Dogs are very social creatures. They have a strong instinct to be an accepted member of a group. With that being said, why do so many people find it difficult to train their dogs?

I think it is mainly due to focus. Many people take the role of “alpha dog” too seriously, feeling the need to completely dominate their pet, yelling at it and, if necessary, hitting it into submission.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the owner who expects their dog to be naturally obedient and well-behaved. When Fluffy fails to understand the message, her owner scolds her and gives her a long, detailed verbal explanation of what Fluffy did wrong and how he makes her feel. What Fluffy hears is: “Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah.” (Imagine the old Charlie Brown cartoons when an adult speaks.)

Here’s an important tip: your dog doesn’t understand English.

Watch how the dogs interact and you will see that they barely verbalize anything. Most of their communication is through body language. Not only do you need to learn their language and be able to understand what your dog is telling you by the way they hold their body, eyes, ears, mouth and tail, but you need to learn how you communicate with your dog through your own body language. .

The success or failure of training your dog will directly correspond to your ability to communicate effectively with your dog. In addition to simple voice commands like “come”, “sit”, “out”, add simple hand signals to accompany them.

I’m a big believer in one word commands whenever possible. Instead of saying “come here,” I simply say “come” while patting my thigh twice with my hand. Instead of saying “sit,” I just say sit, while moving my hand over my dog’s head. Instead of “stay away” or “don’t jump,” I simply say “out” as I extend my hand toward the dog, palm down. Too many words or complex hand movements will only confuse the matter. Especially if you use a combination of words and one of those words is used in another command (as in “stay away” or even “sit”).

I think we often make dog training harder than it needs to be. Keeping verbal commands simple and backing them up with light hand signals are good examples of simplified dog training.