Do you feel frustrated not knowing what your pup is trying to tell you when they’re whimpering? Confused by barking or scratching that may signal different requests? What if your doggo could actually express their needs with the simple press of a button? Believe it or not, this is how dog owners have been training their dogs to ‘talk’.
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Talk training eliminates the guesswork by enabling confident communication between you and your pet! That’s right. Through a mix of Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) devices and operant conditioning learning techniques, your best friend can be taught to associate words/actions with the correct buttons. The key is lots of repetition, patience, and rewards!
You can start by downloading our free training worksheets, available on our website! These how-to-guides will lead you through the learning process one step at a time, including how to substitute equipment (if necessary), what type of language and voice commands to use, and how to successfully track your pet’s progress. For example, it is very important to praise your doggo when they press a button without being prompted by saying, “You want to go Outside? Okay, let’s go outside!”
While the breed of the pup is not a specific factor in talk training, it is crucial to realize that all dogs are different and may benefit from different approaches. For example, if you have a more lethargic pet, you might want to proceed at a more relaxed pace. Personal strengths and preferred learning styles also play a significant role in teaching your pup to talk.
Just like their owners, all dogs are unique and have different preferred learning styles and strengths. Some pups can press buttons in a matter of days. Others will take longer to master this skill. It’s very important to never rush or force the process on our friends. Patience and repeated exposure to the buttons and rewards/actions are vital to success. Remember, Einstein never spoke until the age of five, and your little genius will also learn according to their own schedule.
]]>This behaviour is very common in younger dogs. Puppies use their mouths to play, to nurse, and to generally determine what new objects are. If you give a puppy an object it has never interacted with before, odds are that it's going to bite or chew on it to determine how interesting it is. Play biting is also quite normal for baby dogs but can become problematic if it continues into adolescence. When an adult dog bites it is likely because they are scared or anxious. If biting becomes a common occurrence, especially towards other dogs or people, consider working with a trainer to resolve the behaviour.
To a dog, there is almost no item of clothing more exciting than a shoe. Shoes provide a lot of stimuli for a dog. They all have different shapes, textures and smells. By smelling your socks or shoes, your dog can learn about all the different places you went to that day. The chewing behaviour comes out when they get stressed or nervous, and your shoes just happen to be the most interesting and accessible thing to gnaw on.
In most cases, circling is a normal behaviour dogs exhibit before laying down, urinating, or sniffing some new thing. But if it starts to become a compulsive behaviour this is not normal and can signal an underlying problem. Compulsive circling can mean they’re experiencing pain or neurological problems, which can be diagnosed and treated by a veterinarian.
A classic pastime, digging provides many advantages and opportunities for a dog (maybe not for your lawn though). Dogs dig to hunt animals or escape and explore. Many dogs dig holes to lie in, as they make nice cool beds that smell great (to them). For dogs, digging is a stress-relieving experience that brings them comfort. While it is totally normal, some owners prefer to diminish this behaviour if it becomes too destructive.
If you notice that your dog is constantly scratching their ears or vigorously shaking its head, it could be a sign of an ear infection. Some breeds are more susceptible to ear infections, such as those with big floppy ears like cocker spaniels or poodles. Make sure to routinely check your pup's ears and make sure they’re clean and healthy.
When a potty-trained pup suddenly starts urinating in the house it can signal that there's something else wrong. This also applies to dogs that have an increased need to urinate as well. These behaviours can mean your pet has a kidney or urinary tract infection, or for older dogs, it can be a sign of dementia.
Many dog owners say that they know their dog understands them because they tilt their heads when being spoken to. This is kind of true. Dogs often do this when they are interested in what's going on but aren't really sure what to make of it. So while your dog doesn't actually know what you're talking about, you have their full attention (and they look so cute while doing it).
]]>You may be surprised to learn that dogs' brains share many similarities with humans. Dogs are able to process speech very quickly, similar to the timeframe it takes us to do the same. And like us, they also have some of the same structures, like the left and right sides of the brain. However, when it comes to understanding the contents of the speech, canine minds are not on par with the adult human mind. When it comes to thinking and learning, they are actually more like babies.
As young human minds develop, their capacity for processing new information is very limited. You would slowly teach a baby to understand language by showing them a few common objects or actions and the word associated with them. This is the same way many of us train our dogs, we show them an object/action and give them a word(s) to go with it. We repeat this process until they show us that they recognize the two stimuli are related. You continue the process again with more objects and phrases. But where a baby would continue to grow and develop the brain capacity to hold an extensive vocabulary, studies have found that the average dog can only retain about 89 words/phrases. This number can vary depending on training techniques and genetic factors like breed, but don't expect your dog to start blogging anytime soon.
Another key piece to how your puppy thinks is what conversational factors they place the most importance on. Dogs do not have detailed phonetic listening skills as we do. If you tell your dog to “sip” instead of telling them to “sit” they won't go looking for the nearest beverage. Instead, they will sit because they are not able to differentiate between words that are similar in sound.
Dogs rely on other factors like context, gestures, and tone of voice to understand what you’re trying to tell them. If you scowl and yell when you tell your dog that you love them very much, they will not get the message and will be rather terrified. Using a positive tone when speaking to your pet is crucial to the communication process. In one study, researchers used an MRI to monitor dogs' brain function while being spoken to. They found that the left side of the brain processed the meaning of the word, similar to how our brains do. But the right side of the brain would only light up when using a positive or negative tone instead of a neutral one. This demonstrates the importance of intonation in how dogs comprehend what we say to them. It’s important to be conscious of your body language and tone when training a dog to help them understand what you’re trying to accomplish. A positive attitude both inside and out will make the training process go all the more smoothly.
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