Why your dog isn't listening - the truth about 'stubborn' dogs

(Dog Training Advice in Romford, Essex & Surrounding Areas)

If you feel like you have the most stubborn dog in the world, you are not alone. Many owners struggle with what feels like stubbornness in their dog. They won’t walk, won’t come back when you call them, pull on the lead and switch their ears off.  It can feel frustrating and sometimes overwhelming when you run out of ideas of what to do!

The truth of it is that dogs generally aren’t being stubborn at all.  In this blog, we will explore the reasons behind why your dog doesn’t appear to be listening to you, and what is really going on inside their cute little heads!

1. They don’t understand (yet)

  One of the most common reasons a dog appears stubborn is actually a lack of understanding.  Sometimes humans can be guilty of expecting a dog to know things that we haven’t actually taught them – yes, we have all done that!  There may be times when you are asking your dog to do something and they genuinely don’t know what we are asking of them.  For example, dogs don’t generalise well. What this means is that just because they can do something easily at home, doesn’t mean that they understand how to do it in busy or distracting environments.  From your dog’s point of view, these are completely different situations, with many different distractions which make it much harder such as:

• New smells

• People and dogs

• Movement and noise

 If you teach your dog to do something at home, you need to ensure that you have taken the time to teach them to do it in different places, this is known as ‘proofing’ the behaviour.  Once you have done that, you may start to see more responsiveness and less ‘stubbornness’.

2. They are overwhelmed

If your dog isn’t listening once you leave home, their emotional state may be overloaded.  Dogs can struggle to respond when they are:

• Over-excited

• Anxious or nervous

• Overstimulated

• Frustrated

When a dog’s emotions are high, it is difficult for them to think clearly, and almost impossible for them to learn anything new.  This explains why a dog who listens beautifully at home may seem like a completely different dog on a walk.

Try taking your dog to less stimulating environments where they can just get their noses down to sniff, and do some little training exercises there where it is easy for them.  Once they get used to doing that, you can gradually get them used to doing it in busier/more stimulating environments.

3. Your dog is doing what works best for them

  Dogs will always repeat behaviours that they learn are rewarding, so if your dog:

• Pulls on the lead and gets where they want to go

• Ignores recall and continues exploring

• Jumps up and gets attention

Then those behaviours are working for them and they will continue doing them.  This definitely isn’t stubbornness, it’s them being super clever and figuring out what gets them the best results!  Make sure that your dog is getting the best rewards for doing the things you really want them doing.  Focus on building up their skills and confidence, starting in easy environments and building them up.  Train them in different places, with less distractions where they can feel calm and find it easier to listen and learn.