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In any learning environment it is important that certain understandings be clear before any communication can take place. Of course, the most important ingredient is to have attention. When we think of attention, we think of maintaining eye contact. Once we have eye contact we can, through body gestures, vocal noise, and body contact, begin to communicate with our dog. For instance, have you ever been to a concert with loud amplified music where the noise is so loud you can feel it? If I wanted to communicate with you, typically I would tap you on your shoulder a few |
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times until I got your attention, Once we have eye contact we can begin to block out the background noise and with the assistance of body gestures, pointing toward the door saying in an animated way, "Let's get out of here!" To our dog, the outside world is like a concert. Who can deny that when we're on a walk with our pets that they are so distracted with noise in their heads that they can't hear us? Our first goal is to teach our dog to maintain eye contact. Eye contact in terms of animal communication tends to mean something of a threat. |
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Attention. |
