The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs

by Patricia B. McConnell

If someone calls your name when you’re engaged in some engrossing activity, you’d probably say “What?” or “Yes?” or “Just a minute.” You wouldn’t necessarily know what the caller expected of you. Yet we put our dogs in that position all the time, saying their name and then expecting them to read our minds.

Language

Start to pay careful attention to the words you use around your dog. You might even write down what you think your signal words are. Be specific about exactly what words you use. Do you say “Lie down” or “Down,” or both? After all, the words complete and pleat share the same sound, but they mean different things to us. How is your dog supposed to know if “Lie down” has the same meaning as “Down”? Would you, if it were two unfamiliar phrases in Swahili?

Language

For example, many of us say “Down” to ask our dog to lie down and ten minutes later say “Down” to get her to stop jumping up on Aunt Polly. So which is it? What do you want your dog to do when you say “Lie down”? Lie down on her belly? Stop jumping up and stand there with all her paws on the ground? Leap off the couch? Of course, you know that the same word can have different meanings in different contexts, but we’re supposed to be making things easy for our dogs, not doing IQ tests on them all day. Your dog’s life will improve immensely if you learn to use a different command for each behavior that you want her to do.

Language

Even if you are clear and consistent with your signals, be sure your dog defines them the same way that you do. For example, I suspect that most dogs and owners define the simple word sit differently. If you’re like most pet dog owners, you taught your dog to sit by calling her to come, telling her to sit, and then reinforcing her after she did. To us “sit” is a posture. We define “sit” as a position in which the dog’s hindquarters are flexed, her rear is on the ground, and her forelegs are straight, with front paws flat on the ground. “Sit.” Simple. And it looks as if your dog defines it the same way, too, because most of the time when you tell your dog to sit, I’ll bet she does just that. But what does she do if she’s lying down and you say “Sit”? Unless you’ve specifically taught her to sit up, she probably will stay lying down. What if she’s already sitting? Many dogs actually lie down if you repeat “Sit” while they’re sitting. What if you ask your dog to sit when she’s 15 feet away from you? If she’s like most dogs, she’ll happily trot to you and sit facing you, just as she was when you first taught her to sit. My guess is that most dogs think that sit means go to your owner’s legs, stand in front of him or her, and go part of the way down toward the ground.

Language