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Dog Training - Understand Your Dog's Hearing For Better ResultsDogs can hear a faint sound at 75 feet while most humans can only detect it at 17 feet. The result of that is that your dog has to ignore a myriad of sounds that don't affect him. He also must accommodate a number sounds present in a typical household. This includes TV's, stereo's, kids etc. If you have a lot of kids like we do, you know how noisy a house can get. In some cases this sensitivity can lead to phobic behavior of, for example, thunderstorms. Dogs may hear the thunder of an approaching storm over 50 miles away while the sky is still clear. If a dog has a history of becoming upset by thunder, he may become increasingly anxious as the storm gets closer. He may salivate, pace, hide, seek comfort if you are home, or even try to escape. This sensitivity explains why many desensitizing techniques, like playing recordings of thunder at low levels, rarely work. Speakers are not designed to produce volumes softer than humans can perceive. Also, storms are typically preceded by elements to which dogs appear sensitive. Simply producing low volume thunder may not fulfill the total stimulus required to achieve desensitization. So what we are after here in dog training is a total stimulus package. That includes visual as well as sound. No need to worry about things like those elements dogs can sense before storms. They are not present or useful in training. Dogs quickly develope a motor movement response to sounds when the sound is accompanied by a visual signal. In other words, they'll move their head, ears, eyes or other body part in response to a sound accompanied by movement. If you as an owner and trainer are not aware of this mechanism, it can create problems. But it actually aids in dog training if used properly. For example, an owner's tendency to raise his hands while telling a jumping dog "down" is problematic. Raising the hands causes a reflex movement upward and encourages the dog to continue jumping. The result is a comfused dog who usually is punished unfairly for his actions. Effective use of this learning tendency involves moving the hands quickly down or toward the dog while saying "down". Even more effective in dog training is to apply the movements without speaking, then praising the dog's downward response. Another example is when owners try to teach their pet to "come" as they move or lean toward the pet. This visually instructs the pet to stay or retreat. Instead, lean or move away, or crouch down with one side of the body toward the dog and praise the first signs of approach by the dog. This method is effective even in adult dogs that are resistant due to improper dog training. It's also much faster than those than techniques that force passive movements through manipulation by hands or leashes. Remember when training you dog, he'll follow what he sees as much as what he hears. And he hears a lot more than you and I. Visual signals make a huge difference.
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