LBK9 Dog Training & Vital Bites Wellness Group

Ever catch yourself scrolling and start to watch these dog training videos that pop up with the most random and unnecessary dog commands that people are teaching to their dogs? Seriously, what is an “Emergency Stop” or an “Emergency Recall”? Why are trendy dog trainers calling it a “Sit-Stay” and “Down-Stay”, isn’t it a “Sit” a sit command and “Down” a down command, and your dog shouldn’t move until you release them? What happened to training commands with an implied stay and utilizing a release? It is hard to not laugh out loud when these videos pop up with these trendy useless commands. Why not train your dog to truly understand the commands given, while holding your dog accountable for what you are asking of them?

Dog training is extremely simple, you have to be consistent, use clear and concise communication, follow through, and hold your dog accountable. If you can follow those simple steps you can train a dog.

However, today it seems like everyone wants to try make training complicated, catchy, and go with fads and trends. All they are doing is using marketing strategies to make you think their training is better or different and innovative.  Some of the things we see a lot of are, emergency commands, “Focus” commands, wait vs stay and the complete misuse of the actual command given, as well as “Look At Me” command instead addressing whatever it is the dog is reactive towards. So let’s dive into it and break it all down!

We will start with the emergency commands, whether it be an “Emergency Down/Stop” or “Emergency Recall”. We see people all the time picking a different word to use that they only use in emergencies to get their dog to recall, meaning in those situations they are NOT using the typical “Here” or “Come” to recall. Instead, they are choosing a special word like a color, “Red” for that “Emergency Down/Stop”. Well, if you don’t train for a recall and utilize the command in a correct manner your dog isn’t going to know how to recall properly anyways. A recall is a recall, the reliability is built through consistency in building the command from start to finish while having a clear expectation. Now, you have to hold your dog accountable at all times with the command to ensure it’s going to work. Telling your dog to “Come” and never truly teaching the commands throughly or holding them accountable isn’t going to work regardless if you change the word and or change the title of the command you area teaching. You have to take the guess work out of training for the dog. For example, when teaching a your dog a recall and training them to understand that the only acceptable action is coming to you and sitting in front of you for a recall will help eliminate your dog doing as they please.  If you let the dog determine where they’re going to recall to, meaning next to your side or blow past you and that becomes ok with you, then how can you expect them to come to you when you need it to work? Adding the word “Emergency” to a title of the command isn’t going to fix the dog’s recall training or make the recall anymore reliable, it won’t make your dog more consistent, nor will it make you follow through with training. If you want a recall command to be reliable you have to put in the time, the reps and the work with your dog to achieve that goal.

Now, let’s talk about the “Focus” command and “Look At Me” command when distractions, triggers, or anything else is around that your dog is reacting to. “Focus” a nd “Look At Me” isn’t teaching your dog neutrality and how to work through the distractions and environment at hand, it’s only teaching your dog to avoid something and look at you. If you truly want to train past reactivity or distractions you need to train your dog to have neutrality and to utilize impulse control, so that way they learn to work through the distractions to the point the distractions don’t matter to them anymore.. Again, training isn’t finding the easy way out to avoid a problem so that we feel good about it. Training is finding a true solution, so that the problem doesn’t exist and the dog not only has the confidence and neutrality to work through any situation, but also can utilize impulse control to listen to you to overcome the situation.

Lastly, my favorite the one that you see everywhere, implied commands versus utilizing a “Sit-Stay” or “Down-Stay”. We can’t stress this enough, dog training is simple, why confuse it when it doesn’t have to be. “Sit” is sit and “Down” is down, if you teach a reliable release command, such as “O.K.” or “Free” with every command regardless of the position, then you’ve built implied commands. At this point the dog understands, “I’m in this position until I’m released”. The release command “O.K.” or “Free” in this situation is the main factor and point of focus to where you dog will learn duration of command and hold that command until told otherwise. Now, for the infamous “Sit-Stay” and “Down-Stay”, this method still requires a release command, if you haven’t built a release then your dog will never understand when they can get up from that position and command, and they will break from it and get up on their own. If you find yourself giving a command to your dog then repeating yourself over and over saying “Stay, Stay, Stay…”, then there’s a very good chance your dog is learning the game of you backing up so far while you repeat “Stay” over and over, and then your dog comes running to you after at the same distance every time. If you’re not teaching a release command, then you’re not truly training dog to hold a position and learn duration of a command. Just like anything else it takes time and consistency to build muscle memory and conditioned responses in all dogs.

At the end of the day, don’t fall for great sales pitches, training gimmicks, or promises of results without putting in the work! Training takes time, patience, consistency, follow through, and holding you and your dog accountable. There aren’t any short cuts, you’re creating muscle memory and conditioned responses in an animal. You should always ask yourself can my dog perform a task, whatever that task is just answer “Yes” or “No”, don’t explain it, it’s simple, “Yes” or “No”, If the answer is “Yes”, then great, keep up the good work, if it’s “No”, then push yourself and your dog through proper training so it can become a “Yes.”