Why Your Tone of Voice Matters to Your Dog

You’ve probably heard many Relationship Gurus or Sales Marketing Speakers preach about this in seminars and conferences.

“It’s Not What you say, it is HOW you say it!”

I’m sure you’ve had at least one experience when you felt like your dog just wasn’t paying any attention to you at all. You talked, you scream, you shouted, you coaxed, maybe you jumped up and down, and waved your arms, but he just wasn’t interested in anything you had to say to him in any tone of voice.

Many dog owners I know try to relate with their dogs in the ways they think are rational to humans and communicate with their dogs from a human standpoint. No matter how much you love your dog and would like to treat him as an additional child, is that he is still a canine, not a furry little person. In order to communicate effectively with your dog or puppy for that matter, you will need to know what your voice conveys to your dog.

It’s obvious that a dog does not understand the words we use, but he does understand the tone of voice. Unless you process the gift of a pet psychic, there’s really no way for you to read his mind and figure if he understood EVERYTHING you had just said to him.

Sure, many dog owners know how to read some basic dog’s body languages, but can you be positive that your dog understands all the words you used and he will not misbehave again?

The real secret to successful communication is to learn how to communicate with your dog in a way that he understands.

Come on, we both know that dogs can’t differeniate all the vowels sound let alone the remaining 21 alphabets phonetic sound. So dont’ expect your dog to understand a string of words in monotonous tone.

3 Cases where Tone of Voice and Word Choice are Wrongly Used

Use these tools wisely especially when it comes to training your dog be it admonish misbehaviors or reinforcing good behaviors. You do not have to shout or confuse your dog with too many words such as phrases or full sentences. Don’t even bother to try, you will be sadly disappointed. Dogs respond best to words no more than two in one sentence.

Be consistent in the tone of your voice. Use a firm clipped tones to admonish misbehaviors. A soothing tone for inappropriate behavior will only reinforce that behavior.

When Your Dog Misbehaves. Use a deep, gruff voice when you are reprimanding your dog. Your commands should be in a firm and confident tone. Do not threaten your dog or raise your voice.

1. “NO” or “Leave It” instead of “Oh, Munchy boy, you bad dog, you mustn’t do that!”
2. “AH AH!” instead of “Stop pulling the leash! Walk properly, Munchy!”
3. “IIEE!” instead of “Stop mouthing me! That’s hurts!”

When Your Dog Behaves Appropriately. Be generous with your praise. Your tone of voice should be warm, encouraging so that your dog knows that you are pleased with him. It helps greatly if you really mean it. Remember, dogs can detect emotions.

1. “Good Boy!” instead of “You’re such a good boy, Fido!”
2. “Great job!” of “Bravo!” instead of “Oh, you did again! What a great job, Fido!”

When Training Your Dog. Let your tone of voice be bright and positive, and keep your voice up-beat so that the dog is motivated to listen to you. If you sound dull and boring, it will be little wonder if the dog switches off.

1. “Come Spoty! Play ball!” instead of “Let’s go outside and play ball, Spoty!”
2. “UH OH!” instead of “You didn’t do what I asked you to, pay attention please!”
3. “Stay Spoty!” instead of “Will you be a good boy and stay here, Spoty?” I hope you are not expecting your dog to reply.

Let me leave you with this thought.

“Do not make the mistake of treating your dogs like humans or they will treat you like dogs.” by Martha Scott