Customer Reviews

Dogs Can Sign, Too: A Breakthrough Method for Teaching Your Dog to Communicate

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Altogether and invaluable advance in the possibilities for shared work and living with Domestic dogs.

Lots of people, including animal behavior-cognition researchers routinely speculate about what their dog really meant by what it did. Now, with a modest amount of effort, you can get the dog's answer directly.

Skip the mind-reading - ask!

Did your dog really intend to send a message by that spot on the rug? So ask her or him! Get a real answer, don't just sputter that you wish you knew what she really wanted! If you ask him why he ate the TV remote control, you might get the answer "Pizza," because you got pizza juice on it while watching TV, so the remote tasted good. Our deaf dog we asked why she chewed table legs; she answered "teeth hurt," -because her new adult teeth were coming in at the time. Women, teenagers and children are especially good at teaching family dogs to converse with them. Kids teach other children and dogs, because the kids at school are always teaching each other new words and slang, and it's fun. While we were at first teaching our dogs, we were amused to find that in the noise of adult parties we could converse between wife and husband by using Ms Senechals K9 gestures. - -Think of it as Twitter by gesture-signs.

People who rely on service dogs and therapy support can readily use the gesture languages to enhance the dog's understanding of what their human really wants and needs. And if the dog is unable to do what their person asked, they can more clearly explain what the problem is and perhaps offer an alternative.

The book is straight forward, uncomplicated and reliable. We used the methods Sean recommended, and discovered that our dogs, both normal hearing and deaf, soon began to invent their own new signs to expand their and our vocabulary to include their own topics.

I am not usually given to writing reviews, but this time I simply had to. Having lived with at least one dog for the last 30+ years and having worked as a professional dog trainer in the past, I have come across lots of dog behavior/training books. LOTS of them. They have mostly been interesting, often helpful, brushing up my knowledge and adding some new aspects. After a while, I got the impression that I had read/heard it all. There were no "aha-experiences" any more.

"Dogs Can Sign, Too" changed all that. It came as a complete surprise. In this book, the author describes a revolutionary, experimental and ambitious approach to educating and communicating with your dog.

Although recent scientific publications tend to acknowledge that dogs' cognitive capabilities in some ways resemble those of young (2-3 yrs of age) human children, these books generally focus on basic problem solving skills. They don't venture into this seemingly exclusive, distinctively human domain of acquired language skills (beyond body language and species-specific vocalizations). The language barrier between our species (human and canine) still remains largely intact. We are left to wonder what our canine companions are thinking, feeling, how they perceive the world. We try to glean information about their inner state by observing their gestures and categorizing different types of barks (fearful, aggressive, ...). While observing dogs can give us some rough ideas (e.g. telling us that the dog noticed somebody at the door), it doesn't provide the details (e.g. who is at the door - a stranger, aunt Mary, the neighbor's dog, ...).

Sean Senechal refuses to accept this barrier as impenetrable and insurmountable. She created an animal-friendly language, AnimalSign (K9Sign for dogs) to teach animals. I really appreciate her approach of giving the dog - and other, non-human and non-primate species - the benefit of the doubt. Until proven wrong with evidence, we have to assume that our canine pupils can learn to actively expressively communicate with us, using learned signs (e.g. special paw or head movements), maybe even making up new signs after having learned the rules of the AnimalSign Language (presented in her book). In order to find out if dogs can do this, we have to do our best to teach them, adjusting our teaching methods to their needs.

This is another point that really caught my attention and changed the way I am interacting with my dogs: The book emphasizes teaching as opposed to training. It offers a more comprehensive approach than traditional dog training, allowing the learner to develop his/her own thoughts. While traditional training methods like classical and operant conditioning are effective and can also be used for teaching signs, Sean Senechal offers additional teaching techniques she came to value through her experience as a teacher of human students. This makes sure that learning success isn't stinted by limited methods.

The second half of the book applies the various techniques to hands-on instructions for teaching canine sign language to your dog. It introduces a number of signs that can be used in everyday life, like a general sign for "toy", special signs for particular toys ("ball", "Frisbee"), a general sign for "food", special signs for different types of food, etc. Each sign is described in detail over several pages, with lots of advice for teaching, practicing and testing. Even if you are not interested in the general concept of teaching a sign language to dogs, you can use this part as a guide for trick training. But you will gain much more from it if you keep an open mind regarding the possibility that dogs might learn and use these "tricks" as building blocks of a real language. This way the book has the potential to open a window into your dog's mind, granting you the chance for new insights and a real understanding of his/her needs and perceptions.

I especially like the idea that humans might regard dogs and other animals with more respect if they discover that there are active minds inside those cute, furry heads. Being able to communicate through a language that we can understand could help dogs to teach us about their intelligence, thus redefining the way we think about them and making our relationships much more satisfying for both sides. True love and respect go hand in hand.

This is not your typical dog training book. Nor does it replace basic obedience training. If you are new to dog training, you will need other books ("Dogs Can Sign, Too" actually contains some suitable literature recommendations) and/or dog training classes to learn the basics. But you can use this book in parallel, whether you have a puppy or an adult dog. At the very least it provides you and your dog with lots of fun exercises - and it has the potential to greatly enhance your mutual understanding and enrich your relationship. There is nothing to lose (except maybe some old prejudices about "dumb beasts") and a lot to gain!

I purchased this book because I work with an assistance dog. I went though a 2 year program to lean how to train Shane to help me. During class you could see the dogs become excited when they realized that they can communicate with their people by doing a behavior.

Dogs are very adept at watching your body language but people are very inept at reading canine body language. As a result the dog is doing all the work when it comes to communicating.

Shane has learned to wake me up with soft verbalization instead of a loud bark. But if I forget to fill his water bowl he'll bring it in to my bedroom and bonk me on the head with it.

Giving Shane a way to gently wake me up and then sign water would be wonderful!

I was hoping to use this book to help with the training of a deaf puppy, but the redundancy and technical nature of this book made it boring and far too involved to use easily. The author is obviously VERY dedicated to her animals, but repeats herself so often that it puts you off. This is NOT a tool for easy training but more of a technical book. I am an avid reader and can get thru most anything, but not this book. I donated it to a rescue society instead.

I give the book "4 stars" because it could benefit from some simplification to make it more accessible. I give the concept 5 STARS!

Why haven't we been teaching our dogs to sign for generations? Maybe groups of people have in the past. I've had dogs all my life and always struggle with the desire to understand what they have to say without knowing how to access that information. This was the obvious answer that I never thought of.

K9 sign is particularly important to me now that I have a hearing dog who spends long days at the office with me. If I get busy, I want him to be able to tell me when he needs food, water or a bathroom break. We took Sean's class and he loves to sign. He already initiates communication with me about sounds that I may not hear by bumping me in the leg. He was quick to learn that he can use the same bump technique to get my attention so he can sign for "food" or "toy". He's currently learning the "water" sign.

If you are passionate about dogs and communication, this book goes into depth on animal communication. If you just want the nuts and bolts, skim through the intellectual part and focus on the individual signs and how they are taught.

I'm looking forward to seeing this concept catch on and spread through the dog lovers world. Great book to start the conversation.

WOW! A fascinating read and interesting concept. Book details steps on teaching your dog how to sign AND communicate preferences. Usually dogs are only taught signs for things to do, not things they want. Definitely makes communication a two-way street. Good insight on dog behavior. Positive methods of training only! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!

My dog "Audit" and I very much enjoyed and HIGHLY recommend this book.

The methods in this book are SIMPLE, EASY and EFFECTIVE.

BEST dog training book I have EVER purchased!

If you are looking to train your dog (or yourself) to communicate better, this is the book for you. I found it to be very useful. The text is very step-by-step making it easy to understand and follow. The pictures make the actions (signs) quite clear and I was very pleased with the progess Audit and I have gained through this manual. The commands are VERY useful ones. Audit picked up "food/treat" sign right away as I'm sure your dog will too! (Make sure to carry plenty of reward goodies with you as you will need them). This natural approach made training SO much easier and lots of fun. Audit loves learning new signs and I am so pleased to be able to better communicate with him.

"DOG SIGNING" is an ANIMAL FRIENDLY, positive reinforcement concept that will have your dog wanting to learn and be recognized for good behavior.

Sean Senechal is an amazing author and brilliant teacher. If you buy this book and follow the steps, YOU WILL BE AMAZED at the results!

(GREAT GIFT FOR DOG OWNERS!)

Dogs Can Sign, Too is a terrific book! Not only does it teach one how to communicate with dogs, but explains how dogs learn, which is fascinating. I'm sending a copy to my cousin who raises Aussies. She will be knocked out by this book. Who ever thought that human-canine communication could be enhanced to this point? I guess Sean Senechal did. This is a thorough, step-by-step training guide with lots of clear examples and, by far, the best dog training book I've ever run across.

I personally don't know what any of my dogs move or expression mean; maybe when my dog reaches his duck toy it means play time. However, Sean Senechal developed "AnimalSign language" which consists of signs the dog uses to refer to something; it can be an object, a concept or a gesture. It seems that dogs can learn signs and use them in very creative ways to communicate new ideas. If we are actually able to teach our dogs such language we will be able to know what the dog perceives by signs and thus the dog could create new signs to communicate new ideas. Senechal has come as far on her research as to develop "K9Sign language" for dogs.

However, in Senechal's book "Dogs Can Sign, Too," she raises philosophical questions about dog cognition. The idea that captured my attention the most was that teaching firm obedience can discourage dogs from communicating spontaneously. The dogs wait to be told what to do. If we always tell them what to do and we punish them when they do something else (we didn't want them to do), then there is no way the dog will behave differently. Thus, this gives us no new behaviors, reactions, results. Maybe it is not only about teaching obedience; we should educate dogs by teaching them how to communicate more to us (than they naturally do) through clearly identified gestures (signs). If we are able to educate dogs to communicate more explicitly, then we can discover how dogs perceive their world. We can better understand how dogs process language and hopefully discover more about how their brain works. In my opinion Senechal has a great idea and a very interesting research to do.

This book is a good read but, not that "instructional" as far as training goes. It is very inspiring and offers some hope for owners of deaf dogs. :)