How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog

by Christina Hunger

TAKEAWAYS FOR TEACHING YOUR DOG Introduce time concepts to help your dog differentiate between something that already happened, is happening now, or will occur later. Model “now” in combination with what you are currently doing and “later” if you plan on doing a specific activity later in the day. If your dog says “now,” try as best you can to react quickly! Give your dog a way to say “all done.” Having words like “finished” or “stop” or a phrase such as “all done” gives your dog the power to say when she wants something to be done. Model “all done” at the conclusion of your dog’s activities to help her learn its meaning. Talk to your dog about what’s happening. I learned with Stella that if I told her what we were doing beforehand, she was less startled, and reacted more calmly to changes in her routine, or an activity that was different from what she requested. We are all more understanding when we know what’s going on.