puppy tones

I know, two posts in one day, overload much? But my throat is hurting something fierce and I want to remember something important (usually I do an oral retell to Sean... yes, that is the teacher in me coming out).

I have been re-reading PuppyPerfect by Sarah Hodgson. It is such a fabulous book, by the way, especially for first-timers. This book made me realize that maybe I could do the dog thing (what can I say? I have traditionally been a cat person). Positive reinforcement based, broken down into steps I understand. She uses the idea of "team captain" versus "alpha" to explain the puppy to puppy parents relationship, which is just much less harsh.

Anyway, I just reread the section on tones. This is a bit difficult for a person without a voice to do, but I still believe there is a difference, even with my whisper. So according to Miss Sarah, there are 3 tones puppies can recognize: Directional, praise and shame.

1) Directional: pretty self explanatory what it's for: giving directions! such as sit, wait, stay, etc. But the tone should be like you are asking someone to please pass the salt, "Please pass the ketchup" "Marmalade sit". After I read the book the first time (I'm now on my third time), Sean and I started practising this around the house. Like when Cocoa is feeling very anxious and meowing her brains out looking for Roxie, we would say, "Marmalade, kill the cat" (JOKINGLY of course!). When you remember to use the directional tone, it helps keep you looking/feeling calm but it's still pretty firm.

2)Praise: again, self-explanatory, it's for giving praise. This tone doesn't really have any rules because it depends on the puppy. I have been reading Honey the Great Dane's blog and her owner uses high-pitched, lots of excitment in her tone when giving praise. But if you have a dog that has trouble containing her enthusiasm, like say Sean's old Lab, Nikki, using that tone would cause her to jump up on people, play a little rough, and as a puppy, made her pee. Obviously, you would need a calmer praise tone than the one used for Honey.

3)Shame: this should be used sparingly, as no one likes to feel ashamed all the time (what kind of team captain is that??). It should be used in certain cases to express your disappointment, like aggression.

With these tones, there are also corrections and tones for the corrections. For younger puppies, like under 4 months, there is really only one correction they can understand and that is "ep-ep" which sounds peppy and is just a gentle discouragement for all unwanted behaviours. With puppies 5 months and older, you can add in "shame on you" (for house-soiling, destruction) which shows your disappointment and "nope" which is just like a short, quick bark, a little more firm than the directional tone (used for all behaviours). After 7 months, you add shhhtt which should be sharp and fierce (for barking or nipping) and "that's unacceptable" which should be strong and dominant, but only used when something is absolutely forbidden, like showing aggression.

Final point: obviously these corrections can only be used when the behaviour is "caught" as the window for making the connection, especially in young puppies, is very short.

whew, thanks for letting me do my "oral recall". I only missed one or two points when I checked back in the book. Not bad.