“Show Me: Sand the Floor”
From The Way of The Pack: Understanding and Living With Livestock Guardian Dogs by Brenda M. Negri, September 17, 2018. Get with your head, Grasshopper. My copy can be bought at Amazon.com for $35.00. It is worth priceless words, thought and thinking for all of you. Empty your cup.
"Lesson not just karate only.
Lesson for whole life.
Whole life have a balance.
Everything be better." — Mr. Miyagi
Disciplining an LGD should be consistent, and this includes what noise or words you choose to use. The owner needs to choose a sound that will be used consistently to let a pup - and later when he is grown, an adult - know when he has done something wrong.
Dogs recognize guttural growls much quicker than spoken words because they sound more like their own language.
The late actor Pat Morita portrayed Mr. Miyagi in the popular The Karate Kid films. His humble martial arts instructor stole the film with cryptic and oft-times comical tidbits of profound wisdom and insight for his karate protege, “Daniel-son.”
During the scene in the link below, Mr. Miyagi corrects Daniel with guttural grunts and “tut-tut-tut” noises.
Because the sounds are very similar to the growling noise a dog makes when it reprimands a puppy, I began to mimic his grunts and have used it for years as my discipline “noise with my litters and adult dogs.” It works, and then some.
The best way to show you is to have you watch this short film clip in this You Tube, where Mr. Miyagi makes the sound several times. With a little practice, you can do it, too. Or, if you have the films on DVD, watch them and listen. “Wax on, wax off.”
Watch this clip closely and listen to Mr. Miyagi’s voice:
