07/09/2024
Does your dog ignore you sometimes or even refuse to respond to words they know well? Good news, they aren’t stubborn, and it’s likely because of one or more of the 3 Ds! Let’s break it down.
1. Distance - Can your dog respond to “come” from 2 feet away? 5 feet? 10 feet? Maybe his recall is great when you are both in the living room, but he ignores you when you call him from another room. Perhaps he can go to his bed when you are standing next to it, but looks perplexed when ask him while you are sitting on your sofa across the room. Distance must be increased slowly in stages for certain progress.
2. Duration - Duration refers to the amount of time a dog maintains a behavior between reinforcements. Are you asking your dog to maintain a behavior for longer than they are capable of? This is most common with stationing. Duration should be increased slowly and on a variable interval schedule (more on that in another post!). If your dog keeps breaking his down stay, it could be because you are increasing the duration of the behavior too quickly.
3. Distractions - This is probably the most common reason for a dog to not listen. It’s easy to think, “my dog knows how to sit. Why won’t she do it when we are at the park?!!” When big feeling take over your dog’s brain, they more than likely cannot comprehend or even hear what you are saying. Even a subtle change in the environment, such as a change in your body position or having a conversation with another human (or let’s be honest… your other pets 😆), can evoke enough excitement to cause inconsistency. A good rule of thumb is to scan the environment and consider your dog’s interest in the surroundings, before you ask her to do anything.
Next time your dog won’t listen to you, consider the 3 Ds before you label her as obstinate. Or better yet, consider them before you ask her to do something. If you were to ask yourself if your dog would respond to a cue before asking them, I’d bet you would know the answer almost every time. If the answer is “no”, then just don’t ask. While training should challenge our dogs, it’s crucial to set them up for success as much as possible.
