Have you had a trainer tell you not to talk to your dog so much?  Or maybe you have seen a meme floating around recently telling people not to talk to their dogs?    Sometimes I agree.  If you are training focus or verbal cues, you likely don’t want to clutter things with unnecessary mumbo jumbo.   However, talking to your dog about what is going on in the world, the plan for the next little bit, etc. can be a great help for anxious or excitable dogs.  

Plus, it’s kind of cool when our dog knows words. Many dogs know “walk” or “dinner” or “ball” because those words are said in association with the activity on a regular basis.  Check out this great PDF on “The Mr. Rogers Hack” i.e. talking to your dog similarly to how Mr. Rogers talked to young children.