How Dogs Perceive You
Your puppy is a social animal. That’s what makes him such a fabulous companion. He willingly incorporates your family and world into his social system. And his social system is quite a bit simpler than ours. It breaks down into two general categories: everyone is either someone to follow or someone who follows.
There are some simple ways to put you and your family in the “someone to follow” position:
- Walk through doors first.
- When you get home, you and your family should eat in your dog's presence before setting out the dog food. Among dogs, the most important dogs always eat first.
- Have your dog respond to you before you respond to him. For example, before you put out the food, give the ‘come’ command; before a pat on the head, give the ‘sit’ command; before a toy is offered, give the ‘down’ command. This gives you daily practice calling the shots and him daily practice responding accordingly.
- Use tone of voice to communicate. A higher-than-normal pitch is exciting and playful and perfect for praise. A normal tone – direct and confident – is your command tone. A lowered voice your dog hears as a warning, like a growl. With practice, your dog can learn to understand your mood through your tone of voice.
- Remember, never hit or yell at your dog. Focus on preventing or distracting from problem behaviors, not on correcting them. Replace unwanted behaviors with something you like – if your dog chews, give him a food dispensing toy to work on or a good chew toy. That way you both win: he gets to chew, you get a house in one piece and peace in your house.
