ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS: CALMING SIGNALS 2ND EDITION
By Turid Rugaas
4/5
()
About this ebook
Turid Rugaas
Turid Rugaas lives in Geithus, Norway and is also the author of My Dog Pulls What Do I Do? and the DVD counterpart to this book, Calming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You. She has studied canine social behavior for over 30 years and written and lectured on the subject throughout the world.
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Reviews for ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS
82 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a very simple little book, but it has some of the most straightforward explanations of how to deal with dogs, especially those that are stressed.Great information on how to approach a dog that may not be comfortable with you and how dogs show their discomfort. I consider it required reading for anyone who doesn't feel comfortable around dogs or anyone who loves dogs.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mostly commonsense; familiar information if you've read similar dog behavior books.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Useful. a thin book with pictures and descriptions of signals used by dogs to calm themselves and others.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How do you calm your dog? Yawn. This is a classic on communicating with your dog. -Sidney
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Provide useful advice and tips on how to handle stressful situations and avoid them
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Concise and straight on point. A lot of wisdom in small package. You will never look at your dog the same again.
Book preview
ON TALKING TERMS WITH DOGS - Turid Rugaas
On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals, 2nd edition.
Turid Rugaas
Dogwise Publishing
A Division of Direct Book Service, Inc.
403 South Mission Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801
www.dogwisepublishing.com
© Turid Rugaas, 1997, 2006
Originally published in Norway under the tilte
På Talefot Med Hunden, De Dempende Signalene
UK Editor Sheila Harper
Photographs by Turid Rugaas, Diana Robinson, Hilde Malm, Kirsten Berger, Gerd Groenwald, Gerd Köhler, Sheila Harper, Nicole Fröhlich, Sophie Hensley, Winkie Spiers and Cordelia Derrfuß
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the publisher.
Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:
The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request from the Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-1-929242-36-8
Printed in the USA
Contents
Preface - Vesla’s Story
Forewords by Pat Goodman, Terry Ryan
1 Calming Signals: The Life Insurance Policy
2 Calming Signals: How They Are Used
3 Some Case Histories
4 The Stressed Dog
5 Using Signals in Practical Handling and Training
6 What Happens When a Dog Loses its Language?
7 Puppies and Calming Signals
8 Leadership and Parenthood
9 Your Choice
Epilogue
About the Author
Bibliography
By The Same Author
My everlasting gratitude and love to VESLA
who started it all, just by being herself
This book was written thanks to Terry Ryan, who nagged me into
doing it, helped me with art work for it, and had the first edition
published. Thanks Terry!
Vesla’s Story
The big Briard attacked violently and with a roar. He went for the little Elkhound at full speed. She stopped moving, stood quite still, and turned her head to one side. Just a few feet away from the Elkhound, the Briard stopped and looked bewildered as if he didn’t know what to do. Then he started to look around for some replacement activity, sniffed a little at the ground, and turned to head back to base.
The place was my training field. The client was a Briard with dog-to-dog problems. The little Elkhound was my own Vesla, who was thirteen years of age.
Vesla always knows what to do and she always manages to calm down other dogs, whether they are aggressive, afraid, stressed or just being a nuisance. For eleven years no dog has been able to throw her off her mental balance. She is the image of a survivor, a conflict-solving dog with all the communication skills needed to survive.
Vesla wasn't always like that. She came to me as a stray dog. We meant to re-home her as she upset my own dogs with her aggressive and violent behavior. She fought, she quarrelled, she was stressed and she was impossible, and I didn't feel the right inclination to start to work with her. But nobody else wanted her, so with a sigh of resignation we kept her and started to try to incorporate her into our family of people and dogs.
It was a time of trials. I am sure she was the worst dog I have ever had in the house. Gradually, though, things got better. She stopped climbing the curtains. She could go for walks without trying to bite the others all the time. She could relax now and again.
And then one day I saw to my astonishment that she had actually started to communicate with the other dogs. Their work had started to get through to her! When I discovered that she actually was recovering her dog language, I tried my usual method for training. I praised every step in the right direction, and every time I caught a glimpse of a calming signal, I praised her. She became better and better at communicating. I realized to my surprise that it was possible to reinforce her own language by praising her, and then things happened very quickly. She was now helped by both my dogs and myself. In a very short time she was a miracle of dog language. One year after I got her, she had stopped all her aggressive behavior, and from then until today, twelve years later, she has not once been in trouble with any dog. They just cannot make her lose control.
The story of Vesla made me realize that it is possible to re-teach lost language to dogs. Since then I have made this teaching a life-style and my main