I hear this all the time.
"He/She knows exactly what I want them to do but they just decide not to listen"
Dogs aren’t stubborn. They do not have the cognitive ability to be stubborn.
So what is this so called stubbornness?
Our dogs aren’t daft if there isn’t a motivator for them to do something they won’t.
So my girl can quite often stop and wait behind me when she knows we are approaching the end of the walk.
Is she stubborn?
NO!
She knows the end of the walk means the end of the fun so she is hesitant.
So how do I deal with this situation?
I could try and call her to me….
But what happens if she doesn’t come.
I’m just ruining my recall.
So how about I walk up to her and go get her.
Chances are she will just run away from me.
Ok, so let’s think about what my dog loves.
For my girl it’s her ball.
So do I throw it to her?
NOPE because she will just run off with it and then I’m minus her favourite thing.
So instead we are going to have the BEST game of tug at the end of walks.
I am saving our special game for the end of the walk so I have something in my pocket.
Now the other thing that often gets mislabeled as stubbornness is when the distractions are too high.
Distractions can be anything, people, dogs, smells, small furries, noises, a river. Absolutely anything!
Your dog decides what is a distraction.
If you haven’t trained around that distraction then your dog may not be able to respond.
My girl saw a swan the other day and she was very interested in it.
If I called her then she might not have been able to respond.
This isn’t because she is stubborn. It’s just she is curious about this huge white bird that she hasn’t ever seen before.
So how do I deal with this situation?
I allow her to check it out as it’s on the other of the river and she isn’t the type of dog to go after it.
I watch her for a little while and then continue walking.
Me simply walking on encourages her to come away with me.
If I was going to recall her I would wait until she was able to look away from the swan and do so.
Always look at the environment when it comes to behaviour.
The environment always affects behaviour!
Do you think your dog’s stubborn?
Then why not contact me for a one to one to find out how to overcome it.
www.dedicatedtodogs.co.uk
info@dedicatedtodogs.co.uk
07557983529
