If you’re having trouble to get your dog to do the most basic things like Sit or lay down, or be civil on walks if not superbly well behaved, or if you constantly keep getting the accusatory looks of horror from people who keep trying to recoil as your dog tries to jump up on them for the umpteenth time, I am here to tell you that you’re anything but alone! A stubborn dog is not a good dog – they’re a Fabulous dog! If goodness and obedience are the only criteria we used to pick our friends and love them, we would all be big time loners! This article aims at helping you understand your “stubborn” dog a little better and come up with a more effective training plan.
Why is it hard to train a stubborn dog?
Dogs end up earning the title of “stubborn” through repeated instances of exhibiting strong willed behavior. There are a multitude of factors that could make a dog resilient and strong willed; a couple of them being –
Learned irrelevance
Learned irrelevance takes place in dogs when they learn to ignore a stimulus and deem it irrelevant over time because of repeated insignificant consequences attached to the stimulus. Learned irrelevance is commonly seen when practicing recall with dogs. When you practice recall repeatedly with a dog without rewarding them in anyway for successful repetitions, the dog will eventually learn to ignore the recall cue and deem the cue irrelevant. Learned irrelevance can be caused due to incorrect training techniques, lack of consistency, not rewarding appropriately and so on.
Genetics
Dogs bred to work independently from humans, such as those involved in hunting or herding, often inherit traits of independence and self-reliance while on the job, which can come across as stubbornness. These traits get passed along through generations and become hardwired in certain breeds. These traits can interfere in a dog’s ability to focus on you during training.
3 things you must know about your stubborn dog
- They have a strong independent streak
- Their needs must be fulfilled
- They require a unique training approach
How to train a stubborn dog | 8 power tips to train your way to a well-behaved dog
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Understand your dog’s breed
Dog’s genetics play a significant role in dictating a dog’s behavior. Certain tendencies and traits are strongly influenced by their genetic makeup. Eg – Anatolian Shepherds were specifically bred as livestock guardians, Black Russian Terriers were exclusively bred as “fence dogs”, Dobermans were tailored for police and military work and so on.
Dogs that were purposely bred as working dogs have certain behaviors and traits ingrained into their genes. These behaviors surface as and when different situations present themselves that may enable them to harness these instincts.
Many a time, these instinctive behaviors are confused with stubbornness.
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Choosing the right rewards
Rewards are highly subjective in the dog world. While it’s true that a majority of dogs are motivated by food, it may not be the case every single time or with every single dog. Dogs are motivated by different things in different situations.
At times, it could be food. At times, it could be play or chasing a squirrel or tracking a scent or being able to perform a certain behavior like digging that fulfills an instinct. While training your dog, try to switch rewards to keep things exciting and connect better with your dog.
When dealing with a resilient dog, keeping rewards exciting is not an option, but sometimes, the only solution.
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Get to the root cause
A dog may be acting stubborn due to a variety of reasons. These reasons could include
- their motivation lying elsewhere
- them being highly driven by an instinct
- lack of clarity in terms of training
- them being overly distracted in an environment
- underlying behavioral or medical issue and so on.
Every reason mentioned above needs a different training approach. Without knowing the root cause of your dog’s behavior, training them would be more like shooting in the dark and expecting to hit bull’s eye.
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Work on building trust and effective communication
Dogs are pack animals. Their natural inclination to live in packs and form strong social bonds with other dogs or humans is a part of their survival instinct.
When living in your house, you and your family are your dog’s pack. To co-exist peacefully, your dog needs to be able to trust you and be able to effectively communicate with you. The absence of this could result in them feeling the need to act out in order to draw boundaries.
You can do three things to build an unwavering trust with your dog –
- Respect their boundaries
- Be consistent with training and routine setting
- Respond favorably to their body language communication
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Get professional help
As pet parents, we may often miss out on small nuances such as keenly observing dog body language that make up essential aspects of dog training. A professional behaviorist has the expertise and experience to decode dog body language in a variety of situations and thereby provide deeper insights. Virtual training classes are an excellent starting point to understanding and training your stubborn dog.
The trainer may ask to observe your dog’s behavior and interaction with you to assess their current training level and temperament and create a personalized training plan tailored to your dog’s needs and your goals.
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Start easy
When dealing with a “stubborn” dog, at times, it can be challenging to get them to perform even the simplest of behaviors like Sit or Down. This is because when a dog is fixated or distracted, we have to work with merely 20-30% of their attention.
When you have such a little share of your dog’s attention, you cannot expect them to respond to difficult cues. Start with the easiest of easy cues. If Sit is too difficult, start with a “look.” If your dog refuses to look at you, try luring your dog’s nose in your direction with a treat.
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Don’t try to always get your way
One of the major reasons for frustration in dog training is the dog not complying to the cues given by the trainer/ pet parent. This often leads to micro fights between the handler and the dog in the form of excessive leash tugging, over-correction, yelling, punishing and so on.
This can be corrected with simple expectation setting. When dealing with a strong-willed dog, you have to remember that they have a very powerful internal drive. Trying to go against this tide will only lead to frustration and anger.
Work with your dog and meet them mid way when training them. Eg – if you are dealing with a dog that gets fixated on walks, getting them to walk right next to you throughout the walk is not the right expectation to begin with. Instead, focus on being able to get through to your dog when they have zoned out and practice effective redirection.
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Work on effective generalization
Often you may have noticed that your dog may perform a behavior wonderfully well at home in front of you. But the second he has to replicate that elsewhere; he seems to have forgotten everything. This is due to the inability to generalize the cue.
Generalization in dog training refers to the process of teaching a dog to perform a specific behavior in a variety of different environments and situations. Once your dog reliably performs the behavior in a controlled environment, slowly introduce distractions such as other people, dogs, noises, etc.
4 ways to keep a stubborn dog motivated
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Provide desirable outlets
A dog typically acts stubborn when their needs are unmet. These needs could be an instinctive drive, or an essential need such as huger, thirst, comfort or safety. Once you have made sure that your dog is well fed, hydrated, comfortable and feeling safe in an environment, it is time to figure out outlets for your dog’s instinctive behaviors.
Eg – A Border Collie that is prone to herding smaller dogs and little kids would absolutely enjoy a sport like Treibball that gives them an outlet to herd.
Contrary to popular opinion, providing desirable outlets for your dog’s genetic behaviors does not make the behavior worse. In fact, it discourages the dog to practice these behaviors on undesirable outlets.
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Switch your rewards
Treats make for an amazing training reward. But they neither work for every dog nor do they work in every situation. Observe your dog closely in every situation before deciding the rewards for training in that situation.
Eg – you could use low value treats at home to train simple commands when your dog is already hungry. However, when you’re outdoors, carry high value rewards such as boiled or raw meat to reward your dog.
Switch your rewards depending on the intensity of training, level of distraction and your dog’s preferences.
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Celebrate small wins
Stubborn dogs are highly motivated dogs. The only difference is these motivations do not lie in the rewards we have to offer.
Training a strong-willed dog comes with a lot of frustration and cluelessness. Thus, when you have the smallest of win with your dog when training, make sure to reward it with an open heart.
This will keep things exciting for your dog and will keep you motivated to keep going. Training a stubborn dog is not a destination. It is a journey that must be enjoyed.
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Make training a part of your routine
If you train your dog every day from 9am – 10am, you will get a dog that listens to you only from 9am to 10am and does their own thing throughout the day. Training a dog is nothing but communicating with them effectively and teaching them the right way to behave in a variety of situations. This can only happen when the training is followed up and practiced in different situations.
Make training a part of your daily routine and try to get a few minutes in multiple times a day.