Why Isn’t My Dog Listening?
First of all, your dog is listening, at least they’re trying to. Dogs are associative learners. Which means they learn by association. For example, if you and your canine friend do most of your training in the living room, they begin to associate all of the objects in the room with the current training situation. Your dog thinks “You asked me to sit, and there is a couch to my left and a lamp to my right so I must have to sit.” Removed from this situation, you may find that your dog becomes incapable of doing this “sit” that you have worked so hard together mastering in the living room. When you ask for the same sit in yard, your dog may think to themself “Well I know you asked me to sit but there isn’t a couch or lamp anywhere in sight!”
This means dogs learn to match or associate different items or events in their environment with the task at hand. Obviously, you know your dog can’t speak or understand English. So “sit” (or any command) means nothing until they associate it with the action. Through training your dog learns, the action of actual sitting is associated with the command “sit". Through their learning style, all things in the area surrounding them are then associated with the act “sit” as well.
Do not fret, there is a way to conquer this! Once you have mastered one location with your training command, it is time to move on to another location. (I consider mastery of a command to be successful completion of said task 8/10 times or 80%) The command must be mastered in different and distracting environments. Once the dog is able to perform the command/skill in 5 or more new locations at an 80% success rate you can be assured your dog truly knows the command you’ve been trying to teach them.
Do not be surprised when you show up to your second location (the yard) and your dog has gone and forgotten all things involving how to sit. Regress, and start training from a previous point and you should be able to catch back up in no time. For example, if your dog was sitting 80 plus percent of the time to just the verbal command in the living but when you move to the kitchen it appears your dog forgot what the word means, you should move back to your phase of training where you were using your hand or a treat to lure them into a sit. I always test the dog with just the verbal command first in the new environment so I can analyze their reaction. If they respond confidently with the command which I’ve asked of them then I know they are starting to retain the idea of what it is I am asking for.
Once you have mastered (remember 80%) new environments, it’s time to enter a distracting environment and repeat the process all over! Remember dogs learn differently, they use their nose to gather a mental image of their environment. Once you get to your new training area, give you dog time to walk about and sniff the location out! Skipping this step may result in a dog that displays signs of stress, and you won’t be able to continue with your training!
Once you let your dog explore a bit, it’s time to start your training around your chosen distraction. (By a basketball court, baseball field, near a sidewalk, or even outside of a dog park) If you’re too close to stimulus, your dog may not even take treats. Not taking treats is a sign your dog is over aroused or overstimulated. Move farther from the distraction until your dog reengages with you and will happily begin taking treats again. This will be your starting point in your distracting environment. Over the course of several training sessions, try moving closer and closer, avoiding over stimulating your dog. as you make progress with each session, you are moving in on complete mastery of this skill!
Remember, your dog is listening, but they learn differently than us. Remain patient, don’t forget to take deep breaths and relax yourself. Dog’s feed off of our energy, so it is our duty to keep our energy peaceful and productive. (More on this in a future blog post) If you find yourself frustrated and unable to lower your energy it is okay to take a break and get back to training later in the day! Master training in one location first, move on to your next, and begin trying out more distracting environments. Happy training!