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The Name Game: Teaching your Dog Her Name
One of the most useful things you can do for your dog is to be thoughtful about how you use your dog’s name. Start by asking yourself how people use names: If you say a person’s name, it’s because you want her attention, right? Once she gives you her attention, you don’t stand and stare at her! You ask her a question or ell her something you think she needs to know. That’s how we should use our dogs’ names. Once we have their attention, we need to do something with it. Keep in mind that there’s no reason your dog should automatically take her attention off an interesting smell in the grass just because you make a sound that we label “her name”. Until we teach them differently, words that have inherent meaning to us are just noises to our dogs. You can make your dog’s name meaningful to her by playing what Trisha calls “the name game.”
It's some of the easiest training you'll ever do, but it is powerful stuff that can make a b ig difference in your relationship with your dog. Start by having at least 15 to 25 extra tasty treats in your hand or training pouch, and move into an area in which your dog will only be mildly distracted. Wait for her to start sniffing the grass or looking elsewhere, and then say her name. If she turns her head toward you, immediately say "Good!" and give her a treat. Then turn and look away, perhaps walk a few feet forward, and wait for her to turn her attention elsewhere. When she does, say her name again, praise her the instant her head turns toward you and give her another treat. Repeat four or five times in a row, giving her more than one treat for responding if she was especially interested in something in the environment.
If you say her name and she doesn't turn her head, walk her a few steps away from what's distracting her, and try again. Once you've said her name, let her initiate the action without any prompting from you. If she initiates looking at you on her own she'll learn faster and be more consistent later on. If you absolutely have to, clap your hands or make smoochy noises to help direct her attention toward you, but after a few repetitions, wait to see if she'll do it on her own, and be lightening fast with the treat to reward her for it.
A cautionary note: just about every human ever born tends to repeat their dog's name if it didn't work the first time. Thus, a reasonable subtitle of this section could be "Ginger, Ginger, GINGER!" but if you respond to inattention by repeating your dog's name, you are simply teaching hr to ignore you until the second or third repetition. Instead, concentrate on saying your dog's name just once, and the moving to a new spot if it didn't work the first time. Palm the treat in your hand and let her sniff your fist to get her attention, and then pull your hand back and let her turn her head away before you try again. If you're not getting a good response, try working in a less distracting environment. Play this game several times a day, varying when and where you ask her to look at you. Be mindful of the level of difficulty -- don't get swept away by early successes and ask for her to turn away from high-level distractions yet. You always want to build on a foundation of success, so be sure to go one step at a time.
Along with playing The Name Game, notice how and when you say your dog's name. Many of us (okay, ALL of us!) tend to say our dog's name often, but not necessarily in a way that is useful. Often we say "Cooper" or "Billie", and assume that through some miraculous process our dogs will know what we really mean is "Billie come!" or "Cooper, don't chew the electrical cord." But alas, mind-reading dogs have yet to be bred, and until that happens we need to go out of our way to ensure that we are effectively communicating. Don't worry when you notice yourself saying your dog's name and nothing else, but make a mental note of it. After a few days, without consciously trying, you'll start making yourself worth listening to, and your dog will magically become better behaved!
Read more about helping your dog become a better trained, more polite member of your family by reading "Family Friendly Dog Training."
If you say her name and she doesn't turn her head, walk her a few steps away from what's distracting her, and try again. Once you've said her name, let her initiate the action without any prompting from you. If she initiates looking at you on her own she'll learn faster and be more consistent later on. If you absolutely have to, clap your hands or make smoochy noises to help direct her attention toward you, but after a few repetitions, wait to see if she'll do it on her own, and be lightening fast with the treat to reward her for it.
A cautionary note: just about every human ever born tends to repeat their dog's name if it didn't work the first time. Thus, a reasonable subtitle of this section could be "Ginger, Ginger, GINGER!" but if you respond to inattention by repeating your dog's name, you are simply teaching hr to ignore you until the second or third repetition. Instead, concentrate on saying your dog's name just once, and the moving to a new spot if it didn't work the first time. Palm the treat in your hand and let her sniff your fist to get her attention, and then pull your hand back and let her turn her head away before you try again. If you're not getting a good response, try working in a less distracting environment. Play this game several times a day, varying when and where you ask her to look at you. Be mindful of the level of difficulty -- don't get swept away by early successes and ask for her to turn away from high-level distractions yet. You always want to build on a foundation of success, so be sure to go one step at a time.
Along with playing The Name Game, notice how and when you say your dog's name. Many of us (okay, ALL of us!) tend to say our dog's name often, but not necessarily in a way that is useful. Often we say "Cooper" or "Billie", and assume that through some miraculous process our dogs will know what we really mean is "Billie come!" or "Cooper, don't chew the electrical cord." But alas, mind-reading dogs have yet to be bred, and until that happens we need to go out of our way to ensure that we are effectively communicating. Don't worry when you notice yourself saying your dog's name and nothing else, but make a mental note of it. After a few days, without consciously trying, you'll start making yourself worth listening to, and your dog will magically become better behaved!
Read more about helping your dog become a better trained, more polite member of your family by reading "Family Friendly Dog Training."