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The PAW Files: Speaking Dog Language; How Our Trainers Communicate with our Dogs

When it comes to training puppies and dogs, communication is everything. Our trainers use certain words and cues that help build trust, reinforce behaviour, and create a consistent learning environment for every pup in our care. Our puppy raisers will also be taught how to teach many of these to our puppies. 

Here are some of the terms used to help: 

“Cue” – Cues serve as a signal or the “green light” for a puppy to know that it’s time to do the behaviour they associate with that signal. A cue can be anything that the animal perceives, such as something verbal, visual, audible, environmental, a scent or even a touch. An example of a cue our trainers would use would be “sit” to ask a puppy to sit. 

“Mark” – Markers are words or sounds that communicate or signal to a puppy that he/she is doing the right thing. A common marker for good behaviour that people use regularly is “good boy” or “good girl”. We use the word “Yes” as our marker as it’s nice and clear, and as well as that it sounds consistent from person to person no matter who is saying it.  

“Reset” – When we say to “reset” a puppy we simply mean to help them return to where they were at the start of that particular step in an exercise. By doing this it often gives a pup a chance to take a little break before taking part again.  

“Free Shaping” - Free shaping is the process by which a pup or dog is gradually taught a new action or behaviour by rewarding them during each step of the process while learning that behaviour. In this way, a potentially complicated action can be broken into smaller parts that a dog will learn and understand more quickly. 

“Counter Conditioning” - Counter conditioning means changing a dog’s emotional response, feelings, or attitude toward a stimulus. For example, if a dog barks when the doorbell rings, we can use counter conditioning to change their response so that when the doorbell rings they go and look for their favourite toy.