Stop treating your dog like a human: Sudbury dog trainer

David DiCarlantonio spends a lot of time with dogs and he says one of the big mistakes pet owners make is thinking their pet understands them like humans do.

The certified dog trainer said that owners need to learn how to dehumanize their dog. He says the cerebral cortex of a dog is very different so they don't think the way we do. They don't hear much of what we say.

"There's an episode of the Simpsons that goes, Bart tried to talk to the dog and it hears blah, blah, blah, blah SIT. So much of what you are saying doesn't actually register and people kind of assume it [does]."

DiCarlantonio said there is a danger in treating your dog like this because it is hard to correct that behaviour. For instance, if you want your dog to get off the couch and you ask it to get off the couch, it doesn't actually know that you want it to get off the couch. What your pet is seeing is your body language,

Using body language is a good start to dehumanizing your dog. DiCarlantonio talked about this method with Morning North Host Markus Schwabe on Thursday.

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