Are you being ignored by your dog?
Avoid giving the command repeatedly and imposing yourself until you receive a reaction when this occurs; instead, take a step back and think about the following situations, which represent some of the most frequent problems faced when training dogs:
1) Low-value treats: Are the rewards you receive worthwhile?
It’s a romantic and challenging myth that dogs serve us just for our own enjoyment.
According to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, dogs are actually most likely considering “What’s in it for me?” as opportunistic beings.
A dog’s eagerness to work and lack of interest can both be distinguished by the appropriate use of goodies.
When your dog is learning or when there are other distractions around, using low-value treats (such kibble) might be damaging if they don’t thrill your dog. Therefore, make sure your treats are deserving of attention.
Do not forget to limit yourself to soft, odorous, and bite-sized snacks. This prevents your dog from getting sidetracked by a treat that will last longer and enables him to swiftly consume the reward and turn his attention back to you.
A recommendation? Use the dog treats Dr. Ian Dunbar, a noted veterinarian, trainer, and author, refers to as “the Ferrari of dog treats”: freeze-dried liver.
2) Are You Missing Out on Rewarding Because of a Low Reinforcement Rate?
Your dog might find learning to sniff the grass, look around, mark territory, and pull on the leash more enjoyable than training at the beginning or when there are many distractions nearby. How come? It’s likely as a result of the presence of stimuli that are particularly intriguing and deserving of closer attention.
Your dog might have been doing this for a significant portion of his life if he hasn’t received much training in the past. Giving your dog extra goodies for good behavior during this period of time can speed up the pace of reinforcement, which will encourage him and educate him to focus on you rather than the surrounding distractions.
Remember that during the early learning phases you need a continuous rate of reinforcement (providing incentives for every achievement), and that you can only switch to a variable schedule once your dog begins to respond well. A low rate of reinforcement can also make your dog dissatisfied and give up trying (only giving treats for success every now and then).
3) High Standards: Are You Making Too Many Demands at Once?
The adage “be a splitter, not a lumper” applies in this situation. The temptation to try to instill new behaviors all at once in a single evening is common. You begin to question whether you are asking for too much when your dog stops working for you. In actuality, dogs frequently refuse to obey commands because they find them to be too challenging. In order to assist your dog succeed, try not to increase the challenge too rapidly. Instead, divide the goal into multiple manageable steps.
As an illustration, you could initially praise your dog for touching any area of the stick if you were training him to touch the tip of a target stick with his nose. You might eventually reward your dog exclusively for touching the rounded tip at the top of the stick once he masters this behavior over time.
Make sure to keep training sessions brief and to the point in order to avoid having your dog’s progress stagnate.
4) Significant Distractions: Are There Too Many Things Going On?
Dogs learn best when there are few to no distractions present, so start your training sessions in a calm space with low activity.
As soon as your dog is able to do the activity in the quiet room, gradually start asking him to do so in a busier environment. A bustling street, a dog park, a yard, and so on can follow.
Your dog might not react if you start on a busy street or at the dog park straight away because you haven’t yet established a basis for the behavior.
5) Training Deficit: Has Your Dog Ever Received Training?
The dog might have learnt he could avoid certain actions and has learned to ignore the handler if the handler has a history of being inconsistent and not following through with the dog.
The early stages of learning are frequently challenging for dogs who have never been taught and have been free to do as they please for a significant portion of their lives because the concept is completely foreign to them. By investing in reward-based training techniques, such as those covered in Adrienne Farricelli’s Brain Training for Dogs course, the handler can establish themselves as engaging and someone who is worth listening to.
6) Incomprehensible Cues: Are You Perplexing Your Dog?
Dogs thrive on consistency, so make sure you and everyone else involved in the dog’s training are using the same command signal. If your dog simply stares at you after you give a command, think about whether the command has a history of being used consistently.
It is typical to see families in classes where the lady calls the dog with “come,” the husband calls the dog by name, and the kids just say “here!” Avoid requesting actions in a variety of ways, and make sure your nonverbal cues match your vocal commands. For dogs, nonverbal clues are less important than physical language.
Additionally, do your best to avoid repeating instructions since if you do, your dog will learn to ignore you the first time you say them and wait for you to finish your statement instead.
7) Anxiety Buildup: Are You Tired?
Dogs are experts at interpreting body language, so they can quickly identify dissatisfaction. When the handler gets frustrated, dogs frequently become less obedient rather than more so. In this situation, it is helpful to urge the dog to perform a behavior that he is familiar with (such a sit), followed by a treat, to complete the training session successfully. If the activity was too difficult for your dog, you can attempt it again a little later and possibly divide it further into smaller portions.
Keep in mind that threatening your dog by speaking louder, crouching down, or approaching him directly can cause him to respond to you with appeasement signals and default behaviors rather than paying attention to your commands.
8) Emotional issues: Are feelings interfering?
Training may be hampered by a dog’s mental state if he is scared, worried, or nervous. Since the dog is frequently in a “fight or flight” mode, which affects his cognitive function and hinders his capacity to learn, this is the case. In such a situation, you might need to start by working in places where your dog is less likely to be startled before progressively introducing more and more stimuli without setting off a reaction from him.
For instance, if your dog was afraid of thunder, you should initially play recordings of thunderstorms at a very low volume so that he can acknowledge the sound without becoming frightened, rather than exposing him to them right away at full power. You would gradually raise the volume at which you played the recording after rewarding your dog during the sound throughout the course of many training sessions. Desensitization is the process, and it’s a frequent training method for dogs.
9) Health Issues: Does Your Dog Feel Pain or Uncomfortable?
Your dog may be acting strangely or uncomfortable if he ignores you. It is advisable to have your veterinarian rule out any medical issues if your dog has always been obedient but is currently acting disobedient. Orthopedic issues may be indicated by sloppy sitting or a resistance to lying down.
In addition to health issues, there are many other potential causes for training issues, such as the weather being too hot, too windy, or cold, or the fact that certain dogs prefer not to be trained on particular surfaces. A distracted dog frequently only needs to go potty or get some water. Think about how well you could perform on a test if you had to run to the restroom!
10) Do You Ignore Your Dog’s Brain Training?
Inactive minds are the devil’s workshop when it comes to dogs, a fact that many owners are unaware of. However, a lot of owners are content to keep their dogs bored by the fireplace all day, which causes a variety of behavioral issues. Engaging the mind and encouraging thought in a dog is the straightforward secret to training success.
Before becoming domesticated, dogs would spend a large portion of their lives in the wild carrying out survival-related tasks. Even in more recent history, dogs have unique responsibilities in their interactions with humans. These instinctual tendencies are still present in dogs today!
You’ll observe that some terrier breeds enjoy digging, beagles enjoy following odors, and treeing coonhounds bark when they spot prey in a tree, for instance. Dogs actually WANT to work, in contrast to humans who may hate the 9 to 5 grind; when they don’t, they become more prone to behavioral issues, disobedience, and poor psychological wellbeing. When the issue could be as easy as giving Rover additional mental stimulation, many owners spend thousands on dog training!
Thankfully, Brain Training for Dogs provides an answer to this issue. Brain Training for Dogs is one of the first training curricula to focus on increasing intelligence and engaging the dog’s brain in addition to teaching obedience, better behavior, key skills, and tricks. It was written by professionally certified trainer Adrienne Farricelli CPDT-KA, whose work has been featured in USA Today, Everydog Magazine, Nest Pets, and other publications. The cutting-edge, scientifically validated techniques Adrienne teaches are certain to make your life and your dog’s life better through 21 entertaining and straightforward activities! Your dog will be able to organize his toys, play the piano (yes, really), and recognize his toys by name by the end of Brain Training for Dogs.
The cutting-edge, scientifically validated techniques Adrienne teaches are certain to make your life and your dog’s life better through 21 entertaining and straightforward activities! By the end of Brain Training for Dogs, your dog will be a better-behaved and more obedient dog and be able to organize his toys, play the piano (yes, really), and recognize his toys by name.
Would you like to begin brain training? By clicking here, you may see more about my course.
Get dog brain training right away.
As can be seen, there are a variety of reasons why your dog could not be paying attention to you. Instead of assuming your dog is being difficult, yelling orders like a drill sergeant, or quitting training entirely, try to give your dog a break and think about what might be truly happening on. It should be possible to train dogs more effectively with a greater understanding of how they learn.
I hope this is useful.
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