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Why Won't My Dog Listen to Me? Can’t she hear what I’m saying?

Through my experiences talking with and observing dog owners,  I’ve seen a lot of folks become irritated and angry at their dogs when they don’t respond to the cues they believe they should know by now. It’s a familiar story for most dog owners, the repeated, “Molly, sit….Molly, sit….sit….MOLLY SIT!” And by the final attempt-Molly sits.

Your dog can hear you.
Unless your dog is deaf, they can hear you loud and clear. Many people (including myself) have made the mistake of repeating cues over and over again until our dog does what we want them to do. There are many problems with repetition, one being that our dog isn’t actually learning what we want them to do. If they do learn anything, it’s to only sit after the fourth “sit.” I don’t know about you, but I would like my dog to sit the first time I say it and not the fourth or fifth time. Another problem with repetition is that our dogs can begin to ignore us, which is the exact opposite of what we are trying to teach them.

Go back to the basics.
If your dog isn’t responding to the cues you are giving them, that’s a signal that you’ve moved too quickly in the training process. Go back to the basics when the dog first learned the cue. If the basics include luring, do this. Lure that pup into a sit with some yummy chicken before adding the cue.

Dogs are terrible at generalization.
Unlike humans, dogs are terrible at generalization. You need to be practicing the cues you are teaching them inside, outside, at the park, at your friend’s house, everywhere. Just because your dog knows to sit inside the house-doesn’t mean they are going to do it outside at a park with a bunch of distractions. Start in a low-distraction environment and gradually move to more challenging areas.

Increase the value of your reward.
That means, none of that boring kibble (unless your dog is jazzed about kibble-which many are), bring out the cheese, the hot dogs, the lamb lung, and/or the boiled chicken. Our dogs get to decide what’s valuable-not us. Training should be fun and exciting, it doesn’t have to be work. It can be a way to strengthen the relationship you have with your dog. And you know what happens when our relationship is stronger with our dog? THEY PAY ATTENTION TO US! Every dog owner’s dream!



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