A short dictionary of dog: the bow that means come and play, the white of an eye that means please don't, and why none of them count on their own.

Dogs talk all day, and almost none of it is out loud. They do it with their mouths, their eyes and the angle of their whole body, and the people who work with dogs for a living spend years getting fluent. The nice surprise is that the first few words are easy, and you have probably seen every one of them this week.

The friendliest is the play bow. Front end down, back end up in the air, as though the dog started a stretch and forgot to finish it. It is an invitation, and dogs usually follow it with exaggerated, bouncy movements so nobody misses the point.

The one that surprises people is the lick. A dog flicking its tongue over its lips with no food anywhere near it, or yawning when it cannot possibly be sleepy, is often showing an early sign of stress, especially alongside a tight mouth and a look away. Our glossary files moves like these under calming signals: small, polite gestures a dog uses to cool a moment down and say it means no trouble.

Then there is whale eye, which is exactly as odd as it sounds. A lot of white shows around the outside of the dog's eye, and our glossary reads it as a dog that feels anxious or threatened by something nearby. It is one of the handiest things anybody handling dogs can learn to catch early.

None of these words means much alone, which is the fun part. A lick beside a play bow is a different sentence from a lick beside a stiff body, and reading the whole dog at once gets easier every week you practice. Our full glossary runs past thirty terms if you want to keep going.

The trainers, groomers and vet assistants who seem to read dogs by instinct mostly just started paying attention a bit earlier than everyone else, and that is a head start you can give yourself on your next walk.

The move: Shape it: reward each small step toward the dumbbell, from a glance to a full mouthful, and only name it "Take" once the dog is holding it on their own.

Most of what a new dog learns can start with a treat held in front of the nose. Take, where a dog picks up an object and holds it, is one of the few skills our curriculum says can't be taught that way, for a delightfully simple reason: a dog can't hold a dumbbell and eat a treat with the same mouth. Pushing the object in is off the table too, since a dog has to choose to take it, which is exactly how clicker trainers teach a hold.

So trainers shape it, paying for each small step:

Nothing in that list tells the dog they got it wrong. In our curriculum's words, "shaping is all about rewarding their right decisions." A plastic dumbbell is the usual tool, since its raised grip is easy to grab, and a soft toy works for a mouth-shy dog.

Watching a dog work out what you're asking, one small guess at a time, is one of the quiet joys of training, and rewarding the right guess is a big part of being a trainer.

Plenty of people who come to grooming arrive from somewhere else entirely. Lacey Mannahan was one of them, and finished our Professional Pet Groomer program in 2023. The idea arrived at an unlikely hour:

The program is 500 hours of hands-on work with real dogs, from bathing and brushing through full breed trims. Looking back on getting through it:

And the part that doesn't end at graduation:

If you're reading this on a break from a job that doesn't fit anymore, Lacey's story is a good one to keep close while you think it over.

Lacey Mannahan, Professional Pet Groomer, class of 2023