Mistake #2: Assuming Your Dog Understands English
Your dog may not be ignoring you. He may have no idea what you’re talking about.
“Sit. Sit. SIT!”“Come here! I said COME!”“Go lie down. You KNOW what that means!”
But does he? Or do you know what it means and assume he does, too?
Welcome to 101 Mistakes Humans Make to Mess Up Their Dogs with Dina Zaphiris. In this episode, we’re tackling Mistake #2 from my book: Assuming Your Dog Understands English. And yes, this is one of my biggest pet peeves.
We bring a dog into our lives, start talking, and somehow expect him to arrive with our entire vocabulary already installed. Then, when he doesn’t respond, we call him stubborn, defiant, or a dog with “selective hearing.”
Before you say, “He knows what I mean,” I want you to ask yourself one honest question: Have I actually taught him?
Not said it. Not repeated it. Not shouted it across the yard. TAUGHT it.
There is a difference between TRAINING your commands and USING your commands. Saying “come” is not the same as teaching your dog what “come” means. Saying “stay” doesn’t explain what staying is. And delivering a five-minute speech about manners doesn’t give your dog a clear picture of what you want him to do.
Your dog wasn’t born speaking English. That doesn’t mean he can’t learn words. It means we have to stop skipping the teaching and jumping straight to the expecting.
Some of you have carefully taught your dogs the words you use. Others have been saying those words for years without ever building a clear connection between the sound and the behavior. Which one are you?
In this episode, I explain why this mistake is so easy to make, how it creates confusion on both ends of the leash, and how to start giving your words real meaning.
We’ll get into one of my foundational training concepts: behavior first, command second. Instead of throwing an unfamiliar word at your dog and hoping he guesses correctly, start by helping him perform the behavior. Then connect the word to that action and reinforce it. Give him something he can actually understand.
Think about teaching “come.” How do you make moving toward you fun and rewarding? When do you introduce the word? What are you reinforcing? Those details matter more than how many times you can yell his name from the back door.
And here’s something worth thinking about: when you say your dog’s name, what are you asking him to DO? Look at you? Come to you? Stop what he’s doing? We expect clarity from our dogs while sometimes giving them anything but.
This isn’t about never talking to your dog. Please, talk to your dog! I talk to mine. This is about knowing the difference between enjoying a conversation with your best friend and expecting a trained response to a word you haven’t taught.
After more than 30 years of training dogs, I want people to stop blaming the dog before they’ve looked at the teaching. This isn’t a guilt trip. It’s an opportunity to make things clearer, fairer, and a whole lot more fun for both of you.
Whether you’re starting with a puppy or living with a dog you’ve loved for years, this episode asks you to take a fresh look at the words coming out of your mouth and what they actually mean to the animal in front of you.
Ready to turn “Why won’t he listen?” into “How can I teach him?” Press play.
KEEP LEARNING WITH ME
Explore my online dog training:
https://dinazaphiris.com
See my scent detection and canine cancer detection work with In Situ Foundation:
https://dogsdetectcancer.org
Follow me on Instagram for training videos, real-life examples, and more:@dinadog1
Follow the podcast, leave a rating, and share this episode with someone who loves their dog but keeps saying, “He KNOWS what I mean!”
Before you expect your dog to understand your words, give those words a meaning.
