....this is kind of a silly question (okay, not kind of, it is)

i have a friend who says it's bad to talk to your dogs, outside of giving commands, b/c they get use to you talking (or blabbering....not that i might have that tendency....i'm sure you all have never noticed such a tendency in my posts ) and learn to tune you out.

is this true?

and if it is (and if my bf can learn to tune me out probably the dogs can), what do you do?

i do give commands in a more serious voice, and then praise in a happy/excited voice, but i do like to talk to the dogs and tell them what a good job they're doing. it feels weird to walk or run with them and not talk to them or ignore them.

i'm just wondering if dogs do tune people out or if it's an old wives tale, type-thing.

I talk to my dog all the time.

My dog is my therapist.

Commands sound different from normal conversation, so it hasn't ever caused issues.

i'm the same, i have my 'command' voice. and i think most dogs are smart enough to be able to differentiate.

i probably talk the most to luc, though i talk to all of them a fair bit, and i do find sometimes luc has a slightly delayed reaction to a command, but it's not a real issue. and that could also just be a training thing with us.

it seems so sad not to talk to your dog(s)!

I"ve been admonished a number of times by the master trainers we use for our NNDDA certification for talking to my dog too much.

I remember one day last year, when we were taking our turn at the hides in the practice room. Toby was working well, and I was very pleased with him. Apparently I was keeping up a running dialog with him, tellin him that he was a good boy (I, too, tend to just ramble on to my dogs). The traininer asked me, "What has he just done that was good? You're only moving from one area to another. What are you praising him for?"

I was rather taken aback, mostly because I have always talked to my personal dogs. I deferred to the trainer as I don't have nearly as much experience with working dogs. But it sure felt odd to not talk to Toby....

I think the dog picks up on your key words and tone of voice. Since I was a kid, I've talked to my dogs in a general conversational tone. In this way, I've informally trained the dogs to pick up key words: ball, no ball (ie: drop it), get the squirrel (chase them from the bird feeder), kennel up, show me (show me the critter that made you bark), etc etc.

I'm afraid that it's a habit I'm stuck with.

I don't talk too much to my dogs, not for any particular reason I just tend to grunt and be monosyllabic, just ask my wife.....

I don't talk to my dogs all that much while they are working. BUT I make a BIG HUGE deal when they correctly indicate on source.

I will say a few things like, "good", "good, let's find more", "easy", "wait" "stop" ect.....but not too much.

Even when training young dogs, I may say a little more, but I do not ever talk to the dog in a conversational way.

The reason I do not do this is because I do not want the dog to rely on me for support. I want the dog to go out and perform what they were trained to do. They "know" what the payoff for being correct is.

If the dog is rewarded throughout the entire process, it may slow them down or cause them to rely on the handler.

Not saying that it is wrong to talk to your dog, but have you tried not talking to him and see what happens?

There is a person that I train with that used to talk to her dog all the time, I did not allow it at training one time and the dog actually shut down and would not work...instead, he kept coming back to the handler and staring at her like he was waiting for direction.

Now the dog works great and the handler makes a BIG HUGE deal out of the correct indication.

Sometimes we do things that we are not aware of and it is amazing to see the response of the dog when we take that equation out of the situation.

Does this make sense?

(edited to say that I do talk to my dogs a lot when we are not training or working, but I talk to them like "adults" and not "kids" )

Yeah,
I second or third that motion.
If I'm not training, my dog hears all my rambling thoughts.


If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

hmmm. if we're doing strictly just a training session, i don't talk to luc (or the other dogs). but if i'm out with them, i usually throw in as much obedience work as possible, sort of 'real world' training, but i also gab to them. (like adults as well....i can't stand infantilizing them. nothing drives me crazy like when people call them my kids....they're dogs!)

with luc too, mind you, i find he really feeds off of the talking and being told how good he's doing (at running or whatever) for his confidence. i think it benefits him in a way that probably isn't significant for teagan, or neb, who are both more independent and naturally confident.

if there's one odd side effect of how much i gab to luc, it's probably to some extent the loss of use of specific commands. he responds to 'luc' said differently remarkably accurately - it's replaced come, heel, and is starting to replace sit as well. i think he's good at reading the situation, and i'm possibly too predictable as well. we're starting canine good neighbour classes when we get back from our trip - he can do most of the obedience (well, all of it, if i remember the cgn test correctly), it's the 'strange' dog portion i want help with the most, and in a controlled environment.

maybe i'll stop gabbing to him as much - still talk, but do a stricter separation of work/rest, and see if he gets a bit sharper. i'd like him to go into the class as sharp as possible, not only so he can blow them away with how great he is, but also so we can spend our time focusing on working and being around strange dogs, and not other things.

I know that I talk too much but, the dogs key in on the "training" words as long as they have a good foundation and know what the important words mean.

My dogs hear me say things that would make most people cringe...they don't seem to mind however. Aren't they just the best kind of friends!!!

Anyone else have "two-way" conversations with their dog?

Danke tends to grunt, grumble, whine and generally vocalize when I talk to her in a certain cadence, tone and volume.

If I talk to her in a low, conspiratorial tone, I get a lot of head tilting and vocalization.
I guess my amusement with this must be obvious, because the behavior has increased over time, so clearly it has been reinforced.

Training-wise, no, I don't "talk" to my dog. Command, marker. That's about it.
But mostly that's because we're both too focused for a "chat".