Teach Puppies to Communicate: Why Giving Puppies a Voice Builds Better Dogs

In the early weeks of life, puppies are constantly learning how the world works—and what role they play in it. One of the most overlooked, yet powerful, foundations we can provide them is a sense of agency: the ability to communicate, make choices, and feel heard.

Instead of focusing immediately on obedience or control, modern evidence-based puppy development shifts the focus to communication and emotional self-regulation. Teaching puppies to have a voice doesn't mean letting them run the show—it means helping them learn how to calmly and clearly interact with humans in ways that make sense to both species.

Why Communication Matters More Than Obedience in Early Development

Most traditional training starts with commands: “Sit,” “Stay,” “Come.” While useful, these behaviours are often taught to puppies rather than with them. The puppy learns to perform for a reward, but not necessarily to communicate their needs or regulate their impulses.

Emerging science in canine cognition and behaviour shows that:

• Puppies who are allowed to make choices and influence outcomes show higher problem-solving ability and emotional resilience (McGreevy & Boakes, 2007).

• Dogs who experience predictable, non-coercive reinforcement systems form stronger social bonds and are less reactive in novel environments (Vieira de Castro et al., 2019).

• Teaching self-control before cue-based training results in calmer dogs with improved long-term learning retention (Lindsay, 2000).

What Does “Giving a Puppy a Voice” Actually Look Like?

Teaching communication is not about encouraging barking or letting puppies do whatever they want. It’s about helping them realise that calm, intentional behaviour is a language—and that it works.

Examples include:

• Learning that sitting quietly makes the food bowl appear

• Discovering that offering eye contact opens the door to the garden

• Understanding that lying down brings attention back during play

These aren’t tricks—they’re early social signals. By rewarding the puppy’s decision to offer calm engagement, we’re reinforcing behaviour that supports real-life function: self-settling, polite manners, and handler focus without pressure or demand.

Communication Builds Confidence

When puppies learn they have a say in their environment, they feel safer—and safer dogs learn better.

Puppies taught to communicate:

• Are less likely to display reactive-based behaviours (e.g. barking, biting, jumping)

• Recover faster from new or challenging situations

• Are more likely to initiate appropriate social behaviours with people and other animals

• Learn traditional cues more readily because they trust the process

This approach is especially valuable for breeds developed for therapy, assistance, or emotional support roles, where responsiveness and emotional intelligence matter just as much as obedience.

How Does This Fit with Traditional Positive Reinforcement Training?

Positive reinforcement (R+) remains the gold standard in modern dog training. But communication-based learning is what comes before.

First, the puppy learns that:

“My calm choices have outcomes.”

Then we introduce cues (like “sit,” “let’s go,” or “yes”) to label and refine those behaviours in structured ways.

In this model, traditional cue-based training is layered on top of a foundation built on trust, communication, and choice.

How We Apply This at Lovelocks Australian Cobberdogs

At Lovelocks, we begin teaching communication from as early as 3 weeks of age:

• Puppies are given separate toileting spaces, fostering early spatial learning.

• By 4 weeks, they begin learning focus and control through natural boundaries:

  • All four paws on the floor before exiting the pen

  • Calm stillness and eye contact before meals are placed

• We do not use food to lure or commands in early training. Instead, we let puppies discover that calm behaviour leads to outcomes—they’re not being told what to do; they’re learning how to influence the world calmly and polite ways to ask for what they want.

Only once this foundation is set do we introduce marker-based positive reinforcement ("Yes") and behaviours like "Let's go" in free walk, sit for attention, crate naps, and gentle grooming routines.

This method creates Cobberdogs who are:

• Confident in unfamiliar environments

• Naturally calm and socially aware

• Responsive to their people—not because they’re told to be, but because they want to be

Want to Learn More?

• McGreevy, P., & Boakes, R. (2007). Carrots and Sticks: Principles of Animal Training.

• Vieira de Castro, A. C., et al. (2019). Are positive-reinforcement training methods associated with better welfare in dogs? PLoS ONE.

• Lindsay, S. R. (2000). Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training.

• Scott, J.P., & Fuller, J.L. (1965). Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog.

Final Thought

Teaching a puppy to have a voice isn’t about skipping training—it’s about laying the foundation for it.

When we prioritise calm communication, we don’t just raise obedient dogs—we raise thoughtful, emotionally stable companions who trust, connect, and thrive.