My Sidekick and Me: Let’s Talk About Talking In Training

By Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC

Think about what it looks like when you want your pet to do something. How many times do you repeat the behavior cue?  How do you let your dog know he just did what you want?

Do you ask over and over? Do you have a dialogue when you are telling your dog he was awesome?

I don’t know about you but I am a verbal communicator (and written communicator, but that is another topic).  Our language and how we use it, has power to influence. IF it is used effectively.  

Whether communicating with people…or dogs or other animals. I’ll share a few examples.

When a manager, parent or significant other keeps asking you to do something. Does their continual asking get you to want to do that thing more? Or, does their repetition eventually just get tuned out?

If someone walked into your office and just said, ‘Great job!’, would you know which part of your job you just did great? Was it something that you did yesterday or was it something that you did just then?  There really is not enough information for you to know.

Now let’s think about our relationship with our pets. (role as our pet’s teacher) 

Remember, our pet’s speak a different language than us. Clarity is important.

When you are training, firstly, look around. Are you in an environment that can make it easier to teach and learn? Are there a lot of other distractions? Are there a lot of competing reinforcers? Are there ways you can arrange the environment to make doing the wanted behavior easier? Are you prepared with your reinforcers and know what you are teaching?

When it comes to talking, less language can mean more clarity.

If you are needing to ask your pet to do something over and over, you need to ask yourself if your pet fully understands the behavior or whether you are asking the behavior in too difficult of an environment. A dog not being able to do a behavior that has been fluent in other situations could potentially be too distracted, too stressed, or simply confused since the circumstance looks different.

Depending on that circumstance, you may need to change the situation, go back steps to make the behavior easier, ask yourself if you have high enough reinforcers, take a break or abort the session and regroup.

When it comes to teaching a behavior, it is often more effective to teach it first, and then teach the cue you prefer. If you are teaching your pet many behaviors, make sure to use cues that look and sound different from each other.

When you are reinforcing the behavior (or punishing the behavior – but I prefer to focus on reinforcement), keep in mind that the closer that consequence is to the behavior, the quicker the learning curve. A marker is often a distinct sound that indicates your learner ‘just did’ what you want. The marker is effective because it is followed by another reinforcer like a treat or toy. If you repeat ‘Good dog’ over and over, it can decrease clarity. (Which behavior at which ‘good dog’ counts?)

Remember, the more clear you are, the more you can inspire learning!

Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC, with So Much PETential was voted 2024 Cincinnati’s Best Community Choice Award winner in pet training. She is a certified dog trainer, a certified Family Dog Mediator, and the first trainer in Hamilton County to earn Fear Free certification. She is also a licensed Family Paws Parent Educator. She is committed to using and teaching the most positive, science-based approaches to changing behavior. For more information, visit SoMuchPETential.com.