Becoming Dr. Dolittle: Your First Lesson in Dog Sign Language

Last week I ran a post by animal sign language expert Sean Senechal on the importance of being able to really communicate with your dog. She has taught her dog and many others sign language, and her dog may have even helped save her own life recently when she was able to point to an “ouch” spot that was cancer. Today, Senechal, founder of AnimalSign, and author of the book, Dogs Can Sign, Too!, gives Dogster readers a primer in doggy sign language.

Maria Goodavage

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Imagine being able to ask your poodle, Who’s at the door? and having her respond, Katy. Or asking your golden retriever, What do you want? and him responding, Water. Or asking your Border collie, Which toy do you want? and getting the response, Stick.

Sean Senechal and a friend who can converse with her

If you’ve ever wondered what dogs would tell us if they could, now you can find out. The K9Sign system teaches dogs to communicate TO us-making it a first in dog training and communication approaches. My book Dogs Can Sign, Too! is the first book dedicated exclusively to the K9Sign system for teaching dogs to communicate to their humans using a learned gestural vocabulary. (Previously, I wrote AnimalSign To You. Signing Is Not Just for Primates Anymore, which focused on both horse and dog.)  Sample K9Signs range from general concepts, such as Food or Play to identifying special treats, such as Liver or Cheese and specifying a favorite toy, such as Ball or Frisbee. Signs also include useful questions such as Who’s that? or What type? to naming a particular friend or family member, or even indicating a stranger.

Learning K9Sign is a fun, challenging, and rewarding experience for both you and your dog that is sure to deepen the human-canine bond, while expanding our ideas about interspecies communication. So, how do you get started teaching K9sign? Much like babies learn to Baby Sign, toddlers learn simple language, of Koko learned Gorilla Sign, dogs can learn K9Sign. I incorporate learning theory and protocols (many in applied behavior analysis used with children with speech-delays), operant conditioning principles, and lots of positive reinforcement, molding, modeling, and imitation.

Before you attempt to learn K9Sign, both you and dogs should have some skills. You should be observant of your dogs moves and know how to give feedback. I use a guided system which uses  Ya,..Yeah…Yes!  You should be agile with clicker, or the next best marker words, Yes or Good. You should know how to give a reward, quickly.  All together you should be able to spot the behavior you want, mark it, and then reward your dog. Behavior -> Yes à Click à Reward. Your dog should know how to attend to you when you call her name. She should understand and adjust her behavior from the feedback you provide. She should wait for you to deliver the treats, rather than grab them.

Starter K9Signs:

You should start teaching the fun and easy signs that are meaningful to your dog. This way you get her attention and buy-in, assuring success in the first signing lessons. The more fun and successful the first signing lessons, the more your dog will want to learn other signs.

"Food" - a move of the left front paw

The steps for teaching K9Signs involve 1) teaching the move, 2) getting it on cue, and then 3) teaching the meaning. (In my book, I explain how to test the sign.) The K9Signs Play or Food are usually the easiest to start with. Below, I guide you through simplified steps. (I explain much more in my book and deal with some typical issues that arise). View some K9Signs on here and here.

PLAY: Teaching the K9Sign Play is a great sign to start, since your dog probably already knows the move and the meaning. You just need to get it on cue. The move is the play bow, where the dog pounds with her front paws to the ground, while her hind is up, tails wagging. Starting with this sign affirms and clarifies to your dog that you are really listening and that you will clearly respond when your dog communicates. (You probably already do this to some degree, but you will exaggerate your message in this lesson.)

The Play Lesson Steps:

1. Have a play toy within reach.

2. Inspire your dog to sign Play. Do this by performing the play bow yourself—playfully dropping your hands (with toy) to the ground.

3. After your dog play bows reliably, get it on cue. Entice your dog to sign Play, but just before she actually signs it, you say to her, Sign Play. Repeat this sequence several times.

4. When she signs Play, you immediately imitate the sign back, and say Yes! Play à Clickà, then reward by playing with her.

FOOD:  Teaching the K9Sign Food is easy because the move is common, getting it on cue is simple, and the reward IS the meaning–the food itself.  The move involves the dog lifting (in any way) her left front paw.

The Food Lesson Steps:

Specific FOOD sign for Carrot (some people have asked for this specific sign). Left front leg

1. Have some plain, generic, food treats. These should be desirable, but not the most wanted (which you’ll name at some later date).

2. Show the food, and inspire your dog to lift her left leg (any way, any intensity).

3. When she does, say Yes! — then Click — Reward with the food.  Repeat this sequence several times. until your dog lifts her foot on seeing the food.

4. Get this move on cue. Entice her to sign Food (show the food), but just before she fully signs it, you say, Sign Food. Repeat this sequence several times until you can say Sign Food, and she does.

5. No need to teach the meaning formally, that is already done!

For the first week, when your dog signs Play or Food, say Yes and give her what she asks for quickly. Don’t worry about the possibility she will be signing Play or Food all the time.  After the first week, when you don’t want to be a playing all day or be a food slot machine, just say Later, and then do something else. With repetition, she’ll get the meaning. In my book, I explain in more detail how to teach Later.

You’ve been started!  I hope you and your dog eagerly await learning more signs.

How You Can Learn More

My website, AnimalSign.org, has a great deal of information.

My book, Dogs Can Sign Too: A breakthrough method for teaching your dog to communicate to you, explains the background, foundations for, and history of K9Sign. It also includes a how-to section with 25 K9Signs and elaborate instructions on how to teach each sign. Each sign includes tips to help you get through typical challenges and milestones.

I offer workshops/seminars which you can attend and/or host in your area. Several are scheduled in April/May in the North/South Monterey Bay Area. These cover topics on  K9Sign: the Foundation Signs and Teach Your Dog to Tell You Where She Hurts.  Check my website for events often.

WORKSHOP EVENT: Teach Your Dog to Tell You Where She Hurts.  Santa Cruz, Ca April 23, 2011 2-6 pm.

WORKSHOP EVENT:  K9Sign: the Foundation Signs in April or May in the North Bay Area. 2-6 pm. Stay tuned.

I offer Live/Interactive TELESEMINARS for those who can’t make it the live worshops.

TELESEMINAR EVENT: How to Teach Your Dog to Communicate Better on April 23, 2011 at  9 -10:30 am.  Telespace is limited, so sign up soon, then call in to listen and ask questions.

For those wanting more individual guidance I consult by telephone, and provide private coaching in person (in your home).

View the original article here

Teach Your Dog Sign Language; You’ll Learn a Lot About Your Dog

You and your dog can have two-way communications, says today's guest blogger, Sean Senechal (Photo: Flickr photostream of Video4net)

Last month I asked a question in a blog post I wrote about the upcoming movie, Dogs of Babel, in which a man tries to teach his dog to talk: Would you want your dog to be able to talk to you?

Sean Senechal and a friend who can converse with her

We had more than 100 responses. Many readers said they wouldn’t want idle chitchat, but they would want their dog to be able to tell them if they were sick, in pain, or sad. A pipe dream, I figured. And then I ran into something called AnimalSign Language. Its founder, Sean Senechal, a cognitive physiologist and behavior specialist for humans and animals, contends that dogs can communicate more than most of us could dream possible. We just have to find a common language. That language: A special sign language she says is easily learnable by most people and dogs. (After all, if babies can do it, why can’t dogs?)

This sign language, which she calls K9Sign for dogs, may have recently been responsible for saving her dog’s life. She writes about this, and the other benefits of K9Sign in today’s guest post. In another installment next week, Senechal will give you some practical ways to get started signing with your own dog. Move over, Dr. Dolittle!

Maria Goodavage

An amazing event occurred last week at AnimalSign Center. There, I teach dogs, horses, and cats enhanced communication skills. I use AnimalSign Language, which is much like Baby Sign or Gorilla Sign, but it’s made for domestic animals. I think nothing of seeing dogs K9Sign that they need water, want specific foods, or naming people at the door, or on the phone. But few weeks ago, I was awed by Chal, my German Shepherd, who K9Signed a startling communication.

Chal had been limping on her right hind leg. I couldn’t find her problem, nor where her pain was.  I wanted to know where the problem spot was, to fix the problem, make her more comfortable, and to be able to tell the vet at our upcoming appointment. So, I simply asked Chal to tell me where she hurt. I signed to her ‘Where’s Your Ouch?’  I fully expected Chal to answer by tapping a spot on her right leg. She didn’t! Instead, Chal signed ‘Here’ by pointing to her right, lower nipple area.  She tapped it, and then looked right back up at me. (I have a video of this below.) I listened to her response and checked the spot. Near her slightly red nipple was a small bump. This tumor surely must be cancer, just like the left-sided tumor (low-grade malignancy) I discovered (and had removed) a few years before. Now, I wanted her complete right-sided mammary chain to be surgically removed. Read more about the situation and Chal’s status in my blog.  I’ll be tracking her progress physically, and cognitively as we learn more K9Signs to keep her mentally stimulated during recovery.

Chal and I had begun K9Signing since she was 1 year old. One exchange we worked on (when she had an infection) was the K9Sign  ’Where’s Your Ouch?’ where Chal responded with ‘Here.’ She learned to tell me where she hurt. Now, Chal has demonstrated that dogs can not only tell you where they hurt, but also can detect and communicate the location of their own tumor spots. They have done this for humans, now we know they can do this for themselves, too.

Dogs can tell you what they sense in as much detail as they’ve had training to. Imagine what your dogs could communicate with K9Sign training, perhaps: A mouse is in the wall, Smoke is in the hall, Francois has fallen and has low blood sugar!, Basement all water, I am thirsty, My hip hurts, Blood under the rock, or Jacque is coming home!” Dogs have their own natural communications that needs to be respected, but they can expand and build on that core skill. Doing so would stimulate their minds and develop their brains-as it does in humans. We humans are provided years of language education; dogs should get some, too!

K9Signing is useful for many dogs: Working, Assistance, Service, Shelter/Rescue, Companion, Older, those in rehabilitation, or with special needs. K9Sign is now used by companion pets, dogs aiding the deaf or hard-of-hearing, and by therapy and other working dogs (for mold detection, etc.).  Dogs have K9Signed to indicate Water, Food, Chicken, Liver, Toys, Play, Go Potty, Keys, Help, and many other objects, and discomfort/pain. The K9Sign gestuary includes signs for Fire, Names of people, Position of people (on the ground or up), Bed, Crate, Phone, household objects, and more. The K9Sign Gestuary is 100 words long and growing.

Chal signing her own Name in response to 'Who's That?'

K9Sign benefits people (personally and scientifically), dogs themselves, and the human-canine relationship and bond. People benefit by improving the communication with their dog for companionship, play, work, or services. Instead of dogs just alerting by fetching, barking, sitting, and pawing to signal something, K9Signing dogs can be specific and tell you what they are alerting to. This enhances the dog’s skills. Imagine what details a dog might express about the environment. A dog for a blind person might sign Ground has big step-down, a Search and Rescue dog might sign Number of people, Dead, Alive, or Blood about people trapped under rubble, or your companion dog might sign Fire, Heart Attack, Seizure Type, and who is in trouble.

K9Signing gives us a tool to further understand and study canine communication potential. Many organizations examine canine expressive communication-vocalizations and natural body language. AnimalSign Center is the only organization that educates, trains, and studies dogs who are in intensive communication  (especially expressive) training, or better education.

Dogs benefit from K9Sign. Imagine how empowered dogs might feel if they could tell you what they want and need, where they hurt, why they bark, what dangers are, or what they smell (that could fill a book). Successful communication reduces frustration, enhances joy, and provides mental clarity, stimulation, and brain development.

The benefits of enhanced communication include a deepened human-animal bond, as well as increased wellness for humans and animals. These alone are worth the effort.

Most dogs can learn to K9Sign, if they want too and can move (at bit). Dogs with movement issues or in rehabilitation can do this, and it keeps them mentally active, while reducing boredom. The most challenging dogs to teach are those who don’t have respond to typical reinforcers. They may not consider food or toys rewards. I’ve met only a handful. Dogs with IBD (irritable bowel disease), who can’t eat much, can be rewarded by licks, or even just smells, of food.  Non-food rewards such as scratches and pats sometimes work. Very obedient dogs tend to take a longer to teach spontaneously use of K9Signs. These dogs wait for instructions to Sign, rather than spontaneously offer signs. Once they realize they are free to offer signs, they do, and love it!

Dogs can learn as many signs as they can differentiate thoughts and make moves. I predict that in the next year my Border Collie, Starlight, will have learned 100 K9Signs. She now knows 10 K9Signs, but will surely out ‘sign’ Chal soon. Most clients are happy with less than 10 signs, other clients are going all the way and adding to their vocabulary regularly. They send me Signing Stories often. Read more on that in my book and blogs.

Chal helped me create K9Sign and has known 50 signs. With her hind leg problems, she now K9signs mostly with her head, front legs, and body movements.  My horse Princess knows how to EquineSign, and she has 100 up her hoof!  She was the one who got me started with AnimalSign in the mid 1990s!

How You Can Learn More

Read my next Dogster guest post, called Dogs Can Sign, Too. Here’s How. Maria will publish it next week.

My website, AnimalSign.org, has a great deal of information.

My book, Dogs Can Sign Too: A breakthrough method for teaching your dog to communicate to you, explains the background, foundations for, and history of K9Sign. It also includes a how-to section with 25 K9Signs and elaborate instructions on how to teach each sign. Each sign includes tips to help you get through typical challenges and milestones.

I offer workshops/seminars which you can attend and/or host in your area. Several are scheduled in April/May in the North/South Monterey Bay Area. These cover topics on  K9Sign: the Foundation Signs and Teach Your Dog to Tell You Where She Hurts.  Check my website for events often.

WORKSHOP EVENT: Teach Your Dog to Tell You Where She Hurts.  Santa Cruz, Ca April 23, 2011 2-6 pm.

WORKSHOP EVENT:  K9Sign: the Foundation Signs in April or May in the North Bay Area. 2-6 pm. Stay tuned.

I offer Live/Interactive TELESEMINARS for those who can’t make it the live worshops.

TELESEMINAR EVENT: How to Teach Your Dog to Communicate Better on April 23, 2011 at  9 -10:30 am.  Telespace is limited, so sign up soon, then call in to listen and ask questions.

For those wanting more individual guidance I consult by telephone, and provide private coaching in person (in your home).

View the original article here

Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog

Yes, humans and canines are different species, but current research provides fascinating, irrefutable evidence that what we share with our dogs is greater than how we vary. As behaviorist and zoologist Dr. Patricia McConnell tells us in this remarkable new book about emotions in dogs and in people, more and more scientists accept the premise that dogs have rich emotional lives, exhibiting a wide range of feelings including fear, anger, surprise, sadness, and love.

In For the Love of a Dog, McConnell suggests that one of the reasons we love dogs so much is that they express emotions in ways similar to humans. After all, who can communicate joy better than a puppy? But not all emotional expressions are obvious, and McConnell teaches both beginning dog owners and experienced dog lovers how to read the more subtle expressions hidden behind fuzzy faces and floppy ears.

For those of us who deeply cherish our dogs but are sometimes baffled by their behavior, For the Love of a Dog will come as a revelationâ??a treasure trove of useful facts, informed speculation, and intriguing accounts of manâ??s best friend at his worst and at his very best. Readers will discover how fear, anger, and happiness underlie the lives of both people and dogs and, most important, how understanding emotion in both species can improve the relationship between them. Thus McConnell introduces us to the possibility of a richer, more rewarding relationship with our dogs.

While we may never be absolutely certain what our dogs are feeling, with the help of this riveting book we can understand more than we ever thought possible. Those who consider their dogs part of the family will find For the Love of a Dog engaging, enlightening, and utterly engrossing.


From the Hardcover edition.

Price: $39.95

Click here to buy from Amazon

Have fun with your dog: Membership site in German language

First "Play and have fun with your dog"-membership site in German language. Monthly videos with indoor and outdoor games, dog tricks and much more.

Check it out!