure or any leash skills because they're
never going to be on it. Right. So, uh, but in
the conversation of, um, I guess for our podcast
for, for paw print Academy, we are talking to.
The normal average dog owner and law abiding
citizen that wants to take their dog to like
local dog spots. And so they're going to need
to be on a leash. And when they're on a leash,
we're going to want them to know how to how to
work with that. So that's why it comes second.
OK, so I don't go too far down the rabbit hole.
Now I've explained those three languages and.
And the reason that we teach them in that order
is the order of importance and the order of,
I guess, the speed at which the dog will typically
pick up on those things, right? Touching a dog,
which is what we're using as the leash, the leash
just expands our reach, right? But touching those
tactile cues are going to be much quicker for
the dog to pick up on than verbal. cues verbal
cues are hard because they're they're sound oriented
they're tone oriented they're volume oriented
right there's a lot of variables that go in here
and so that's why it's the hardest language for
the dog to pick up on and truly understand now
i'm not saying that the dogs aren't going to
understand it right but it is more complicated
to them than just following their nose and it's
more complicated to them than just feeling pressure
on their body Or on their neck if they're wearing
a collar or something like that. Okay. So now
we've explained the why. And I've given you the
answer to the next kind of points here. So by
using inconsistent body language, we're going
to confuse our dog. Because even when the words
are right, you are using this like inconsistent
like body pressure. Dogs communicate through
spatial pressure way more than they communicate
through anything else. When a dog wants your
attention, what do they do? A lot of dogs just
come up and take it, right? They just come up
and nudge you, push you, jump in your lap, jump
up on you. A lot of those are the negative ones
that we don't want. But that's how a dog communicates
because they can't just talk to you and be like,
hey, Pete, can you? Give me some pets, right?
So they're going to communicate through that
spatial pressure. And when you see two dogs playing,
right? Why do the dogs, they get up super close
to each other and their heads go like slightly
past each other, right? So their like noses are
like past each other and their heads are past
each other. Everyone's seen this. Like if you
haven't, look up like two dogs playing. on youtube
and you're gonna see it uh they get super close
to each other and then they like freeze yeah
but they're right in each other's space they're
right there and they're like you can feel the
energy building right it's that spatial pressure
that they're putting on each other to start something
and then all of a sudden one dog breaks it and
then off they go yeah so we can we can inadvertently
trigger that type of reaction. Not that your
dog is going to go off the reservation here,
but that we can inadvertently communicate the
wrong thing to our dogs if we're not conscious
of what we're doing with our body. And that's
the whole point here. So by using confident posture,
we can build authority without needing to use
constant corrections. One of the first things
that we see dog owners do, and I'm going to try
to pass this off so I don't just monologue here
forever, but I've got a lot of points here. One
of the first things that we see dog owners do
when we take a dog in, we do an in -home integration
type training where we keep the dog for a couple
of weeks and we train the dog and we bring it
back. We give it to the owners and we teach them
how to work with their dog. One of the first
things that we. see those owners do are like
well well how do i work this yeah but like do
i do i right is it like uh um the reins like
on a on a horse right it's like do i do i yeah
do i snap this do i not you're like no just just
go just do do what you are doing because the
whole point what takes the most time is just
teaching your dog to just follow your lead yeah
Yeah, because if you stand there and you're moving
the leash around and you're wrapping it and the
dog is just standing there kind of waiting and
looking for a direction, but you're standing
there, the dog at that point is like, well, what
is going on? What are we doing? Even though the
dog can't ask you that, the dog is trying to
figure out what to do. And if you just walk,
the dog's going to get to the end of the leash
and go, oh, oh, we're moving now. And the dog's
just going to walk with you. Because that's what
it's looking for is direction and guidance. And
you and that leash are what that exactly is.
Yeah. Yep. So overuse of words can also dilute
the impact when your body cues say the opposite
thing. Right. It's like if you're nervous and
you're trying to be confident. But like your
body is showing that you're nervous. Everybody
knows that you're nervous. Hey, relax, relax,
relax. And you're like, the dog's like, no, no,
you are not relaxed. Or if you're like, yeah,
I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. But you're sweating
and your face is red. It's like everybody knows
you're not fine. It's like trying to fake confidence.
Yeah. That you don't have. So. The first question,
and I really want to get to the bottom of this
subject because we've kind of danced around it
with a couple of these points. What's an example?
What's an example of a client whose words said
one thing and the body language said another?
Raul, you got one? Yeah. I've got a couple. Go
ahead. I have everyone ever. It's like the dog
jumping up on you, but you're bending down with
your arms outreached. right and then you're like
no yeah no no jumping no jumping but you're reaching
out and touching the dog while you're saying
no stop jumping right that's the hardest one
to to understand that you're doing until somebody
tells you you're doing that and then you're like
oh right because just because you're touching
your dog or even if you're like holding them
in place i've seen that too where you're like
someone's like no don't jump and they're like
holding the dog not like rough but like just
right just keeping the dog from jumping by holding
them down but you're touching them right it's
like a hand and so the dogs are like yeah spatial
pressure yeah i wanted to be close to you exactly
right and and it's like well that's that's part
of your problem yeah you're telling them no but
you're giving them what they want Right. Kids
are the worst at that. It's like they have the
little magic fingers. The spirit fingers. Yeah,
the spirit fingers. And they start moving their
hands and the dogs are like, oh my God, oh my
God, oh my God, oh my God. They're like, I can't
stop looking at the hands. And it's like, stop
moving your hands. Put them down. Yeah, absolutely.
Crazy fingers. Okay, so the other one that I
was thinking of was inevitably down. When people
try to train their dog. down yeah they almost
always either point down while they say down
yep or they bend over yeah right and they're
like down and then they they bend over to like
get closer to the ground and when you do that
you're not really teaching the dog what down
means they're watching your body and then they're
they're like oh Get low because he's like getting
close. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So that's kind of what
we're what we're talking about here is when.
When you run into an issue with like, well, I
just don't understand why my dog doesn't seem
to listen if I just stay still. And that's the
test. The test of if your dog is if you are doing
this or not is stand perfectly still. don't eat
like just look at your dog only make eye contact
and then say sit or down or place or whatever
it is and if the dog doesn't do it yeah then
you need to investigate what the real cue is
and there is definitely a difference between
like helping your dog along as you're training
And testing protocol, right? It's not a problem
to build in movement and even reward dogs with
movement, right? That can even be a reward. But
it's not a problem to use movement as long as
you're aware that you're doing it. Yep. This,
like, I guess. major point here is related to
not realizing that you're doing it yeah and when
you don't realize that you're doing it maybe
you're setting yourself back and and you're creating
more stress and strife for yourself than you
even realize that you're doing so isolate those
things the way that that that i do it when i
am we've talked about markers right episode three
was all about markers yeah maybe it was two i
think it was two um when we talk about markers
a marker is supposed to mark the exact moment
that the dog did what we wanted them to do if
i mark and then reward a dog i have to remain
perfectly still for that moment that i use the
marker otherwise i am not clearly loading or
charging is what we call it in the dog training
space i'm not properly charging that marker right
with the verbal cue we use yes and free for treat
markers and if i give the dog free at the same
time as i move away from them These dogs that
we have conditioned to be visual creatures are
going to see the movement and focus on that far
and away before they pay attention to the fact
that I said free. And so then, and the way that
we test it, right? Stand perfectly still, free.
That dog should move towards you. And if they
don't, well, then you know that. you've attached
some other sort of meaning or other sort of definition
there. All right. How do you coach owners to
use posture and presence to guide their dog?
The way that I do it is I strongly encourage
them to stand straight up and not move while
they talk and just count to one. And then move.
So sit. The dog sits. As soon as their butt hits
the ground, I say yes if it's a continuation
marker. Free if it's a terminal. Say free. And
then just a half second pause. And then I move
backwards away from the dog. And I then go into
my treat pouch in order to get a treat. And that's
how I do it. What simple body language adjustment
has the biggest impact on leadership? I would
say hand position. Yeah. Yep. Right. Keeping
your hands at your side because dogs also inevitably
pet dogs are very much conditioned to watch your
hands. That's where all the good stuff comes
from. Also the taking us taking space when jumping.
Okay. That's a big one too. It's like once owners
start, like, stepping into dogs that jump because
that's our number one, like, go -to. Excuse me.
That's always our number one go -to is when a
dog jumps, it's like you step forward. And most
people naturally and, like, just instinctually
step backwards to let the dog land back on its
feet. that teaches the dog just to jump back
into you every time because they take your space
every time whereas if you turn around and start
stepping into it and kind of pushing them and
nudging them back they learn man every time i
jump they take my space away i'm gonna i'm gonna
stop doing that yeah number one way to like help
with that right and and that way it also keeps
you very um It keeps you very, very high up on
the hierarchy of ethical training where you're
not doing anything aversive. You're just controlling
your own space. And I think that's really, really
important. Yeah. All right. So point two, tone
of voice shapes behavior and dogs respond. to
tone before they process the meaning so the way
that you say it matters more than the words so
the tone right you can be like no no right right
but you're like no or no yeah those are all very
different yep um and the tone of voice that you
use is important now you can train your dog absolutely
To respond to no, no, no. That's fine. You can
totally do that. But you have to understand that
the tone of voice that you use is very specific
to the meaning the dog attaches to it. Yep. So
consistency is key. Yeah. You have to do it the
same way every time. I don't care what the tone
is. The dog will adjust to it. You can have a
strong tone, a weak tone, a whatever tone. Right.
But. I promise you that the dog does not understand
the different or does not understand that no
and no mean the same thing. Right. To them, it
does not. Yeah. That's a different word. Yeah.
So you've got to use your tone. You've got to
make your tone very consistent. You can use whatever
you want, but just know that it is not the same.
It's not just about we in English. We have like.
97 words to mean the same thing um to dogs the
tone of voice that you say each one of those
97 things it means a whole nother thing yep yeah
there's always like a difference in and we use
tone a lot in like the way we get dogs like excited
because we're working with like an excited dog
Then in training, we have a lot of use a lot
of time, like more calm tones, more like relaxed,
like body postures and things like that. Or you're
going to amp that dog back up and it's impossible
to work with them. Whereas if you have like this
low energy, relaxed dog, we have to use more
excited tones. We have to like be ecstatic with
our movements and, and be all over the place
because we have to amp that dog up to work with
us. Or it's going to be like, Oh, you're kind
of boring. I don't really want to do that. It's
fine. Right. And we can use we can adjust the
tone even. I guess what I said earlier, right,
that the dog me that dog interprets it as a completely
different word. I would say it's not that's not
100 percent true. It doesn't mean that the dog
won't still respond to it, but there might respond
very differently. Yeah. And that's where we use
tone. So if I make. If I am trying to get the
dog to recall away from a squirrel, then that
dog has a very high drive and a very high prey
drive. I don't think there's a single owner in
the world that thinks that cum is going to do
it. You've got to get some tone in there. You've
got to be more exciting. Or more serious than
the squirrel. Right. Right. You have to create
a situation where that dog's like, oh, oh, yeah,
yeah, yeah. I want to go over there instead.
Right. It goes back to like kids, right? If it's
like if your kid's upstairs and you need them
to come downstairs and it's like, hey, hey, hey.
And the kid's just like, yeah, yeah. And it's
like, hey, hey, hey. And eventually it's like.
hey and they're like oh oh oh sorry sorry uh
that's where your tone changes and the expectation
changes yeah right yeah tone of voice is real
big um so high pitch tones often excite dogs
and like low pitched calm tones usually settle
them not a hundred percent every dog is different
but uh in general those are things that If I
was to call out the average dog, that would be
true. Angry or frantic tones can create anxiety
and resistance in the dog. It can make the dog
kind of want to like, fight you is a strong word,
right? But it can turn on the resistance in the
dog's mind that they're like, maybe we're going
to have an altercation rather than, oh, cool,
I'm just, going over there to to play a game
or get a treat um also on the anxiety side right
angry tones and like yelling can absolutely increase
anxiety in the dog because they don't have a
a way to match that tone and that energy um they
can't communicate verbally so that can build
some frustration in the dog so we don't ever
recommend that you ever yell at the dog use a
strong tone but use a consistent tone more than
anything yeah um right and then uh the other
point that i had written down was consistency
and tone builds that trust and so we kind of
already segued into that so consistency in the
tone builds trust and reliability in your commands
and trust without trust and without the dog believing
that like everything is congruent, right? That
is consistent across the board. That dog's going
to ask itself questions that you don't want it
to ask. Like maybe this isn't going to happen
this time. Maybe it's not going to be the same
as it was last time. Maybe I should do something
different. And we don't want to give our dogs
the opportunity to like explore those thoughts.
Right. We just want them to respond consistently.
So how do we explain to owners that dogs hear
tone before words? I mean, just explain it, I
guess. I don't have a really, do you have a good
example for that one? No, I mean, it's a difference
of like, I'd compare it to like footsteps, right?
So if it's like, if you hear somebody walking
down the hallway and it's like, right that's
pretty relaxed okay you can kind of tell like
what type of like body language that person's
gonna have oh i like but if you hear somebody
going right that's more of like oh there's somebody
like hurrying they're frantic there's like anxiety
there and there's like absolutely no language
going on that's actually a right that is actually
a great explanation because you can kind of pick
up on the energy of that person right without
before they even get there right yeah but both
of the the i guess the uh the speed but also
the intensity of the footsteps right right yeah
yeah and so a lot of the time we rely and go
back to like dogs can feel energy at the other
end of that leash and you can you when we when
we bring dogs back from like the in -home integration
programs like you can kind of see it right because
we've worked with that dog for like three four
or five weeks and we when we go out on a walk
we're on a walk right and And inevitably on walk
one of reintegrating them back into the home,
it's like kind of messy and the dog is like,
what's going on? Where are we? Like there's four
people now out on this walk and like everybody's
looking at me. And it looks crazy to start off
with. And it's totally normal. The dog is in
a different process than what it's been in. And
there's not a real practice for going in and
teaching the owners other than, hey, we're just
going to do it. We're going to get through it.
And, and it's going to get through a couple of
passes and you're going to feel a lot more natural
because like we said at the beginning of this
episode, it's like they get the leash back and
they're like, how do I work it? Do we put it
in drive? Do I put it in like neutral? It's like,
where, how fast do I go? It's like, where, what,
where do I walk? But it's like, just go, just
walk. Because what's your dog going to do? It's
going to be at the other leash and it's going
to be like, oh, we're walking. And then it's
just walking with you. Yeah. And if you look
back at that dog and you go, uh, where are we
going? The dog is like, well, I don't know. Like
for three weeks, somebody told me where I was
going. I don't know where we're going. You tell
me. And so we just go, yeah, just, just take
off, take off, go in whichever direction you
want to go. You tell us where we're going. And
they're amazed. Yeah. And the dog's like, oh,
okay. It just goes with me. It's like, right.
Yeah. It's your dog. And the dog will stop and
I'll go, nope, let's go. That's like, I will
say let's go more than any other words that I
say in like a training program because it is
a general go in the same direction with me. And
if anybody wants anything from their dog when
they are out walking them, it's to move in the
same direction as them. Is it move within six
feet of me? No, no, not necessarily. I don't
really care. But if I'm going right, I want you
to be going right. And if you stop and sniff,
it's, hey, nope, let's go. We're still walking.
I didn't stop to sniff anything. I don't need
to sniff right now. When we get to somewhere
else where we can, then we will go, okay, break.
Right. And when your body language and your tone
and your words all align. Yeah. All of a sudden,
you get a dog that like learns super quick. and
they respect your leadership right and so these
the the owners they're like well how how do i
do this well just just go yeah right just speak
confidently just tell your dog what you want
hey let's go yeah come with me right and so we
usually try to keep words to a minimum and we
try to make the words that we use kind of general
uh natural words right um and that's where we
use like let's go a lot because it's it's just
kind of natural if i was to tell a kid or another
person right how are you going to tell another
person that a we're going to walk this way exactly
there's gonna be like Come on, let's go. Right.
If you're like walking through Walmart and your
kid goes to touch something in the aisle, it's
like, ah, let's go. Stop it. Let's go. Same thing.
Right. It's the same thing. Absolutely. So mismatched
signals slow the learning down. Right. And clear
signals speed it up. Silent leadership with posture
and tone often outperform constant commands.
So if you're the owners that we see have the.
biggest problems are the ones that are trying
to use their words to control their dog more
than they're just using their body language.
Yeah. Because your dog doesn't speak English.
It doesn't matter if they're in our program for
three weeks, five weeks, 10 weeks, 100 weeks.
It does not matter. The dog's still not going
to come back speaking English. And so you cannot,
you cannot just come. No, sit. Sit. Right here
on the side. Heel. Turn around. Come back. Let's
go. That's just a lot of confusion. I would be
confused on a leash and I speak English. So instead,
keep the words to a minimum. Use your body language
and just show the dog what you want by going
in a direction. Yeah. Way more successful. Yep.
All right. What would you recommend? to help
owners practice aligning tone posture and like
their commands and stuff i feel like heel is
always like a really good one to practice for
like teaching body language and like mellowing
it out because it's one of the ones where we
build in a lot of movement to teach the dog where
we want it where we do like we do a lot of of
of guiding them with body language with that
one because we want the dog to come back behind
us circle around and then come up to our side
and that is not done at all to any degree by
standing still from the get -go and so with that
one that's always one that i encourage people
to to try doing like with body language and then
kind of just filtering it out where you start
giving them less and less movement and and see
how far your dog can get right it doesn't have
to be like this strict training session like
make it a make it a fun trick and and something
that you just do with your dog it's just fading
out body language and seeing how good your dog
can get yeah and the way that i encourage it
is like we work on tone first yeah right so just
get real consistent yeah with you asking for
the behaviors or your corrections or whatever
it is that it is Whatever it is it is. Whatever
you're telling the dog, say it in the same tone
every time. Yeah. So that's the first one. We
checked that box. Now stand still. Yeah. Stand
still while you're talking and then move appropriately.
And that hits kind of all three. Yeah. Just move
where you're going. Mm -hmm. But when you're
telling the dog to do something, I guess we kind
of muddled these two, right? So there are obedience
commands that you're going to say while you're
moving, right? That's like heal or hey, let's
go, right? You're usually moving while you do
that. So I'm not talking about those specifically.
Uh, when I say don't move, I mean, when you say
sit, when you say down, that's the big one down,
right? The non -movement ones stand still, then
say down. And then if they don't respond, that's
when you add the movement cue and then you point
or then you lure them with food or then you give
them leash pressure. right because inevitably
it's like the person gets frustrated that they
have to go down and the dog is like no and it's
like you have to bend down at that point especially
like smaller dogs it's like those are the ones
that are really important yeah they hurt your
back i'm like hey stand up stand up and do that
a lot of the times like i will work my hardest
at trying to use my foot with the leash at that
point is like a pulley system and like give them
the down with the leash pressure with my foot
to avoid bending over so much because at that
point I then teach them down and then I start
moving and then they just wait for that body
language every single time. So it's always a
small dog that will learn down is when you bend
over and point to the ground or do something
like that. What she's talking about is if you
put your heel on the ground and you put your
toe over the leash. then you can pull up on the
leash and it pulls down on the collar. Right.
But like all of that, we don't want to just stomp
on the dog's leash. Yeah, yeah. What exercises,
well, we talked about that. That was the other
question. Sorry, we're getting to the end here.
Have you seen a dog improve instantly? When an
owner fixed their nonverbal signals, I'm trying
to think of. I feel like it's always the leash
walking for me where it's like. It just snaps
into place. Trying to get their dog to walk and
they're pulling in every direction and it's like,
hmm, that's weird. They don't do that, but it's
like they're. They're walking super slow because
they're trying to focus on what the dog is doing.
And then they've got the leash inevitably reeled
up into their hand because they're used to carrying
the leash like that. And so the dog is already
getting pressure and all these things. And it's
like, why are we walking so slow? Where are we
going? Which direction? And the owner doesn't
know which direction because they're just looking
at the dog and waiting to watch it not pull.
And so when we're like, hey, just let that leash
go, hold the end, and just go. And immediately
the dog is like, oh, I'm walking. I'm walking
with you. Okay, we're going. And they're like,
oh, that feels so different immediately. Yeah.
So how do you balance verbal cues versus like
that silent leadership? Because there's like
times that you want where I draw the line is
if the dog is like forging way up ahead. Yeah.
That's where I'm going to, I'm not going to just
silently correct. Right. I'm going to full on
stop or turn around. Yeah. And I'd be like, no.
And then leash pressure. Yep. No should predict
that pressure just like yes predicts a treat.
Yeah. You have more to add? Yeah, I think it
just really for me depends on like the gravity
of the situation, whether I'm going to use verbal
or not. Also depends on how much stimulus is
going on. So like when I take Gabe out in public,
he's super fearful, gets overstimulated really
easy for him. Like I just turn off verbally and
I just use his leash and I'm just giving him
like pressure to go into a sit, pressure to go
into a down. And I just cut out verbals because
at that point it's just going to be added static
into all the crazy like static that's in his
brain. And so we just go straight to pressure
and he's like, yeah, okay, sit. Yep. Okay. Down.
And he just knows what I'm asking at that point.
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to define it. Yeah.
I really just think it depends on the situation
and really. Really, what's going on? All right.
Listener projects. So every podcast, I give you
guys two listener projects where it's basically
like homework that you can try to apply to your
dog at home for anybody listening. Project number
one, silent leadership walk. So you're going
to take your dog on a short walk and using body
movement and leash guidance only, no verbal cues.
So notice how your posture and your pace influence
the dog's position and their focus on you. You
may become a lot more interesting to your dog
if you walk faster. Right. That's what I encourage
people to like look at is like what is the natural
pace of your dog? Every dog has a natural pace.
And if your dog is like a long legged. like australian
shepherd they're known for like walking naturally
like faster if you are just walking at like two
miles an hour and that dog's natural pace is
10 when you said a long legged i was not thinking
australian shepherd i know i know you switched
gears on me i did right but australian shepherd
not really a long legged dog but do but they
do walk fast right it's like a doberman you know
it's like they have a long gait and so naturally
they're gonna walk faster so if you're like at
a crawl That dog is naturally going to be like,
man, this is boring. They're going to start getting
stressed because they don't want to walk that
slow. And you're going to have to find other
ways to kind of gain some movement with your
dog in that way, whether it's like back and forth
and building more movement into that walk. But
there's got to be for sure something that's done
because a dog that can't walk that slow is never
going to enjoy that walk or get what it needs.
yeah definitely um so and the last piece to that
so just add praise with a calm voice once the
dog matches your movement right so like while
they're doing the right thing just be hey good
job good yeah and that's it don't reach down
and pet don't like change things up don't even
reward with food just a nice calm good just let
them know that they're doing the right thing
yeah but then play with it see if that doesn't
improve some things between you two. Project
number two, tone training. So pick three tones,
calm praise, like a firm correction type of tone
of voice and a neutral like delivery between
like commands, right? So one calm, one firm and
one somewhere in the middle. And then practice
short drills where you use the tone only. To
influence the behavior. Pair it with simple commands
like sit and down. Things that your dog already
knows. Don't try to train them with a new thing
while you're trying to experiment with this.
Something that your dog already knows. And then
reward the dog for responding correctly to the
tone and the body cues together. So that is our
two projects there. So at this point I am going
to. Unmute our participants. There we go. Or
at least allow them to unmute. And then this
is the chance that everyone has to ask questions.
So if anybody has any questions, now is your
chance. Question and answer time. Nothing, Heidi.
I'm ready for it. Okay, I was listening to your
music. Yeah, I just thought it would be funny
to use it. It's funny because I was watching
Jeopardy! at night and I told Heidi I said we
might want to record that for a podcast. Yeah,
it's perfect. Uh, one of the things that we've
done with Maverick, which was probably wrong
was we taught him to sit and then we taught him
to down and now he will sit and then automatically
go down. Okay. So how do we get him to do one
or the other without doing both at the same time?
Okay. So this is, this is, this is a great question.
Um, so when we're doing, when we're training
pet dogs, A lot of times we have to ask the question,
what is, let me rephrase it differently. So a
lot of owners wish that their dog would just
go to a down. And so a lot of times we don't
correct dogs that auto down because. it's still
a positive behavior. Now, if you don't want your
dog to go down, then you can use your body language
and your body pressure in order to prevent that.
And so what that would look like is if I, usually
we use a food lure to sit, right? And so we bring
the food up and their head comes up to follow
the food and their butt goes down. At that point,
I can step towards the dog so that I'm very close
to them and they can't slide into that down.
And then I can reward, reward, reward, and show
the dog that, hey, look, you're sitting, you're
doing the right thing. Here's all these rewards
because you're continuing to do it. Okay. Also,
I want to mention that when we, a lot of the
times in the homes that we kind of work in, they
are, you're looking at like doing it with a dog
on a hardwood floor a lot of the times. So if
that is the case with this, I always see dogs
that just naturally slide into a down because
it is hard for them to hold a sit position. on
a surface that's kind of slippery so if he is
doing it on a hardwood floor I would also look
at that as one of the things and we always will
end up like rolling out like a rug to kind of
train dogs on because they will sit for a lot
longer than if they are on like a harder surface
where it's a little bit more difficult. There's
a couple other little tricks that you can use.
You can have the dog sit on a smaller platform
that they can't. They don't have enough room
to like down on. So if you like had a little
square like platform or something, you can have
him hop up there where he can kind of stand on
all fours and he can like pull his butt down
to the ground and sit on it. But he can't really
lay down on it. And that is another way that
you can break that auto down. But once again,
I'll throw out there that most pet owners like
the auto down. And so it just comes down to like,
is there a reason you don't want him to go down?
Because down is usually a more relaxed position.
And anytime we can get a dog to relax more, it's
usually better. uh okay that that doesn't mean
that you don't want to differentiate that it
really just comes down to owner preference right
now when we get ready to take him outside and
have him to sit before he goes outside he won't
lay down he'll just sit and he'll sit there and
he'll wait when you tell him stay and you walk
outside and tell him free he'll come out very
nice but uh If you go in the kitchen or come
in here with a treat in your hand and he sees
it, he automatically sits and goes down. Gotcha.
So that sounds like he's trying to predict what
behavior you want in order to win the reward.
Right. And so sometimes we see dogs will perform
or exhibit like multiple behaviors. I'll sit
and then I'll down and then I'll roll over and
then I'll. Give a paw and then I'll spin around
in a circle or whatever it is. They're like,
I know you've got a treat. They just start offering
behaviors in order to try to get it. And so sometimes
what you can do is you can block that by just
being like, you know, sit. And then as soon as
he goes down, just no. And that's it, right?
Just no. That's incorrect. And then you could
move a little bit. So he, he moves with you,
get him back into a sit and then yes. And then
you use that tone of voice that we were just
talking about to reinforce. Yes, that's the right
thing. And if he auto downs, no, that's the wrong
thing. Okay. One of the biggest problems we're
having with him is when he gets something in
his mouth to get him to drop what's in his mouth,
we have to pry his mouth open. He caught a rabbit,
a baby rabbit last week. Oh, Lord. But, I mean,
he's got a real soft mouth. He got one of Heidi's
eggs out of her chicken coop and run around the
yard with it and never broke it until he got
it out of his mouth. But he does not want to
release something once he gets it in his mouth.
Have you had any success with trading him something
else of high value? Yes. He's got a one -track
mind. Okay. All right. So, right. And so he comes
to us on the first, right? Correct. So, right.
So we will. How did he get to a baby rabbit?
Did he catch it? He was. That's impressive. The
rabbit had a little nest with little rabbits
out here in the field behind the house. Gotcha.
Yeah, you have a lot of land. Yes, he went out
there. Grab hold of the rabbit. So this starts
at a more basic level than just, hey, just let
this go. And it's going to start by us teaching
him to get things and then also to come back
to us for rewards. And we're going to build that
pattern up until it's really exciting, that whole
event. of like going and getting something and
then bringing it back or just returning back
to us. We're going to build enough excitement
with that that it becomes a pattern. Then we'll
give him something to go get that's not just
food, right? So that he goes and he gets it.
And then as he brings it back, his pattern is
to come back to us for the thing that we're going
to give him, right? We're going to start with
a treat. And what that reinforcement does is
he's going to naturally be more prone to let
that object go because he's been reinforced to,
I go and get this thing, I get a treat over there,
and then I come back to you and I get a treat
over here. And by repping out that pattern, we
can start to incorporate him releasing something
before he even realizes that he has it and we
don't. Okay. So there's a whole bunch of little
nuances that we can do to help that. But being
that it's only like six days or so before we
get an opportunity to jump in there, I don't
know that you're, I don't have any magic ways
for you to just, if he's not willing to just
take, like get a treat instead or trade you for
like a toy or something, Those are like the most
basic and the easiest things to recommend. Aside
from that, we're probably going to have to do
some reconditioning and to get him excited to
participate in more of pack drive and less prey
drive of like, I've got this. Right. It goes
back to like the him playing the keep away game.
Right. So it just has to go back to like relationship
building where he's he would rather. bring it
to you and give it to you than to have you chase
him around after it. Right. Because we're going
to improve his pack drive and his desire to want
to hang out with you and be with you. Great.
And we're going to work with lots of TV remotes.
He went in my room a while ago. It hadn't been
no more than an hour ago, and I left some money
on the dresser, and he come walking through the
house with a $5 bill in his mouth. Oh, no. Right,
which shows me that he just really wants attention
from it, because if not, he would just eat it.
Right. He knows it's more valuable if he brings
it to you. Look what I have. Yeah. Oh, Lord.
All right. Anybody else have any questions before
we wrap this up tonight? All right, we are going
to start wrapping it up then. So tonight we talked
about body language and tone, how communicating
more than just our words is really, really important
and how we use our body language is just as important,
right? Try your best to condition your dogs to
work in that order of scent and then hearing
and then visual. That will just help pacify a
lot of those stressors in the house. For tonight,
that's all I've got. So thank you for tuning
in. Highly recommend it. If you're listening
to this, you've downloaded it, leave us a like,
leave us a comment, leave us a review. Thank
you for tuning in. And that's all I've got for
tonight. All right. Good night. Thanks, guys.
Thanks.