Learning Oscar Language

Vince has never had a dog. We shared Speck but Vince was working and out of town a lot the first 10 years of Speck’s life. Since I’m the one dealing with Oscar mostly, I’m the one teaching him the words we live by. I’m sure there’s some universal dog language/words I should know but I don’t.

Instead of “Come”, I’ve always said “Come see what I’ve got” and I say it in a little sing songy voice. I always keep pieces of kibble in my pocket and yes, they sometimes go through the washer and yes, Oscar finds his way into the dirty clothes every now and then he knows to search my pockets. Vince never has kibble in his pockets but “Come see what I’ve got” will bring him running. If I’m close by, I hand Vince a couple of pieces of kibble for him to hand to Oscar.

Last night Vince and Oscar were playing and Oscar is still biting Vince (just playing with sharp teeth) but he’s learned not to bite me (most of the time). I’ll say “NO BITING” in a stern voice if he gets too wild and starts biting me. I’ve told Vince to tell him that and Vince was saying “Don’t Bite!” but Vince says it like he’s coddling Oscar. I said “say it with force!”. Then Vince said STOP BITING” . I told Vince . . he understands “no biting” so he may know what stop biting means but we should both use the same words.

It’s not like Oscar knows 50 phrases. He knows “Outside”, “Crate” – he will now go get in his crate when I say “Crate”. He knows “Treat”. When he does something good, I’ll get really excited and say “Treat!” He knows “NO” I use that mostly when he’s chewing on things, trying to jump or climb over his fence, etc. Those might be the only words he knows.

I told Vince last night that he and I are going to spend 10 minutes each evening learning “Oscar Language”. 🙂

Not really. Vince doesn’t pay attention to things like that and he doesn’t see the importance of consistency when dealing with a dog. It’s ok . . he agreed for me to get a dachshund. We can work around any Oscar language barriers that arise.