HE'S JUST BEING STUBBORN
How many times have I heard that? As a reward based trainer I am often asked, “but what do you do when your dog refuses to comply when he clearly knows the command”. I usually reply like this.
There are many reasons why a dog may not comply to a cue that he already knows. Stubbornness, Dominance, and wilfulness are rarely the reasons. Whilst it is clearly very frustrating when your dog “ignores” you, its worth the time, effort and saves your sanity to try and take a step back for a moment and work out what the cause might be. This is often easier said than done in the heat of the moment. Its worth remembering that even though your dog may have learned a behaviour and performed it solidly many times before it doesn’t mean that in certain situations it may not remember what the behaviour is to the cue that you give. Let me liken it to a human example. I walked into a shop last week and was greeted by a woman who smiled and began talking to me like we were old friends. she asked me had I had a good xmas and even asked how my wife was. I recognised her face but at that moment I could not remember her name. I knew that deep in the recesses of my mind her name was there but at that moment she had caught me off guard and I could not make the association of where I knew her from and her name. An hour after I met her and long after I had left the shop her name came back to me. And at that point I realised why I couldn’t make the connection. I normally see this woman in a working environment away from this social environment and because it was out of context I had at that moment not put two and two together. I am sure you have all done this at one time or another. Well your dogs are no different. Just because they can perform a solid ‘come when called’ in the house and even in the garden both on lead and off doesn’t mean they can do it outside when they are in a different environment. Another reason they may not respond immediately to a cue is that there may be more powerful distractors going on at the time. Again if I liken it to a human example. If you have kids and they are busy playing video games and you call them in to the dining room for dinner they may not hear you at first time of calling because they are so engrossed in the video game. Your dog may be just as engrossed in whatever he is doing when you give a cue. Like chasing a bunny or sniffing something really interesting. So when you give the come command he may be to distracted to respond. You owe it to yourself and the relationship you have with your dog to take a step back the next time he doesn’t respond right away, and think, what reason might there be for my dog not responding other than just plain ignoring me.
There are many reasons why a dog may not comply to a cue that he already knows. Stubbornness, Dominance, and wilfulness are rarely the reasons. Whilst it is clearly very frustrating when your dog “ignores” you, its worth the time, effort and saves your sanity to try and take a step back for a moment and work out what the cause might be. This is often easier said than done in the heat of the moment. Its worth remembering that even though your dog may have learned a behaviour and performed it solidly many times before it doesn’t mean that in certain situations it may not remember what the behaviour is to the cue that you give. Let me liken it to a human example. I walked into a shop last week and was greeted by a woman who smiled and began talking to me like we were old friends. she asked me had I had a good xmas and even asked how my wife was. I recognised her face but at that moment I could not remember her name. I knew that deep in the recesses of my mind her name was there but at that moment she had caught me off guard and I could not make the association of where I knew her from and her name. An hour after I met her and long after I had left the shop her name came back to me. And at that point I realised why I couldn’t make the connection. I normally see this woman in a working environment away from this social environment and because it was out of context I had at that moment not put two and two together. I am sure you have all done this at one time or another. Well your dogs are no different. Just because they can perform a solid ‘come when called’ in the house and even in the garden both on lead and off doesn’t mean they can do it outside when they are in a different environment. Another reason they may not respond immediately to a cue is that there may be more powerful distractors going on at the time. Again if I liken it to a human example. If you have kids and they are busy playing video games and you call them in to the dining room for dinner they may not hear you at first time of calling because they are so engrossed in the video game. Your dog may be just as engrossed in whatever he is doing when you give a cue. Like chasing a bunny or sniffing something really interesting. So when you give the come command he may be to distracted to respond. You owe it to yourself and the relationship you have with your dog to take a step back the next time he doesn’t respond right away, and think, what reason might there be for my dog not responding other than just plain ignoring me.
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