Some words are deemed as slangs in the dog world

These words trigger as much carelessness as passion. Their definitions are sometimes misguided to leave room for subjective perceptions, often due to unfortunate associations.

⚠️ The definitions noted in quotation marks come from Larousse.fr and are translated

What about your dog ?

We tend to tone down how we perceive by changing terms, for example "order" is substituted for "cue".

We tend to reject the very idea that these words have a place in dog training.

We tend to favor the idea of compromise, denying the reality of behaviors and their implementation at times, and disavowing our own human behaviors.

These words have become red flags for identifying a professional working for the evil empire.

And yet, so many examples give it away that everyone, even those who loathe these words, practices the definitions cited.

Authority

« 1. Power to decide, command, impose one’s wills upon others »

Your first step in authority is when you made it a call that this dog will be a member of your home. You influenced his life by forcing him to live with you, exempting yourself from his will. You may have carried out a test at home. That said, who chose him in the first place? Unless he came to your home after observing and following you regularly, you did make a decision without consulting him.

Once in your life, you decide on other aspects: where and when he eats, what he eats, where and when he goes out, whether he stands on the table while you are eating.

Flexibility in authority is no weakness. It can be beneficial if, for example, your dog is sick and not being "whimsical" about his food bowl; if he is suffering and refuses to go for a walk; if your dog prefers to walk on one side because the smells are more interesting there and is anxious because your way involves passing a house with dogs frighten him by barking.

Structure

« 5. Which limits, restricts the action of someone, of something; which circumscribes a subject »

Letting your dog know the limits of his behaviors, what he is allowed to do or not to do, is above all about guiding him to fit in as best as possible.

A structure is defined by "boundaries." It results from learning, communication, and exchanges with your dog. It is not determined by your pleasant or unpleasant way of establishing it.

The structure you impose on your dog may include: not jumping on elderly people who visit you, waiting for the owner's verbal cue before crossing the street, staying within the garden and leaving the neighbor's chickens alive, etc.

You can absolutely teach your dog all these behaviors, all these boundaries, using gentleness and rewards, and communicating without being verbally or physically brutal.

Control

"3. Action, fact of controlling something, a group, of having the power to manage them"

On one hand, there's what the law requires of dog owners: that they have control over their animal.

On the other hand, there's what reality requires of humans, and what should actually be done.

What does it mean to have control over one's animal? That it doesn't pose a threat to others and returns to his owner when called.

Does the very idea of controlling your four-legged friend put you off? Take off the leash and let him use the door whenever he wants (by installing a dog flap, for example). The problem is that simply teaching your dog behaviors and setting boundaries so he can fit into your life as best as possible is already control. However, you can give him moments where he "takes over" as for certain aspects of his life: he chooses what he eats by indicating his preference, he opts for the paths he likes on walks, he expresses his need to stop or his acceptance during treatment, he has multiple sleeping areas.

Discipline

« 1. Branch of knowledge that can lead to teaching

3. Aptitude for abiding by those rules

4. Obediance, submission to the rules one’s group has established »

Your dog may participate in several disciplines and activities you can share with him: agility, mantrailing, dog parkour, proprioception, hiking, etc.

These disciplines require that you and your dog adhere to a certain discipline: they can only be practiced serenely, without injury, if both are in harmony with the established rules and in symbiosis with each other, listening to each other. Reciprocity is essential for everyone to revel.

The discipline your dog will show in putting your commands into practice on cue depends on his learning, the reinforcement of the expected behaviors, the respect of learning with stages, his emotional state, and his health. Just like you and me, your dog can be agitated by external distractions or internal disturbances.

Firmness

« 3. Quality of someone, of their behavior who has intellectual or moral strength

4. An attitude of rigor, excluding weakness, towards others »

Too often, I hear firmness associated with harshness. I do not consider firmness conveyed by stiffness in the body or curtness in the voice. Your dog's hearing enables him to perceive sounds up to about 50,000 hertz (while you and I can hear them up to 16,000 hertz). Unless his hearing is significantly impaired (and even then, I recommend relying more on your body language than a louder voice to communicate), your dog can hear you perfectly well.

To my mind, firmness has more to do with the discipline you do show: are you consistent and coherent as for what you ask him ? I sometimes see scenes where humans become annoyed that their dog refuses or takes time before carrying out an order. In this case, they raise their voice, their intonation becomes harsher. They sometimes get their dog to submit temporarily. Or they repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat, potentially leaving their dog unresponsive, hearing but not listening.

Personally, when I assess a situation as one requiring that I do not negotiate with the dog performing a behavior, I will: put him in an "easy" situation (depending on his emotional and health state, as well as the surrounding distractions); not contradict myself from one day to the next; make sure he understands what I expect of him; wait for him to perform the behavior and reinforce it so that my request does not lose value.

For instance, if I decide that a pond is unsuitable for swimming, I will not give in despite the dog's "cute face". I will either put him on leash while I go past the pond, or I will teach him to come to me when call and walk by my side, or I will find other strategies depending on the dog to make the pond lose its interest. I will not yell at a dog for whom I know that this pond is like chocolate to me.

Obediance

« Action or habit to obey, to perform what is ordered »

Sorry if I ever contradict your possible beliefs, but your dog doesn't obey because of your pretty eyes or just because you told him to do something like when you press the button on the coffee maker.

So that your dog "obeys", he needs: to understand your signal, to have seen it repeated, that his associated behaviors have been reinforced, that your signal has been generalized to various contexts, that he is able to put it into practice (it can be physically difficult for an older dog to maintain a position for a period of time), that it is constant and consistent (that he is not encouraged one day to take food off your hand when you are eating and the next day you reprimand him for being near you).

Command

« 1. Act by which a higher authority manifests its will towards someone or a group

8. Compliance with laws and regulations that maintain the stability of a group »

For the first definition, I personally tend to substitute "command" with "cue". I request the dog to do or not to something, either verbally, gesturally, or both (I avoid them being simultaneous so as not to penalize myself in the future because the dog would consider my request valid only if I perform them both at the same time). Depending on the context, the dog may not respond positively to my request: he refuses to sit because he is in pain, he refuses to come to me because I am near something he is afraid of. I am neither his "boss" nor his "general". His refusals are information to be taken into account. However, there are contexts in which I won’t negotiate his obedience. If he is then likely not to submit to my request, I will manage the situation myself rather than put him in failure or my request lose its value. This could be, for example, if I ask him to leave (turn away from) a piece of food on the street; if I know he's going to fail, intentionally or not, rather than deciding to react with hostility to a situation I would have allowed to occur, I will direct him further away so that he doesn't even have the opportunity to access the food.

As for the second definition, I would say that it applies as much to the dog as to the humans he lives with. Humans who contradict themselves, who contradict one another, whose behaviors are inconsistent and/or incoherent, do little but inspire dogs to behave other than according to their own perceptions.

Rule

« 1. Prescription, of the order of thought or action, which is imposed on someone in a given case »

We all live, we humans, by complying to rules. We sometimes break them slightly (for example, continuing to drive when the light has turned orange) and sometimes significantly (for example, passing another vehicle when the middle lane is straight). We go to work without keeping our night clothes on. We do not eat at a restaurant with our feet up on the table. We avoid mixing a cat up with a tiger when we visit a zoo and stay away from the latter's enclosure. These rules are established in situations, in contexts, to make life easier in an environment where beings of various kinds live side by side.

When it comes to your dog, some rules are your responsibility, depending on your lifestyle and what you want to share with him. Other rules are more a matter of friendly coexistence with other humans or dogs, cats, horses, etc. Still others are just as much imposed on you as they are on your dog.