5 ms·

I had a dumb labrador that was hard to train. Now I have a kokoni who knows 20 commands & words, and she is super easy to train. We haven't tried to test the

I had a dumb labrador that was hard to train. Now I have a kokoni who knows 20 commands & words, and she is super easy to train. We haven't tried to test the limit of her abilities, we just ran out of things to teach her (that we cared about, at least). She never cared for toys though. I noticed while teaching her to "speak" that she would sneeze a lot, I guess it's kind of a reflex for her when she tries to speak. So I wondered, can I teach a dog to sneeze? And sure enough, after a bit of training, she will now sneeze on command.

user_7832 3y ago
> she would sneeze a lot Btw dogs often do this to indicate they're playing/mean no harm :)
- raffraffraff 3y ago
  I have had greyhounds and lurchers, and every one of them does it. It's not a full sneeze, I call it a "snit" because that's what it sounds like. They're large dogs, so when they're being playful, jumping around and play fighting, we sometimes tell them "no!" is they're about to knock something over. This always gets us a "snit". The yawn thing that someone else mentioned is also common. If they are displeased with you, you get a yawn. Like if you ask them to do something (sit, paw etc) too many times and they're bored of you, you'll get an exaggerated vocal yawn. And the last one I'll mention, because it's so common in all dogs I've seen, is the shake. Directly after a tense situation, they shake, like they do when they're drying themselves. For example, if you're walking your dog and they encounter another dog that is larger, or a breed that they don't know or don't trust, they'll sometimes do a quick shake a few seconds after the encounter. I always reward the shake with a treat, to tell them "good dog, you kept your shit together in a stressful situation". A trainer told me to do that when I had a grey who had very bad social anxiety, and it really worked.
  - precompute 3y ago
    (Human) Kids shake too! You can try it yourself, it does work.
  - msrenee 3y ago
    I've only ever seen dogs yawn on purpose as submissive/appeasing behavior. Kind of a nervous "I'm not trying to cause trouble." I'll get it from dogs if I've asked them to do too many behaviors in a row and they think it's because they haven't given me the correct one. Kind of an apology that they don't know what I want. I see it occasionally between dogs when one is being stiff/dominant and the other yawns to kind of apologize and diffuse the situation. Then again, I haven't worked much with sighthounds and they're basically a different species from other dogs, haha.
    - pvaldes 3y ago
      Dogs facing a strange human can react in the same way to humans deliberately yawning.
qup 3y ago
She sounds like my dog, who has sneezing fits a lot. The shelter said she was a shepherd/boxer mix when I adopted her, but I believe she's a mountain cur. Either way, she's wonderful, and learned every trick I taught her in the first couple of months. She still knows them all 9 years later. She's learned a lot about me without my instruction, we just fit like a glove. I don't have an exact count, but she knows at least 30 commands (some are for the same thing, like "wait for me" and "slow down"). I use natural language. I'm not sure how many other things she's picked up. I always tell her "be right back" if it's true, but I'm not sure if she understands it or not, because she's not an anxious dog. She's never been that interested in food or toys. She's a farm dog. The best. I wish they'd speed up that research on dog longevity. She's 9.
- cogman10 3y ago
  > who has sneezing fits a lot Sneezing is a way dogs say they want to play. That's adorable that she loves sneezing for you. [1] [1] https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/health/health-and-care/a-z-of-health-and-care-issues/why-does-my-dog-sneeze-so-much/ https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/health/...
  - qup 3y ago
    That makes sense, because it is indeed when she's excited. We play a little game where I pretend I don't know what she wants, and she gets very excited when I figure out she wants to go outside, and has a few sneezes to celebrate.
draculero 3y ago
I had a dog that yawned to say "no". I don't know if she trained us or I trained her, but she associated stopping doing something with a yawn. Don't like petting? yawn and the human will stop. Don't like that food? yawn and we will change it. Don't like going to the veterinary? yawn - but that never worked. I loved that dog.
- bicx 3y ago
  I think that yawning is also something dogs do when they are frustrated. My dog does it a good bit, and that’s when I know to give her a break. Or maybe I’m just being trained too…
  - DANmode 3y ago
    It's a known anxiety response for dogs. The hard part is most humans can't connect their own angst with their environmental conditions!
cjtrowbridge 3y ago
I also have a Kokoni. He has a doll that looks just like him since he was born. Sometimes he will pose it to be doing things you tell him to do that he doesn't want to do. So wild to see.
- teruakohatu 3y ago
  Do you have photos of your dog doing that?

user_7832 3y ago

> she would sneeze a lot Btw dogs often do this to indicate they're playing/mean no harm :)

raffraffraff 3y ago
I have had greyhounds and lurchers, and every one of them does it. It's not a full sneeze, I call it a "snit" because that's what it sounds like. They're large dogs, so when they're being playful, jumping around and play fighting, we sometimes tell them "no!" is they're about to knock something over. This always gets us a "snit". The yawn thing that someone else mentioned is also common. If they are displeased with you, you get a yawn. Like if you ask them to do something (sit, paw etc) too many times and they're bored of you, you'll get an exaggerated vocal yawn. And the last one I'll mention, because it's so common in all dogs I've seen, is the shake. Directly after a tense situation, they shake, like they do when they're drying themselves. For example, if you're walking your dog and they encounter another dog that is larger, or a breed that they don't know or don't trust, they'll sometimes do a quick shake a few seconds after the encounter. I always reward the shake with a treat, to tell them "good dog, you kept your shit together in a stressful situation". A trainer told me to do that when I had a grey who had very bad social anxiety, and it really worked.
- precompute 3y ago
  (Human) Kids shake too! You can try it yourself, it does work.
- msrenee 3y ago
  I've only ever seen dogs yawn on purpose as submissive/appeasing behavior. Kind of a nervous "I'm not trying to cause trouble." I'll get it from dogs if I've asked them to do too many behaviors in a row and they think it's because they haven't given me the correct one. Kind of an apology that they don't know what I want. I see it occasionally between dogs when one is being stiff/dominant and the other yawns to kind of apologize and diffuse the situation. Then again, I haven't worked much with sighthounds and they're basically a different species from other dogs, haha.
  - pvaldes 3y ago
    Dogs facing a strange human can react in the same way to humans deliberately yawning.

qup 3y ago

She sounds like my dog, who has sneezing fits a lot. The shelter said she was a shepherd/boxer mix when I adopted her, but I believe she's a mountain cur. Either way, she's wonderful, and learned every trick I taught her in the first couple of months. She still knows them all 9 years later. She's learned a lot about me without my instruction, we just fit like a glove. I don't have an exact count, but she knows at least 30 commands (some are for the same thing, like "wait for me" and "slow down"). I use natural language. I'm not sure how many other things she's picked up. I always tell her "be right back" if it's true, but I'm not sure if she understands it or not, because she's not an anxious dog. She's never been that interested in food or toys. She's a farm dog. The best. I wish they'd speed up that research on dog longevity. She's 9.

cogman10 3y ago
> who has sneezing fits a lot Sneezing is a way dogs say they want to play. That's adorable that she loves sneezing for you. [1] [1] https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/health/health-and-care/a-z-of-health-and-care-issues/why-does-my-dog-sneeze-so-much/ https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/health-and-dog-care/health/...
- qup 3y ago
  That makes sense, because it is indeed when she's excited. We play a little game where I pretend I don't know what she wants, and she gets very excited when I figure out she wants to go outside, and has a few sneezes to celebrate.

draculero 3y ago

I had a dog that yawned to say "no". I don't know if she trained us or I trained her, but she associated stopping doing something with a yawn. Don't like petting? yawn and the human will stop. Don't like that food? yawn and we will change it. Don't like going to the veterinary? yawn - but that never worked. I loved that dog.

bicx 3y ago
I think that yawning is also something dogs do when they are frustrated. My dog does it a good bit, and that’s when I know to give her a break. Or maybe I’m just being trained too…
- DANmode 3y ago
  It's a known anxiety response for dogs. The hard part is most humans can't connect their own angst with their environmental conditions!

cjtrowbridge 3y ago

I also have a Kokoni. He has a doll that looks just like him since he was born. Sometimes he will pose it to be doing things you tell him to do that he doesn't want to do. So wild to see.

teruakohatu 3y ago
Do you have photos of your dog doing that?