Training Tips Dog Owner Mistake: Repeating your Command

The most important part of dog training is communication. We don’t speak the same language as our dogs, so we have to teach them the meanings of certain words (words like sit, stay, come, etc). When we teach them a command, we attach a meaning and significance to it.

After enough times sitting on command and receiving a reward for it, they learn that the action of sitting matches with the word “sit”. But when we repeat a command over and over while they fail to obey it, think what that teaches your dog.

First of all, we talk to each other all day, and because those words aren’t significant to our dogs, they learn to ignore it. Words that don’t have any significance to our dogs mean nothing to them. When you repeat a command, you risk it becoming meaningless to your dog. It turns into just more of the background noise that their human makes all day that has nothing to do with them.

The second thing that can happen is that your dog DOES learn to attach an action to your command. However, the action is not obeying. If you’re telling your dog “stay, stay, stay” as they break a stay, they learn that stay means get up and move around freely!

This is why dog trainers say “don’t name it til you love it.” Practice shaping or luring your dog into the behavior you want, and then teach them what it’s called. That way you don’t risk poisoning the word by teaching them that it means something else.

Once your dog understands the command, give your dog the command ONCE, and then attach a consequence or correction if they ignore it. This means if your dog breaks a stay, you tell them “eh eh” and reset their position. If they jump, you squirt them with a squirt bottle. Other great ways of communicating a correction to your dog are leash pressure and e-collar stimulation. Anything to give your dog the feedback that “no, this is not what you should be doing right now.”

This approach to communicating with your dog gives them so much more clarity on what you want from them. Clarity is great for dog-human relationships, leads to confident dogs, and keeps you from getting frustrated when your dog doesn’t listen to you!