Training dogs is no easy task.
Professional trainers use special sounds or words to help dogs recognize and respond to commands. Thinking it would be simple, a man tried learning dog language to communicate directly with his pet. But things didn’t go as planned. On his very first try, he got bitten by his dog.
Mr. Ho, who lives and works in Wuhan, learned dog language from online videos and tried to talk to his Alaskan Malamute: “While scrolling Douyin, I saw a blogger communicating with a dog, and it seemed like the dog was really trained. I wanted to interact with my dog the same way.”
He decided to teach himself this method to talk with his dog.
Imitating the sounds, he hoped to improve their bond and train his pet better. But during practice, something unexpected happened: his dog, unfamiliar with the strange noises, bit his face. “I made sounds like ‘wu…’, which means ‘I’m better than you, you have to listen to me.'”
As soon as he gave the command, the dog lying next to him suddenly lunged: “Normally, my dog is very gentle and close to me. I was lying on the bed and it was next to me. So I didn’t have time to escape. It bit my face, and there was a lot of bleeding.”
This was definitely not the outcome he expected. Experts explain that dogs can feel threatened by unfamiliar sounds. Imitating dog noises might make them think a stranger is nearby, causing panic or defensive reactions like biting.
According to the doctor who treated Mr. Ho: “The wound was quite large, about 8cm on the lower jaw. It was deep, piercing through all the tissue under the skin. It looked like a deep cut from canine teeth.”
“First, we disinfected and bandaged the wound. We gave Mr. Ho antibiotics to kill bacteria. Once stable, we will perform cosmetic stitching in the second stage.”
The doctor added that many dog lovers want to train their pets themselves, but it’s a risky job. If bitten like Mr. Ho, clean the wound with water or soapy water. If it bleeds, use gauze or a cloth to stop the bleeding, bandage it, and go to the hospital promptly for rabies vaccination.
While learning dog language sounds fun, it’s not an effective method. For those wanting to train their pets, scientific and professional training methods offer longer-lasting and safer results.
