What Does the “No” Command Mean?
Seriously, what does “no” mean? It could mean:
“No” has multiple meanings, so when telling your dog “no,” what are you asking your dog to do? It gets confusing, especially for the dog. Basically, telling a dog to stop doing something is the most common reason pet owners say “no.” Here’s the tricky part though: if your dog stops doing a behavior (i.e. barking, jumping, pulling, or growling), what do you want your dog to do instead? Before you answer, let’s visit this scenario from a human perspective.
Let’s say you and your husband go out to dinner. As you’re driving down the road, you notice that your husband is speeding. The moment you notice he’s speeding, you tell her “no.” In this situation, what are you asking her to do? “No” could mean take your hands off the wheel, close your eyes, turn around, look at you, stop the car or go faster. The word “no” provides little information. Instead, say “please slow down” and your husband will lift his foot off the accelerator.
“BUT HE KNOWS WHAT HE’S SUPPOSED TO DO!”
Its one of the most common phrases dog trainers hear.
“He knows he needs to sit when I stop.” “He knows hes not supposed to jump on people.” “He knows his name.” “He passed XYZ Training Course, so he knows what do to.”
This blog is going to be focused on the broader reasons why a good trainer asks “But does he really know?” We wont be focusing on fixing any specific behavior or training problems- the goal is that you look at your training system and see a hole we hopefully fill today!
One of the first things that stands out when evaluating a problem of “he doesnt listen” is whether or not the dog ever properly learned the verbal cue.
Dogs dont speak our language, but they are incredibly adept at reading and interpreting body language and following physical prompts. Because of the language barrier, if your dog is not paying attention when you add your verbal cue “sit” because you are also gesturing the sit motion at the same time, you may think your dog knows the word “sit” when they have actually never paid attention to it the entire time youve been training it.
Overshadowing can occur during any physical prompt, including, but not limited to: luring, leash pressure, and e-collar stimulation. So, next time your dog is sitting in front of you, cocking their head to the side trying to interpret a foreign language, and youre getting frustrated that they wont just lay down when you say down, I challenge you to reintroduce the verbal cue, this time keeping in mind the concept of overshadowing! I have a feeling you will like what you see!
Generalized behaviors are behaviors that the dog is fluent in and can perform, when prompted, in any reasonable scenario. Generalization allows your dog the ability to learn effective decision-making skills throughout a series of increasingly more complex scenarios. Generalization is the learning skill necessary to perform any behavior anywhere at any time without coercion or bribery. It is the key to behavior fluency, an important factor in behavior confidence, and something that takes time and practice.
Its easy to spot a dog whose behavior has not been generalized- you will see their handlers physically maneuver them into a position, apply nagging aversives, or shove food in the dogs face in a vain attempt to bribe the dog into compliance. The latter results in a dog who learns to ignore you and your attempts at engagement, and the former results in unfair punishment.
To avoid these pitfalls, we must consider three of the main factors of learning generalization:
Dogs are not born knowing everything about being dogs, let alone living in a human world. It is critical that when we design training plans that we keep in mind the age of the dog in question. Generalization, by its very nature, must take place over a period of time. We cannot expect a 4 month old puppy to have the same experiences as a 4 year old dog, and we cannot always expose young dogs to the same experiences as older dogs due to their physical and psychological development. Learning takes time- puppies are not just small dogs. Give puppies the time they need to learn and grow and experience- allow generalization to occur naturally and at the speed at which the puppy is comfortable. At the same time, acknowledge that mature dogs may have varied histories with certain stimuli or environments and their path to generalization in those respects may vary greatly than if you were newly introducing a puppy.
A sit in the living room is different than a sit in the kitchen is different than a sit in the backyard is different than a sit in the front yard. A sit on the floor is different than a sit on the couch. A sit in an obedience class is different than a sit at an obedience trial.
A dog doing agility in your backyard is different than doing agility in a competitive ring. A dog playing flyball in your training building is different than playing at a tournament. A dog catching a disc in the park is different than catching a disc on a trial field.
Dogs learn contextually- everything around them plays a part in their learning process. Through generalization, you open up the context of the behavior to infinity. This can only be done with time and careful consideration to the context under which the dog is learning the behavior. If your dog is doing something fine somewhere and cannot seem to understand how to do it somewhere else, consider that you have not shown the dog that picture, it does not understand the behavior in context, and that you should show the dog the behavior in context in a controlled, fair manner.
The way a dog feels about something (your emotions, the environment, a specific person, a noise, etc.) can directly affect the dogs ability to perform a behavior. The veterinarians office is the easiest example of this. If a dog is fearful in a situation, you may notice they lack compliance of many behaviors they “should know”. Does your dog easily stand for exam in an obedience ring but flail wildly when actually examined by the vet? Can your dog hold a 10 minute sit stay or an honor down but is barely keeping its butt on the ground as it trembles in the waiting room? Is your dog an angel on leash on the street but straining on the end to flee the hospital as soon as it enters?
These behaviors are not disobedience, as many may believe. These behaviors, this lack of compliance, is due to adrenaline, fear, and a shift in what is and is not aversive or reinforcing in the given situation.
We see emotion creep into many behaviors that have not been fully generalized on an emotional level- an IPO dog who will not out in a trial but will in training, a setter who busts game at a field trial but sets fine in training, an agility dog who cannot hold its start line stay in agility but does so in practice. Even positive, happy emotions (bite the guy, get the bird, jump the bar) can lead to working disaster if you have not fully generalized the behavior among all emotional states.
Using “Good Boy” as the marker word.
A marker word is the word we use to tell the dog they did something good. The problem with ‘good boy’ is that we use it all the time. The marker word is a promise. When I say this word, it means what you just did was correct, and you get a reward. If you say it without rewarding. You are breaking the promise of the marker word. We say good boy without rewarding the dog all the time. Usually for something mundane as looking cute. A better word is “YES”.
YOUR DOG WON’T LISTEN BECAUSE OF THIS!
When your dog won’t listen to your commands, it can be frustrating — and it can also be dangerous. After all, this kind of communication can help keep your dog out of trouble, preventing him from running out into a busy street or eating something he shouldn’t. It can also help keep you sane by helping you manage problem behaviors.
But it’s not always easy to get to the root of the problem. So where do you start if your dog doesn’t obey — either in specific situations or all of the time? Here are a few problems you may be encountering.