It can be embarrassing when your dog doesn’t listen to you, especially around people. Though dogs always aspire to please their owner, there are still some “bad boy” or “bad girl” times. As a dog parent, it must be very frustrating to not be able to understand why your dog is being stubborn and refusing to listen to you. But let’s not forget that your dog can’t tell you what’s wrong and that’s where effective training is needed. Join Pet Barn to learn why your dog doesn’t listen to you and how to deal with stubborn dogs.
Why Your Dog Is Not Listening
Having dogs is a blessing but training them isn’t as easy as it may seem. Your dog doesn’t always listen whether you are calling or telling them to sit down or stop. There are many possible reasons why your dog doesn’t listen to you, below are some of those causes;
•Your dog is unable to understand you; the first logical reason could be that your dog doesn’t understand what you want, it could be because you are using new words your dog isn’t trained to understand. We tend to forget that dogs can’t understand what we are saying, just like if we are in a foreign country with a completely strange new language that we can’t understand, to be able to understand the language we will try to take clues from the body language. It’s the same situation for dogs. Dogs understand better emotions and actions. You should pay attention to your body language while you are training your pet so that you don’t send any mixed signals that could cause confusion.
•Lack of trust; it’s not easy to win back your dog’s trust once the trust bond is broken. For example, making your dog think that you are going to give him a treat or food when it’s actually time for the shower will eventually break the trust bond between the two of you. The issue here is that your dog has learned that doing what you say won’t necessarily be rewarding, which is why he’s not listening as much anymore. Positive reinforcement is the best way to make your dog trust you.
•Excess energy & Boredom; when your dog isn’t very active and not getting enough exercise, you will be left with a massy amount of energy. This is one of the reasons why your dog isn’t listening to you. It’s hard to make an overexcited dog listen to your orders. In this case, you should ensure the right amount of daily exercise to burn off all the excess energy, of course, depending on your dog’s age and breed. Once your dog is tired, listening to your command is easier.
•Encouraging the behavior with treats; rewarding your dog more often will likely encourage him to obey you more in order to get rewards such as toys, treats, or any kind of attention. Treats or any kind of reward are essential when we train our dogs, they are usually the best bribe for making your pet follow commands. However, you will need to be careful with bribes because over spoiling your dog with bribes can make the training even harder.
How To Get Your Dog to Listen to You
1.Patience: Some people expect their dogs to understand everything they say or need from day one, but what we forget is that dogs need time to get used to our language, all of the house rules and boundaries. Be patient with your new furry friend and give it the chance to explore around and get used to the new environment.
2.Consistency; Keeping your dog on a consistent schedule is very important, dogs prefer a stable routine and don’t like change, even if that change includes a new member of the home. In fact, change can cause a dog to show bad behavior until he adjusts to the new pattern. Scheduling each day is critical to its success, especially if you are training your dog during that time, he will lose interest in the training if you miss or skip something they enjoy.
3.Teaching in a quiet environment & Repetition; When you want to teach your dog, it must be in a quiet, private space where you can control what’s going on and where your dog can focus. Just like a kid who needs to focus to learn math, the same goes for dogs, it’s hard to focus in a busy environment. Once your dog has almost learned the asked-for order in that quiet environment, start by taking it to the backyard and doing a sniffing nose promenade nearby, and begin the teaching by stating something your dog knows well. Repeat the order, again and again. Repetition will help your dog learn better.
4.Realistic expectations; It’s important to understand that not all orders are easy to obey for our dog. Some things are harder than others for them. Unrealistic expectations can lead to anxiety for your furry pet because he is unable to please you, so they will instead avoid you. Therefore, it’s better to ask simple commands so that your dogs can adjust to the training routine. Also, you can’t expect your dog to “leave” that delicious piece of hamburger or hot dog sandwich on the kitchen table, his nose will automatically chase the scent. Who could resist this delicious smell? In that case, teach your dog to leave the sandwich so you could give a reward like a piece of that meat, for example.
Training your dog to listen to your orders isn’t the easiest thing. Each dog is unique and might require different training routine. The first and most important rule is to stay patient, staying positive, consistency, repetition, and a good environment. Don’t get discouraged by not seeing a quick change in your dog, it’s all about baby steps all the way through. Last, make sure to give your furry friend high-value treats to encourage good behavior. Remember that dogs love to please their owner no matter what! And share your favorite stubborn moments with your dog in the comments.
