Dogs who ignore commands do
so for a variety of reasons. They may be distracted by something more urgent or
exciting. Your dog may be convinced that something very unpleasant is about to
follow or the tone of your voice may even sound threatening. Your dog may have
no reason to listen to your command. Perhaps the last time he listened there
was no verbal praise, no treat nor even a reassuring pat on the head. Perhaps
your dog may not be ignoring your command, he may just not understand the
command. All the above reasons may be stopping your dog from listening to your
commands.
It’s quite common for dogs
to not listen to commands. Most often owners give dogs very few reasons to
listen and a lot of reasons not to. Have you ever seen this scenario?
An owner is calling their
dog to come and the dog ignores him. The louder they call, the more anger there
is to their tone. The owner is now stressed along with the dog. The dog begins
to crawl towards the owner, tail between the legs and knows he’s in for
trouble. The owner may grab the dog by the collar and maybe even slap the dog.
I have seen this happen and my heart bleeds for the poor dog.
THIS IS WRONG,
WRONG, WRONG!
The above technique may
eventually get some sort of result, but it is wrong on many levels. It stresses
out your dog, may inflict potential harm from physical punishment and in the
long term establishes a relationship based on fear and threats rather than a
healthy serving of respect.
Dogs are pack animals who
respond to the leader. They will respond to commands. Remember, dogs
do not speak English. It is
best to create short, simple and direct commands. Even though you need to be
the top dog, you don’t have to make everything sound like a threat to establish
your position in the hierarchy. If the tone of your voice sounds threatening,
your dog will likely not respond.
TONE, TONE, TONE!
They don’t understand you!
Dogs are responding more to your tone than the actual words being spoken. If
your tone contradicts your command , you may not be giving your dog a clear
idea of what you want them to do. For example: if your dog jumps up on you and
you push him away and giggle while telling him to “get down” then he is getting
mixed messages. He thinks you are playing and therefore ignores your command.
Another mistake is asking a dog to do something rather than telling. If you say
“come here” in a way that sounds more like “could you please maybe come here
please” then you are giving your dog a choice and he may opt to ignore you. You
don’t have to yell or demand , just make your tone clear that you mean
business.
Make sure your commands are
simple. Keep your commands short and simple and make sure the commands don’t
sound alike. Using hand signs and verbal commands make it easier for dogs to
understand. This takes time and patience from both of you. By using hand signs
and verbal commands in the long run this will help when your dog gets older and
hard of hearing.
MY DOG STILL IGNORES
ME!
When your dog still ignores
your commands, it means they understand what you want them to do but are
deciding not to do it. How can you tell if your dog is in fact understanding
the command but has no intention of obeying? Check out your dogs body language.
When you issue a command and your dog shows signs of fear (submissive posturing,
avoiding eye contact,ears back, tails tucked) then it is more likely that they
don’t understand. If that is the case, you can make the situation worse by
being more forceful. If your dogs posturing is confident, with no stress and
making direct eye contact with you, then there is a dominance issue. A defiant
dog may need you to re-establish being the top dog. For a more comprehensive
plan to teach your dog, check out dog training
.