Gives Dogs a Moment!

We live in a push-button culture of immediate gratification that easily lends itself to frustration and loss of patience the moment something takes some time.

Think about your reaction when your computer isn’t loading a page fast enough, or when your phone can’t connect to the wifi. I’m guilty of it too.

This translates to dogs and dog behavior in many ways, but today I’m going to talk about the most common of ‘em all:

Repeating cues.

Verbalizing the thing you are asking your dog to do over and over will actually have the opposite of your desired effect (a quick response). At best, your pup will learn to respond after you’ve said the cue several times. At worst, they’ll never really make the connection because to them you’re just adding to the cacophony party. At worst, worst, depending on your tone (frustration!) and body language, it can elicit a fear response and emotionally damage your dog.

If our dogs aren’t responding to a cue, it’s OUR cue to ask ourselves a few questions:

1. Is it fair to ask for this cue in this particular environment and context?

2. Does my dog really “know” this cue? Maybe a training refresher is needed!

3. How is my dog feeling emotionally and physically at this moment? Scared? Extra excited? Stressed? Painful? I know from personal experience that someone asking me to hurriedly do something while I’m anxious, overwhelmed, or in pain does not go over well.

4. How can I make this more achievable for my dog? Maybe higher value reinforcement, maybe your tone could be more excitable - play around until you get the response you want and then PAY UP.

5. What information can I take from this? When I stopped getting a response after cueing Mia “Here” from a certain distance away, it informed me that she could not physically hear me from that distance. Invaluable information.

Cue your dog and wait. Be patient. Give them time to think, process, and make the choice to perform the behavior on their own.

Dogs are not push-button, let’s spread the word.