No Isn't Always A Dirty Word

A controversial point here – I say ‘no’ to my dogs sometimes.

The first thing that tends to be said when anyone mentions saying no is that no doesn’t mean anything to the dog.

That is true… but then neither do ‘sit’, ‘down’ or any another of the verbal cues that we use with our dogs, until we give them meaning.

Dogs don’t understand English, French, German, Spanish, Mandarin etc. What they do understand is the forming of associations between sounds, actions and what follows those actions. The word down becomes a prompt for the dog to lie down because it has become associated with the reward given in the early stages of training (a reward that a competent trainer will fade out once the behaviour’s established, so only some repetitions are rewarded). This is not understanding in the way we understand words but, done well and with good timing, the association is strong and so the behaviour will reliably follow the cue.

Any sound can be matched to any action, as long as it is consistently rewarded. As an example, when I’d like my dogs to give me their attention for a moment but don’t necessarily need them to recall, I’ll make a kind of kissy noise. The youngest of my dogs is still very much in love with the idea of treats so she tends to come back, while the older two will look back and check in with me for a few seconds and then, as long as I don’t actually recall them, continue what they were doing.

 The two adults decided to take a break while the youngest came in search of a treat!

For a lot of dogs hearing the word ‘no’ it might not hold any meaning and so it is not an effective cue to use with them (and can risk the tone becoming sharp or loud if the person is stressed or frustrated by what the dog is doing).

This does not mean that the word ‘no’ in itself is an issue. It’s all about making sure that the message is very clear for the dog and setting them up for success because they know how they are meant to respond to it, in the same way as for any other word we use as a verbal cue for our dogs.

As a slight aside, I didn’t realise for many years that I tend to shadow verbal cues with physical ones. I’m quite often prone to moving my hands when I talk and that crept through in my training with my own dogs, although I only realised this when my older dog started losing his hearing and I noticed his watching my hands for indicators of what I was asking for. It came in very useful as his hearing deteriorated but also made me much more conscious of my own body language when with my dogs!

So, what does the word no mean to my dogs? Stop what you are doing right now and wait for instructions. ‘No’ comes with a headshake and then, depending on the situation a hand raised with the palm out means wait and is then followed with another cue to prompt a more desirable behaviour in that moment.

In all honesty it can be no, ah, or nope depending on context and how focused they are on what they are doing, all delivered in a light tone (I find I definitely can’t say ‘nope’ in anything other than a very light way!) It functions as a positive interrupter if what the dog is doing in that moment is unsafe or problematic in some way and is immediately followed with a cue to guide them to something more appropriate or safe in that situation.

If you do use the word ‘no’ maybe think about what meaning it has to the dog, if any, and if it doesn’t, consider how else you could handle the situation and redirect their behaviour into a more suitable one for that environment.