A picture is worth a thousand words! Getting your dog to listen  every where with the right dog training.

When you take your dog to the dog park or even the pet store how many times have you said ” o well he listens at home!”

When we are training our dogs we tend to forget that dog’s don’t transfer commands from one place to another with out being trained and showed how to transfer.

It sounds weird when you think about it because we humans transfer we transfer just fine. So why wouldn’t my dog?

Many times when we are at home, which is where most people train their dogs, we tend to teach in habit. You maybe thinking what is teaching in habit?

Teaching in habit is something like 99% of all people ask their dog to sit first then ask them to lay down.

They almost all the time every time do this same thing. When the dog pulls on the leash you pull it back and then still continue on the path you were going, hence the dog still gets to go where they wanted to go.

So many times we go some place and then we start teaching out of habit, we ask our dog to down while they were standing, or we ask them to sit while they were in a down position. These two commands are two totally different pictures to your dogs.

Building habit in your dog training

Here are the three new pictures you are painting to your dog

1) You are not at home there are more distractions, maybe you are the pet store and your dog smells the other dog that peed on the wall, or the huge buffet of treats, or maybe even the dog barking the aisle over.

2) You have always asked your dog to sit then lay down, now your new picture is while you are standing up I’d like you to lay down. Your dog may look at you with this confused look their face like WHAT!?

3) You suddenly had your dog in a down and now you ask him to sit, this picture just got weird to your dog.

Now in your mind you are thinking my dog is so stubborn he acts fine at home, he listens does everything I ask him, but every time

I take him some where he is like a bratty kid, just no manners.

Fixing your dogs “selective hearing” with dog training that transfers.

Here are a few tips to help you help your dog understand that what you are asking needs to be done in every picture.

The first thing you can do is take your dog to two new pictures every week to help them transfer their skills easier.

The next thing is when you are teaching an old skill in a new picture take a few steps back and revisit your beginning layers.

Here is an example of what I am talking about:

Old picture Down from a Sit… New picture Down from a stand.

The first thing you will want to do is lure your dog in a down from a stand, with out the command, remember you are re teaching your down command. Do this a few times until the dog is going in a down

quickly and with out hesitation.

Next you will want to lure them down again with your hand but no treat. Once they down reward them with a treat. Again do this a few times until your dog is going into a down quickly and without hesitation.

Once they are going in a down take your hand with out a treat and go half way down and add your command. Do this a few times until your dog is going in a down quickly and with out hesitation.

The last step to review is saying their ” command” while in the new picture of “standing.” Now this may take a few attempts just be patient and your dog will figure it out. If they act like they are still confused take a step in your training and re build on a step.

We forget that for every new picture we take our dogs to or ask them to preform a behavior that they are not dumb, stupid or stubborn they really do not know what you want.