credit for mind-reading?

[sluj]

It always amazes me how well dogs can understand humans, when people even have such a hard time understanding one another. (Of course, it always stuns me how stupid some people can be about dogs as well - jeez, don't bark at her if you don't want her to bark back! etc.)

 

So, every now and again, I find my dog responding to a command before I've spoken it (the intent was there, and no doubt I was somehow subconsciously telegraphing it in my body language). What I was wondering is, from a training perspective, do you give credit for this, or insist she wait for the actual command? FWIW, I generally do, but I'm not training for formal obedience, where I imagine it could be a liability.

[Bo Peep]

I think that your dog is probably responding to your body language. Yes, if you were doing obedience, it would hurt you. That's why some of us that DO, really have to make them think. This is what poops them out more than anything. Usher knows when he is sitting away from me that I am going to call him to come and sit in front of me. So, I trick him. I say "Usher........sit" If he starts to move, I go ak ak and put him back in his place and say you silly boy. I didn't tell you to come. Then I go back and say "Usher...........good boy" finally I say "Usher........come" high little squeaky voice. That's his cue. Off he runs and by the time we have 1/2 hour of training, he is pooped.

Border collies are so smart. Don't you just love them?

[Root Beer]

So, every now and again, I find my dog responding to a command before I've spoken it (the intent was there, and no doubt I was somehow subconsciously telegraphing it in my body language). What I was wondering is, from a training perspective, do you give credit for this, or insist she wait for the actual command? FWIW, I generally do, but I'm not training for formal obedience, where I imagine it could be a liability.

 

I usually laugh when this happens. I don't necessarily reward for it, but I'm really good natured about it.

[JohnLloydJones]

This happens all the time. The dog is looking for cues; almost certainly your body language is the trigger. It's a bit of a problem, because your dog took your cue -- she did right and you were wrong because you gave the cue too early (or gave the wrong cue). I'm afraid I do this often in agility. Dogs read our body language naturally; much more naturally than the words we speak. Yes, they're too damn smart; they can read us like a book.

[stockdogranch]

I've got a dog, who, for the past 7 years, does this when we are working stock. Now, when working stock, the dog is NOT looking at me; I might be 600 yards away, and she has her back to me. Anyway, she does this consistently. I was told (ok, by an "interspecies communicator") that dogs think in pictures, and apparently I send out the mental picture of what I want before I blow the whistle.

 

Don't know if I believe it or not, but I have no other viable explanation,

 

A (with Twilight Zone music)

[Laurae]

I've got a dog, who, for the past 7 years, does this when we are working stock. Now, when working stock, the dog is NOT looking at me; I might be 600 yards away, and she has her back to me. Anyway, she does this consistently. I was told (ok, by an "interspecies communicator") that dogs think in pictures, and apparently I send out the mental picture of what I want before I blow the whistle.

 

Don't know if I believe it or not, but I have no other viable explanation,

 

A (with Twilight Zone music)

 

Ooh, Anna, if I had that kind of communication with my dogs, I'd be beyond ecstatic! I must send out a pretty staticky mental picture that keeps changing every few seconds

[Errol]

It always amazes me how well dogs can understand humans, when people even have such a hard time understanding one another. (Of course, it always stuns me how stupid some people can be about dogs as well - jeez, don't bark at her if you don't want her to bark back! etc.)

 

So, every now and again, I find my dog responding to a command before I've spoken it (the intent was there, and no doubt I was somehow subconsciously telegraphing it in my body language). What I was wondering is, from a training perspective, do you give credit for this, or insist she wait for the actual command? FWIW, I generally do, but I'm not training for formal obedience, where I imagine it could be a liability.

 

 

Me thinks you read too much into to it.

[stockdogranch]

Ooh, Anna, if I had that kind of communication with my dogs, I'd be beyond ecstatic!

 

I have totally appreciated her from the moment she picked me out of her litter. Of course, the hard part is that I have been looking for one who reads me that well since. Her daughter almost does, but in a different way,

A

[sluj]

Should've guessed at what a stockdog handlers' response would be. Guess I should have specified that mine is a pet dog only (some manners, but no particular precision is required of her), but it's definitely interesting to hear where it would be an advantage and where not. I'm pretty sure I've read that you shouldn't let your dog anticipate you, but for me it just seems easier to go with it, for one, because I am somewhat more visually than verbally oriented. So if noone suggests a non-competition reason to discourage it, I guess I won't worry.

 

Thanks for all the responses! Hope to get some more stories.

[DTrain]

I have a stock dog. He is an old time cowboy stock dog if you will. He knows his job and his work. He seems to be able to read my mind but then again he knows his job better than I do. He responds to my body language so well that sometimes I need to be careful. When I first got him he would do things that I did not want him to do. I did not know why until it was pointed out that I was giving him body language command and was not even aware of it. But I also know his body language so what came first. If you have a dog like this it is pure joy to work with him. He is not very good at trials but neither am I and we don't seem to care. Every stock handler in the world would love to have a dog like this. The most satisfying and rewarding thing I have ever done is work stock with this dog by ourselves in a field alone. Sometimes I just sit back and watch him work. Sometimes he works perfectly with very little input from me. Sometimes even at long distances he will pause and look at me perhaps just checking in and then he goes back to work.