Youve probably had a day or two when you felt like your dog just wasnt paying any attention to you at all, right? You talked, you yelled, you shouted, maybe you jumped up and down and waved your arms, but she just wasnt interested in anything you had to say to her in any tone of voice. Youre not alone.

Your dog isnt human.

Unless you believe in pet psychics, theres really no way for you to read your poochs mind and figure out exactly what shes thinking. The good news is that, like many dog owners, the problems youre having can probably be traced to one simple thing: youre trying to communicate with your dog from a human standpoint, and your dog isnt a human. Sure, you know that, but lots of humans try to relate with their dogs in the ways that they think are rational as humans. The problem is that dogs are driven in every act and every moment by very strong instincts. Deciphering those instincts and leveraging them to build a productive relationship is like finding the keys to the city.

Your dog doesn't speak English.

Take the word no, for example. Does your dog speak English? Not understand English. Does she speak it? Whats meaningful to her is your tone of voice, not the word itself. Now lets think about that were taking up excess time trying to teach our dog a word shell never speak and that probably doesnt mean much to her anyway. Sure, its meaningful to us, but thats only one side of the equation. What about something thats meaningful to both human and dog?

You know what a growl means, and your dog knows what a growl means.

If you think that mutually meaningful language doesnt exist, youre not thinking creatively enough. What does it say to you when a dog growls at you? Anything from get away from my food to back off, dude, right? Yet in every case, a dogs growl typically means that she is not happy with whatever youve done. And youve seen dogs react to other dogs growls, right? So you know what a growl means, and your dog knows what a growl means. Wheres the disconnect? Growl at your dog!

No, seriously. The next time your pooch starts stepping outside her bounds or doing something you dont like, growl at her. A nice, strong, guttural growl that would put the alpha wolf in a pack to shame. While youre growling, look directly into her eyes. Youre almost guaranteed that shell back off. It might be best to try it in your home environment to start with I dont want to be held responsible for you getting funny looks in the street!

Instincts save time and communicate effectively.

See that? You worked with her instinct and the information hardwired into her brain, and the result was instantaneous. Why spend tons of time trying to work against that instinct and end up frustrated, angry, and still miscommunications? This approach works in everything from basic discipline to full-on obedience training. You just need to figure out how to apply it in each of those situations.