The Dog Blog with Kathryn Socie

Training Sessions with the Dog

By Kathryn Socie, 10-01-08

	The task master contemplating my next lesson

I talk too much.  I know it.  Everyone who’s ever met me knows it.  Even my dog knows it. Despite the many times I’ve begged friends to give me some sort of indication as to when I’m going from charmingly chatty into the zone of an annoying over-talker, they never do. Somehow, they think it’s just a part of me that can be suffered. Suffer being the key word that I’d like not to be associated with.  Self-checking works for only so long, but it always gets tossed out at some point, typically right on the cusp of going-too-far, which is when I need the most help.

My dog, however, has worked hardest and done his best to train this behavior out of me. 

I was clueless about the training—first indication the dog is smarter than me- until it became apparent that not only was I talking less in the presence of the dog, but almost not at all.  Granted, he lets me babble away after he’s had a good hike and dinner. Like all good trainers, he allows me to misbehave in a context he deems appropriate.  Like all good trainers he knows this behavior is a part of my human nature and though he can’t change my nature, he can re-shape it to fit his needs.

Like all good trainers, he went slowly, never pushing me too hard and thus erasing all of his work only to have to start all over again.

When I would run into someone while we were out, he would lie quietly waiting, then, after some time, he would start to get progressively more active, rolling, walking around, whining until finally I broke the conversation and we went on our way.  He slowly decreased the time intervals between waiting and whining until I learned that whining means “stop talking.” He now just needs to use voice commands to control my behavior and has even taught me that one sharp bark means “now.”

Lucky for the dog, I am a highly trainable human with a strong desire to please my master.  Lacking opposable thumbs, he had to be very thoughtful in his training approach, tossing me treats and using a clicker were not feasible tools for him to use.  The dog had nothing but my desire to make him happy to utilize as a reward. 

It has worked beautifully.  I’m completely reformed in public settings when the dog is around, rarely engaging in little more than a few, short minutes of chatter.

Interestingly, people with small children who have witnessed our training sessions often point out the similarities between their children’s efforts in, as they put it, “trying to get me to stop talking,” and the dog’s hard work in this same realm.

Which left me wondering if the two parties, dogs and kids, are capable of taping into some primitively ingrained Caesar Milan-esque wisdom or if training is just that easy and more people than I thought are total suckers like me.

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