When we speak to our dog, what do they hear? What do they see? 
How often do you talk to your dog? How often do you talk near your dog?

Dogs are visual first. If you're anything like me, you talk to and around your dog often. Your words go in one ear and out another because it's noise. White noise. White noise is the stuff that your dog hears that doesn't register as being significant. Why doesn't it register as being significant? Well, because we have big vocabularies and are often very inconsistent in our words, our tone, and our follow-through when we are using cues and commands with our dogs. So what do dogs do? They watch our body language. They watch our every move. They anticipate the release from "stay" when they watch our facial expressions and see us take that breath in right before we verbally release them. This was pointed out to me when I was training my own dog, Willow, to try the sport of dock diving. 

When you think of a dog trainer, what is it you picture? When someone tells you they hired a dog trainer, what do you see? Do you see a dog showing obedience? Do you see a dog performing tricks? Do you see treats, a treat bag? Maybe you picture the "Dog Whisperer", an "alpha roll" to assert dominance. I hope you don't picture a prong collar, a choke collar, a shock collar - but hey, this is your picture in your mind, not mine. Those trainers do exist (this is where I struggle to stay off the soapbox). 

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