What does "No" mean?
Hi, this is Kyle writing with assistance from my own handler.
I see that you're looking for feedback on the Tips & Tricks page... although I think you covered just about everything, I do have one question you might be able to help me with: Just what, exactly, does "no" mean? Now that I've mastered the crawling and am working on walking, I hear that word a lot. Not quite sure what's up with that...
Excellent question Kyle! A lot newborns and infants think that "No" means something negative or bad, or even the opposite of "Yes". Nothing could be further from the truth! "No" (spoken with the long-o sound) simply means that you've stumbled on to something particularly fascinating that needs in depth exploration. If it's really, really interesting, your handler may want you to savour it over a period of days so may in fact remove you from the activity. You must remember, however, to return to the activity that caused the "No" as soon as possible. When you hear "no no no no no" this means you've succeeded.
Do not confuse "No" with "NO!!!!!!" ... the latter usually means one of two things: you're leaving a poopie trail as you drag yourself across the new white shag carpeting or you just swallowed something that your handler never actually thought you'd ever want to put in your mouth. In either case, respond to "NO!!!!" by staying perfectly still for 2 seconds then start bawling your little eyes out.