I get in the habit of taking it for granted that my dog understands me -- that when I say "sit" he sits; when I say "down" he gets down; when I say "let's go for a walk," he leaps in the air in anticipation. I take these acts of canine comprehension for granted, until I hear someone speaking to their dog in a foreign language. Every time I hear dog commands given in Japanese, Spanish, Tagalog, or even Sign Language it strikes me just how amazing it is that they can understand us at all. We force entirely different structures of communication on them and expect them to pick it up. What’s more, we sometimes expect them to know when we mean “drop it”, but in our haste to correct them, we tell them “no!”
Bridging this language barrier is totally doable. We proved that as soon as we taught them to ‘sit’. But when learning any new language, maintenance is all about practice. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Thus, when it comes to training and command recognition, it seems to be all about consistency. But being consistent is more our problem than our dog’s. If we interchange the term “leave it” when we originally taught them to “drop it”, then they tend to lose any association they built up between command and action.
Dogs are much like childern, you can teach them anything, if you have the patient. My friend has a dog that is the best. She does not let anyone harm her. I have watched him push my friend out of harms way. My friend talks to her dog as if she is a child, and takes good care of her as if she is a child. for a long time my friend would not evn leave her dog to take an over nite trip.I love dogs and can not wait to get another dog. Somethimes I like animals better than people on some days. Animals can be better people.You can unload on them and do not have to worry about hearing it again. Because dogs will love and protect you as long as you take care of them.I have always had a dog, but because of landlords it can be difficult.
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