Going back to the past when I was in my twenty's I had moments when I was questioning myself. Why is my dog not listening to me? I have learned a lot through experience with dogs. It was me! Yes me!! It took me some trials but I figured it out. One thing I figured out was what motivates my dog. Every dog owner needs to know this.
I am on my way to becoming a Certified Dog Trainer and I am so happy I have taken this path. I have even questioned myself, why did I not do this sooner? I love dogs and I understand we must all communicate with them properly.
So now I talk about Just One Cue and you may question why I say this. I no longer use the word command because dogs are my friends and we are not in the Army. We cue our dogs now.
In my studies I found how interesting this was to find just one cue works. It makes complete sense. I will use one of my dogs for a good example. I cue Peyton to sit, so I say Peyton Sit, she goes into a sit. I follow with good girl, not good sit. We as owners do not want confusing communications with our dogs. Another example is, Peyton is sitting by the window she observes something outside and starts to bark. I go look outside and see nothing is alarming so I cue Peyton Enough, I say Peyton Enough. I will go over to her and assure her everything is okay. This could take some training on your behalf. If you are wondering why your dog is not listening, now would be a good time to look yourself in the mirror. Dogs must be trained and that is our parts as owners to do our best.
If your dog is not listening then its time to train. Somewhere, somehow the communications between you and your dog got lost. One example I can give, if Peyton were still barking out the window. I would cue her enough, when she has stopped barking I would reward her with a nice treat. She will now relate this cue enough with a reward. Is this going to happen overnight? My answer is most likely no and this will take a few attempts. Do not get loud and yell out, dogs see this as something else. Be calm when saying enough. Dogs see yelling as barking so we must try our best to remain calm. We do not want our dogs to see us as threatening and becoming fearful of us. So when you come home and find that one gift of Poo on the floor and you start yelling then you see that appeasement, that look of your dog looking guilty because your are throwing out anger and your dog is trying to understand why this human is so angry?
Yes folks its all about just one cue. We do not need to add in words and confuse our dogs nor do we need to add in anger. We as owners get more respect from our dogs when we make sense.
Dogs are wonderful and they understand one cues and body behavior. Our body language speaks volumes to dogs. I will save body language for another day.
So if you are having problems with your dog not listening to you, this could be you.
I have come across people with their dogs and when I seen what was going on. It was the communication problem .
We are humans and we sometimes fail to question ourselves. The best thing any owner can do is have good communications with the dog. Just one cue of "sit" "stay" "down" "come" so the next time your dog is jumping up on your relative or friend, just cue your dog down.
Dogs are so much like humans and I hope for you understand. They have facial expressions, emotional contagions and other body languages we all must try to understand and do our best at communicating with dogs.
For the love of dogs, lets all try to do our best. Train, Socialize and Exercise so we all have a bright future together.
Life is beautiful with dogs!
Mecca Curtice
President
Mecca's Pit Bull Rescue
CDT (in progress)
Dog Bite Safety Educator ( through education)
www.meccaspitbullrescue.com