Several times lately while out on my walks, I've encountered people with dogs, where the dog is misbehaving in some way. The human is clearly angry and is yelling at the dog, saying things like "Stop it! Drop that! Come here!" All in a clearly angry, yelling sort of voice. And when the dog doesn't come immediately, they keep yelling "Come here!" but louder and angrier every time.

Now I know a lot more about cats than dogs, but I can't help thinking that if I were the dog, and my mistress yelled, "Come here!" at me in that tone of voice, I'd stay as far away as possible. And that's exactly what the dogs were doing, in every case.

Does this seem as counterproductive to anyone else as it does to me? There's no question in my mind that dogs and cats understand and respond to variations in tone and inflection. When I say "come here" to my cats, they only come maybe 20-30% of the time, but I'm pretty darn sure that if I said it in a mean, angry tone instead of a nice, light tone that percentage would drop to zero. And heaven forbid I should call the cat and then punish it when it comes. I've just destroyed any hope that the cat will ever come to me again.

Hmmm. Its pretty much the same with parents and kids isn't it? If you were a kid and your mom or dad yelled for you to come there, would you do it? My guess is your response would be based on the consquences of not responding. If yelling was a sign that you'd better come or you'd be in trouble, most would respond. If the yelling was nothing more than meaningless nagging, it would probably be ignored. Kids and animals have different personalities. Some need more sternness than others. Parents also have different discipline styles. Communication is always important. Constant yelling is a pretty clear signal that communication has broken down, but raising ones voice if only done on occasion can be a clear signal that they mean business. I have large strong dogs and if I babytalked to them all the time, they'd never take me seriously. Its important to know when to raise your voice, choose your battles, etc. I've had the same experience with kids.

Getting angry does't help. I have 2 large dogs & I never 'shout' angrily at them. They do however need a 'strong' firm voice sometimes. It annoys me when I see people angrily calling their dog & then, when it does come, they tell the dog off. Why? The dog has just come so don't tell it off or it won't want to come to you next time you call for it, duh, it's not hard is it! I also hate it when I see people yelling at their dog & yanking it by the leash.
I believe training & communicating with a dog is a matter of mutual respect. The dog has to trust & respect you & you have to earn that trust & respect & keep it (same with skin kids too!)

I believe training & communicating with a dog is a matter of mutual respect.

Definitely! People who yell at dogs obviously don't respect them. If they did, they'd know that a dog's hearing is 25 times more sensitive than ours, so THEY CAN HEAR YOU! If they seem to be ignoring you, it's probably because you're not asking politely enough.:p One of my doggies was a real hellion, and she liked to go charging after other dogs. After repeated failures using the "angry voice", I learned that the best way to bring her back is to call out "hey puppy" (like it's playtime). It sounds nicer, and it's easier on the vocal chords than "GIT OVER HERE YOU !@$!@@!"

Also, communication doesn't have to be in English, y'know. I speak to my doggies in Dogglish, which is a combination of English w/ miscellaneous grunts, yawns, howls and butt wagging. I think they find me entertaining.:juggle:

P.S. In case you do need to be firm, instead of talking louder try using a lower pitch. You hardly need to raise your voice above a whisper to let em know you mean business.

Also, communication doesn't have to be in English, y'know. I speak to my doggies in Dogglish, which is a combination of English w/ miscellaneous grunts, yawns, howls and butt wagging. I think they find me entertaining.:juggle:

P.S. In case you do need to be firm, instead of talking louder try using a lower pitch. You hardly need to raise your voice above a whisper to let em know you mean business.

Ha ha, I'm sure any people who see you doing this find you entertaining, too! :nana:

I've definitely learned the value of the firm, low-pitched voice with dogs. I'm used to working with cats, and they respond better to higher pitches and inflections. So I'm out walking and these two big dogs (golden retrievers I think) in a front yard see me coming and start barking furiously. They weren't fenced in or chained up, and I got a little nervous, but since they weren't showing any sign of actually coming after me, I decided to keep going and talk them through it. So I start cajoling them and sweet-talking them the way I would my cats, and they're obviously not going for it. But as soon as I wised up and changed the pitch and tone of my voice, they responded and calmed down.

I've always told my parents, dogs don't really understand the words so much as tones.

Yell: "I love you! Do you want food? How about a toy!" and they run and hide.
Sweetly say: "come over here and I'll beat you you (tons of explicit stuff) dog" and they come running.

While a lot of times they seem to understand words.... I wonder if it's that humans probably say certain words in a certain tone, and it's the tone/word combo that they respond to, over the actual word itself. Some of our animals respond to german words, spanish, french, just the same as english -> even when they've never been given a command in that language before. Like say "sit", it seems language independant... almost like humans do something else, or give a tone that in itself tells them what to do over the words.

I usually need to yell at my boy like that when he's in Squirrel Mode, it's the only thing that even remotely gets through to him. He runs so fast he leaves his brain behind. I do NOT call him to me for punishment though, that's a great way to teach your dog not to come. When he does come when called he get praised and petted immediately.

My dog was a St Bernard, and I had him since I was born. He died recently of old age, I was distraught..anyway
If you shouted or spoke to him in an angry tone, he would NOT do what you asked. He would rects to 'sit down', but now 'SIT DOWN'.
I'm sure he knew words though, if I said to him 'Can I have a kissy?' he used to nussle my nose.

Dogs definitely learn words, my dog Izzie, a Border Collie, will run in circles around my chicken pens when I say "Help with the chickies." They're moveable pens and she helps by keeping the chickens from darting out underneath the front edge of the pens when I move them. She also goes into her run when I say "Go in," and of course follows the usual commands "Sit" "Down" "Come." She is bad about running after deer, though, and doesn't always mind, even if firmly commanded.

My dogs can even 'spell'. If I say 'W' 'A' 'L' I don't even get to say 'K' before the dogs are excited at their walk.
Sometimes they just 'know' I am going for a walk without any verbal or physical (eg: getting the leads) communication at all.
I can even be sat down in a different room & have the thought of taking them out & they come to me uncalled & definitely 'know' what I'm thinking...

Ludi, one of my boys is a border collie too.
I recommend any bc human companion to read this:
http://tailsawagginonline.com/misunderstood.html