Why is my dog being stubborn?

Rachel Williams Author

I frequently hear people saying that their dog is 'stubborn' and 'doesn't listen' when they previously have. Many people believe their dog is purposely ignoring them, is showing dominance or is being spiteful.

A great example of when people say this is when their dog no longer comes back to them when called. A puppy who use to run back to their guardian every time their name was called suddenly decides to continue sniffing, walking away, running up to strangers, other dogs or wildlife etc. Another common instance is where a dog who has learnt to sit, usually before having their food bowl lowered and before crossing the street, but now they suddenly behave like they have never heard the word sit before.

What's going on?

Well the good news is that your dog is not doing this out of malice, because they want to be the boss or to show you up in front of your friends. There are actually several reasons why your dog may appear to be ignoring you:

They don't understand what you're asking of them

Sometimes we expect too much from our dogs and this can lead to frustration for both them and us. Miscommunication happens from time to time and this is usually the reason your dog can't respond to a simple cue such as wait. A dog who has a well trained wait can be life saving and makes day to day tasks less stressful. For example, we tend to ask our dogs to wait at the door instead of rushing outside, wait to cross the road, wait to be clipped onto a lead before coming out the car, wait for other dogs or people to pass by. Unless you have trained your dog to wait in many different scenarios it becomes difficult for them to generalise the behaviour in a variety of contexts.

They lack motivation

A common misconception of dog training is that once a dog has learnt a behaviour they no longer need to be rewarded for exhibiting that behaviour again, because they already know it. In fact, just like us humans, dogs need to be reinforced for working. Imagine if your boss decided one day that you no longer needed paying because you now know how to do your job - you'd soon quit to find another employer! Rewards don't always have to be food based, you can use play or anything else your dog finds reinforcing.

The environment is too distracting

This is usually the main reason why your dog doesn't come back when off lead. The park, beach, woods have too many interesting smells and there are new people and dogs to meet and play with. Keeping your dog on a longline is a great way to enable your dog freedom of movement and to explore whilst still having the ability to rein your dog back when required. Continue to work of your recall by giving your dog a reason to come back to you; play a game, give them a treat, actively explore something together - anything exciting to make you more interesting than the environment.

They are in pain

Dogs are really good at hiding that they are in pain, and this doesn't just apply to senior dogs. Puppies, adolescents and adult dogs may be hiding growing pains, a pulled muscle, an injury, stomach pains etc. A good way to notice if this is happening is to see in what context is your dog refusing to do something? For example, they don't want to sit on slippery flooring such as laminate, a cold and wet pavement, uneven ground. Maybe you've asked them to sit, down and stand over and over again in a training session and they are sore. Keep an eye on your dog's body language for signals such as a lowered posture, excessive licking or scratching of a certain area, lameness, stiffness and moving away from being handled.

Categories: : dog training, puppy training