This is something you will hear a lot when training dogs. Only ask the dog once, for a known command, and if they don’t do it, follow through. So, essentially, if I say SIT, and the dog doesn’t sit, it’s either physical placement or a correction that follows. I get the premise behind it. We’d like our dogs, and our kids for that matter, to listen the first time, not the fourth or the tenth time, but this isn’t always the case, and there are often times that certain circumstances don’t always warrant a correction.
Now, I’m not advocating for you to repeat yourself 20 times before your dog listens, that is definitely not beneficial, but hear me out. We need to take a step back and look at why the dog might not be listening right away. Here is an example of what I mean; I was playing around with one of the terriers the other day in the kitchen. I asked him to heel, and he proudly showed me the most perfect down. Whether it was the way I was holding my arm, or the background noise of the stove fan, he most definitely thought I asked him to down. Now if I stuck to the one command only idea, I would have corrected him into a heal without looking at the circumstances, because he knows exactly what heel means. However, that would have been completely unfair and unnecessary. He genuinely believed he was doing what I asked. A correction or physical placement at this point would have dampened his spirit, and he would have decided this is no fun, and he would have left the building. So instead, I laughed, said no silly, and asked him to heel again, which he promptly did.
Here’s the thing. When we don’t look at the bigger picture, the surrounding circumstances or the dogs education level, we fall into the unfair territory when using the one command only theory. We need to determine, number one, does the dog truly understand what we are asking in all circumstances and environments? A down in your living room is very different than a down at the park. Remember, dogs are contextual learners, so before you start demanding that they do things the first time you ask, in different places, with different distractions, make sure you’ve practiced in all sorts contexts so that they are fluent, so that you are being fair and you are actually making sure that the dog really understands what it is that you need them to do. If they don’t understand, you need to help them, not correct them.
If you have kids, you know there are times where you ask for something, and they say yes, but are distracted and quite instantly “forget” you asked them. This happens to dogs too. A distracted dog may need to be asked more than once to do something. I don’t want you repeating it five times, but give them a second shot … sometimes they need it because they didn’t really compute it the first time as their mind was on that distraction. And if you have to repeat yourself a bunch of times, or correct a whole lot, you may need to go back to making sure that you’ve practiced properly in the particular scenario that you are in – does the dog truly understand what is required in this circumstance? If not, take some steps back.
Then there is the example from the second paragraph; did the dog not hear it right, or believed you asked them something completely different. Your body and its positioning play a big role in how your dog responds to you, so if your signals are off, they may not understand. If there is a lot of background noise, they may not have heard you. If they put the effort into the incorrect response, and genuinely believe they did it right, you’d better be darn happy they are applying that much effort. Reset, ask again, or use a non-reward marker (like no, opps) and ask again.
There is nothing wrong with asking twice if needed. It’s not going to kill your dog, your relationship with them or their respect for you. This goes back to me always muttering about dogs don’t need to be perfect. We aren’t, and I truly don’t understand this obsession with absolute perfection on an animal with a mind of its own, it’s own thoughts, feelings and desires. Yes, I want them to behave and do what we ask, but we have to give them some benefit of the doubt. We have to be fair in what we are asking and we have to look at the whole picture, not just the part where you think your dog is being a jerk because he is not listening. When you fail to look at the whole picture, the circumstances, the surroundings, the actual understanding on the dogs part, this is when you damage the relationship and the dogs respect for you.
It’s ok to ask again.
Happy training!
Smart Dogs Canine Training Milton 