July 1945.
A world weary of war was waiting to hear what Japanese Premier,Kantaro Suzuki, was going to do about the Potsdam Declaration. Would he agree to the terms that called for the surrender of the Japanese Armed Forces?
Trying to be careful with his choice of words, he stated that his cabinet was adopting a position of mokusatzu.
And that one word, “mokusatzu,” sealed the fate of thousands of Japanese citizens.
That one word lead to the death of tens of thousands of Japanese with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You see, the word mokusatzu has two meanings. It can mean “without comment for the moment” or it can mean “ignore.”
The Japanese News Agency mistakenly translated the word as “Ignore.” The news made its way to President Truman who decided he had no other course of action and dropped the atomic bomb.
Communication. How much in life is about communication? Say the right word at the right time and amazing things can happen.
Say one wrong word at the wrong time and a hundred thousand people lose their life.
And that was among the same species. Different languages, but all humans involved.
Imagine how hard our dogs have it trying to understand us. This is why you have to make sure you are clearly communicating to your dog.
The best way is to use a system of markers that let your dog know when they have done something correctly, when they need to try again and when to stop.
It all starts with classical conditioning. You pair a word or sound with something your dog likes.
One word that I teach and use early in training is the word, “Wrong.”
This is a great word to teach because in the early stages of training your dog is going to make mistakes. If you started dog training when I did, you would be familiar with the old style “yank and crank” method.
The dog makes a mistake and instead of helping the dog learn they would receive a leash correction.
This leads to HUGE problems – everything from the dog becoming inhibited to fearful to aggressive. And once the dog was labeled aggressive, it was usually a short ride to the vet that the dog would never return from.
The problem was created because of the training. Poor communication (training) and the dog pays for it.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a simple solution and it’s as close as a mouse click away. The Dog Training Inner Circle was created to help you train your dog without the confusion.
Here’s where to go NEXT:
Best,
Eric