ACT Companion Dog Club

Dogs do not have the ability to use language as we do, so we can only communicate with them through their senses and how they interpret our behaviour. Training a dog is all about learning how to communicate with them in any way that we can which does not stress the animal. It is, therefore, worth looking at the dog's senses to see how they differ from ours.

Hearing

Dogs are able to hear sounds which we cannot. A noise that we can only just hear at 5 metres a dog can hear at 23 metres. It is, therefore, not necessary to shout at a dog to make him hear you! They can also hear high pitched sounds that we cannot (this is the principle of the silent whistle).

Touch

Dogs vary widely in their reaction to touch. Some are very sensitive and if touched whilst being taught an exercise (such as the sit), they will react so much that they cannot concentrate on what is being said and done. These dogs are best taught by methods which involve little or no handling. Other dogs are insensitive to being touched and therefore are not responsive to being touched as a reward. Dogs which liked being touched on the chest or behind the ears are easy to reward for a good response to a cue.

Sight

Because of the position of the eyes on the head, dogs have a wider angle of view than we so. However, the field of vision from each eye does not overlap as much as ours so that less of what they see is in focus. This means that they can see further around them but can not always identify what they can see. They are very good at noticing movement. This is one of the reasons why they respond well to training to hand signals as well as voice commands. You will be taught a hand signal for each cue and eventually your dog will learn to respond to the signal on its own. Nervous dogs may react to some movement they see but cannot identify, so sudden movements should be avoided with these dogs.

Dogs essentially see in black & white. This is not quite correct, but good enough for a day-to-day rule of thumb. Dogs do see the world from a lower viewpoint than we do. This may be useful as we can see a potential problem (joggers, children, cats) before they do and can prepare ourselves for any potential behaviour.

Smell

This is the dog's most prominent sense and the one that is the most different from ours. The extent to which a dog's world is one of scents is very difficult for us to understand. At the top level of obedience competition, dogs are taught to use their noses to find articles which have been scented (handled) by their handlers. In the early stage of training however, the dog's interest in scents distract its attention from what is being taught. You will need to make yourself more interesting to your dog than all those fascinating scents around the Club grounds.

Memory

Dogs have very good memories - if they didn't it would not be possible to train them as easily as we can. Unfortunately they will also remember things that we would prefer them to forget. If we become impatient when we are training our dogs and perhaps are cross with them when they seen slow to learn, the dogs will remember our behaviour and become anxious and confused the next time we train them. A frightened dog cannot learn.