Dogs and cats throughout northern and central New Jersey are in need of adoption.
Sometimes, it seems our dogs just don't listen to us; we bark commands and our canine companions just don't respond.
For those dog owners who are hoping to improve communication with their pets, OneMind Dogs has a method that may be worth trying.
The OneMind Dogs training method concentrates on forging the dog-human bond and works in concert with the dog's natural instincts. The method follows the philosophy that dogs do not make mistakes, their behavior is a direct response to the signals they get from us humans.
So, here are OneMind Dogs' tips on how to speak dog:
1. MOTION OVER VOICE
"While vocal cues are useful in training, your dog naturally responds first to body language. If you teach your dog to sit and lie down using words and accompanying hand gestures, and then you tell your dog to "sit" but use the gesture for "lie down," your dog will lie down - following the gesture, not the word. Therefore, use your body language to really communicate meaningfully with your dog."
2. TREAT 'SMALL'
"From a dog's perspective, a large treat is no greater a reward than a small one. When training with large treats as rewards, your dog will become full and lose motivation more quickly. So treat often using small bits. The timing of when you treat is crucial, too. For example, if you reward your dog for sitting too late, after she has already gotten up from the position, the next time she will naturally get up in anticipation of her reward."
3. LEAD BY EXAMPLE
"When dogs learn new skills, they automatically associate the emotion surrounding the experience with the skill itself - so if you're having a bad day, it's not the best day for a training session. If you approach the training session with a positive outlook, your dog will be enthusiastic about what you're teaching him, both during the session and in the future. You'll find that keeping an upbeat attitude will also lengthen your dog's attention span for longer sessions."
OneMind Dogs was developed in Finland in 2003, when top-performing agility dog Tekla suddenly lost her hearing. From then on, her trainer could only rely on physical cues to communicate and had to see the world from Tekla's perspective in order to make the dog understand her. What could have been a crushing road block for Tekla's agility career turned into a groundbreaking way for all dogs and their humans to become more in sync than ever before.
Here's a gallery of dogs and cats in need of adoption from northern and central New Jersey. Make sure captions are enabled to get all the information for each homeless pet. More galleries of adoptable pets can be seen here and here.
Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.