LL-L: "Interspecies Lowlandic" LOWLANDS-L, 26.AUG.2000 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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  L O W L A N D S - L * 26.AUG.2000 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: leijraad [leijraad at tref.nl]
Subject: dog commands

Van: Fred van Brederode:

And now for something complete different. I guess it was never brought up
before, but communication is not only inter-human. The matter becomes of
interest where animals are involved. Some people talk to trees (Princess
Irene of the Netherlands wrote a book about it), many people talk to cats.
These actions may not be very effective and sometimes seem silly, but
probably one way or another rewarding enough. Talking to dogs though is a
fully accepted phenomenon. Be it only one way, the communication can be
very
effective. That is, if your dog is well trained and obedient enough.

The more a dog is used as an agent in human activities, the more important
communication becomes. This applies tot e.g. police dogs, guidance dogs,
watch dogs etc. The less a pet, the more the dog needs to be commanded.
My family has a dog. It is pretty well trained. The command “zit” makes him

sit. “Hier” makes him walk in your  direction and sit down in front of you.

As long as he feels like it of course. The dog knows exactly what we want
however.
Some time ago, I came across the “SOHO”-dog. “Soho” stands for “Sociale
 hond” (social dog). These dogs are trained to help disabled people in
their
daily life. They are not just guidance dogs, they open doors, get you
things
way beyond the traditional slippers and newspaper. These dogs can even
operate your washing machine. It is really amazing what they can do.
Needless to say that these SOHO’s  are very popular. There are long waiting

lists.

Back to communication. These dogs are trained by Dutch people for Dutch
disabled people. Strange enough they use commands in English. I thought
that
was rather odd. The Dutch language has plenty of ready to go dog commands.
The only reason I could think of was exportation. But, as I said, these
dogs
stay here. When I asked for an explanation, the trainers told me that
English was more suitable for commanding a dog. The commands are better
understood. Hence the choice for that language.
Strange, why not take German instead. That language has had a strong
reputation in bossing around (?).

The matter keeps me wondering. Can it really be true that dogs listen
better
to English commands? Better than any other European language? Wouldn’t it
be
better than to invent a dog command language?

It might be a cultural matter of course. We Dutch people are very fond of
showing off our knowledge of foreign languages. Last week I visited
Amsterdam. On a terrace, my daughter and I came to talk with a Canadian
girl. She told us she has been in Amsterdam for 14 months already. Still
she
knew hardly any Dutch, eventhough she had a job there. The explanation was
as simple as astonishing: people simply would not let her. Whenever she
tried some Dutch her colleagues started back in English. The poor soul must

have given up.
Is Dutch just for us, no foreigners allowed, no 



..dogs allowed?

Who can shine a light on this?

Groeten,
Fred van Brederode

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