Teach Your Dog Words (Dog Life Day #1)

"How did you teach your dog to understand words?" one of my friends asked me on Facebook.

He has a Shiba Inu, a smaller version of the Shikoku Inu dog. Both are from Japan.

"That's easy," I said, but space in the FB chat boxes didn't allow me to explain thoroughly how to do it.

You Start with the Important Words

Which words are the most important for your dog to understand? Words that can save its life.

Words like "no", "stop", "come", and its name.

Use the words naturally, and put emphasis on the important word if you use more than one.

"No," will be enough, if you want your dog to stop doing something.

But when you're serving the food, use the dog's name and "come".

Nefnef, come.

Then you praise your dog for coming, even though he obviously only came to get his food. He'll learn that "come" means he should approach you, even when you don't have food near you.

Continue with Other Words

My dog, Nefnef, loves teddy bears and balls.

When I gave her her first teddy, I told her it was a teddy.

"Here's a teddy. Is it a nice teddy? Does Nefnef want a teddy?" I always put emphasis on the important word in the sentence, here: teddy.

I did the same with "ball" and after I while I could ask her to give me the ball, or give me the teddy, and she would pick the right toy.

Talk with Your Dog

Keep talking with your dog. He'll understand more than you think.

Yesterday, my husband and I sat in front of our computers, talking while we played World of Warcraft. Nefnef slept on the floor between us.

Or so we thought.

"I've left the door to the balcony open," my husband said. "It's a lovely weather today."

Nefnef got up and went to the balcony. She'd been listening to us all the time, while seemingly sleeping.

Years ago, we experienced something similar with our previous dog, Tikva.

We played World of Warcraft, and somebody called me chicken. There's a sound in the game of somebody strutting around, clucking.

"Did somebody call you chicken?" my husband asked me, and bump, bump, bump, that was Tikva coming running from the other room to check out the chicken, he talked about.

Trust Your Dog

Unless you have a puppy, you already know that he understands words like his name, "go for a walk" and perhaps other words.

Keep teaching him. He'll surprise you with his understanding of many more words than you ever thought possible.

Yes, even "watch out for cars".

And "chicken". Especially "chicken".