I’ve been pondering recently the words and phrases that my dog understands. I can categorically state that she’s no genius. Plus I’m not a dog specialist in any way. But, the words and phrases she knows and understands are directly attributable to me and my relationship with her. She may have known some words and phrases when she came to me (aged approx 8 months), her third home, or probably 4th if you count where she was born but I have no way of knowing what they were. She certainly didn’t respond to anything. She’d clearly never had a lead on, wasn’t house trained, didn’t want to eat dog food and was scrawny and petrified of everything and everyone – except me.

We had to start from scratch and I prioritised what I felt was important.

Good girl was probably the first. Trying to praise her for any and all positive behaviour (like weeing outside), or eating.

From there possibly followed in some kind of order. Holly (her name), This way, Sit, Stay, Up, Rollover, No, Off, Utch up, Go away, Leg, Bottom of the bed, Have a drink of water, Giddyup – I added this one in the last 12 months, just to see if I could and it makes me smile. I say it when we have space for her to run a little on lead and she does.

Teaching words to dogs is about pairing an action with a word. Do the thing. Say the thing. Then they get what the word means – hopefully. It doesn’t matter what the word is, it’s purely about what it means to them. Giddyup being a classic example. I don’t think many people would expect a dog to respond to that.

FWIW I think it’s pointless teaching walk/walkies to a dog as you then have to exclude those words from your vocabulary unless you are talking to/about your dog. It will just confuse them. Ditto ‘treats’. I want to be able to talk about treats and walks without my dog thinking she’s getting one or the other.

Ditto, dogs are unlikely to comprehend complex sentences. I have overheard ‘Behave and you will get one of the good biscuits’. I’d stake my life on the fact that that dog had no clue what that sentence meant. While dogs can pick out familiar keywords and emotional tones, they don’t process syntax or abstract ideas. They respond to what has clear, actionable meaning to them. It’s about keeping it short and to the point. Less is more. My dog training mantra is the same as my copywriting mantra!

I also have some silent commands – hand gestures only – which my dog understands and responds to. I have not mastered this in any other area. Me and Holly have a shared language that is uniquely ours. I suspect many dog owners have the same. Isn’t language endlessly interesting?