Common Dog Training Mistakes — And What to Do Instead
If you're training your dog and feel like you're doing everything right but getting inconsistent results, take a look at the human end of the leash.
I don't say that to beat up the pet parent. Trainers make these mistakes too. I still catch myself doing things I would immediately point out if I were watching somebody else handle their dog.
Dog training is communication, timing, repetition and consistency, and humans are remarkably good at making all four more complicated than they need to be.
Sometimes we use too many words. Sometimes we repeat ourselves until the cue becomes meaningless. Sometimes we change the rules depending on our mood. Sometimes we practice something twice in the living room and then expect the dog to perform it perfectly beside another dog, at the front door, or in the middle of a busy sidewalk.
And sometimes we're simply waiting for magic to happen.
If your dog's training feels stuck, don't immediately assume your dog is stubborn, dominant, stupid or untrainable. First ask whether your communication and follow-through are as clear as you think they are.
1. You're Talking Too Much
Humans love sentences.
“Buddy, come on now, I told you to sit. Sit down. Come over here. Buddy. No. Sit. You know this.”
Somewhere inside that paragraph is probably a cue the dog actually knows.
I prefer a much cleaner communication system. One word or short cue for the behavior, a clear marker when the dog gets it right, a clear marker when necessary if the dog gets it wrong, and a release word that tells the dog when the exercise is finished.
Hand signals can be very useful too. Dogs pay enormous attention to our movement, posture and body language, whether we intentionally trained those signals or not. If your mouth says Sit while your body is leaning, pointing, stepping or doing something completely different every repetition, your dog is receiving more information than the word alone.
So clean yourself up.
- Use one consistent verbal cue.
- Use the same hand signal when you include one.
- Mark correct behavior clearly.
- Use a consistent release word.
- Stop filling the silence with extra words the dog doesn't need.
2. Your Words and Tone Mean Something Different Every Time
Consistency isn't only about which word you use. Your tone and energy are part of the communication too.
Maybe “No” is neutral the first three times, irritated the fourth time and shouted across the house the fifth time. Maybe “Good” sometimes means calm acknowledgement and other times sounds like you just won the lottery, causing your already overexcited dog to explode out of the behavior you were trying to reward.
Or maybe everything you say sounds exactly the same.
Your markers should be recognizable and useful without becoming emotionally loaded. I often use a calm, clear error marker such as No or Nope, a positive Good when the dog gets something right, and a release such as Okay, Free or Break.
The actual words matter far less than whether the dog can reliably understand what they predict.
3. You're Repeating Cues Instead of Following Through
This is one of the biggest human habits I want pet parents to notice.
Come. Come. COME. Come here. Buddy, come!
Or:
Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit down.
Or the one we just talked about in the barking article:
Enough! Enough! ENOUGH!
If you routinely say a cue five times before anything happens, you may inadvertently teach the dog that the first four don't require a response.
Say the cue once when you are in a position to follow through.
If the dog is still learning, help him complete the behavior. That may mean using the leash, changing your position, reducing the distraction or otherwise making the answer clearer.
If you say Enough while your dog is barking out the window and he ignores you, get up. If you call your dog and you know his recall is not reliable yet, use the long line. If you ask for Place and he steps off, calmly put him back.
Your cue gets stronger because it consistently predicts something, not because you eventually say it loud enough.
4. You're Bringing Too Much Emotion Into the Training
This was in my original list, and I still think it belongs here.
You may be frustrated because yesterday's walk was terrible. You may already be tense because you can see another dog coming. You may be embarrassed because someone is watching you. You may still be carrying the story of what happened to your rescue dog before he came to you, or you may be so worried about upsetting him that you become hesitant about giving him any clear expectation at all.
None of those emotions make you a bad dog parent. They can, however, change how you handle the dog.
You tighten the leash earlier. Your body stiffens. Your timing gets worse. You get louder. Or you stop following through because you're afraid the dog will think you're mean.
Train the dog who is standing in front of you today.
You can absolutely respect history, trauma, fear and personality without continually telling the dog that the past is still happening.
And if you're angry or truly frustrated, stop. Go do something else and train later. I don't need you trying to prove a point to your dog while you're mad.
5. You're Waiting for Magic Instead of Teaching
This happens in two different ways.
The first is behavioral: the dog barks at the fence, guards something, lunges on leash, jumps on visitors or becomes increasingly difficult around another dog, and everybody waits to see if age, time or good intentions make the problem disappear.
Sometimes behavior changes with maturity. Sometimes it gets considerably more rehearsed.
The second version happens during actual training. You give a cue the dog does not understand, then stand there snapping your fingers, staring at him or repeating the word while hoping the correct behavior suddenly occurs to him.
If the dog doesn't understand, teach.
Show him the exercise. Break it down. Use the leash when appropriate. Reduce the difficulty. Reward the part he gets right. Build from there.
Training is not waiting to discover whether the dog guesses correctly.
6. You're Inconsistent
If you've been reading through the recent K9 Coach how-to articles, you may notice this word showing up a lot.
There is a reason.
Your dog cannot easily learn that jumping doesn't work if three visitors still pet him while he's standing on their chest. He won't learn that Enough means stop barking if you only follow through when you're already annoyed. He won't learn that pulling doesn't get him to the pee-mail if some days you stop and other days you let him tow you to the bush because you're in a hurry.
And household inconsistency can be enormous.
Mom requires Wait at the door. Dad lets the dog blast through. One person feeds from the table. Another person gets angry about begging. One person allows jumping because “I don't mind,” while another person is actively trying to teach four on the floor.
Your dog is probably not confused about everything.
He may simply have learned which rules apply to which human.
If a behavior is non-negotiable, make it non-negotiable. Otherwise be honest that it is merely a preference you enforce sometimes.
7. You're Letting the Dog Practice the Problem When You're Not Training
This one is huge.
You cannot work on window barking for twenty minutes and then leave the blinds open so the dog can bark at pedestrians for six hours while you're gone.
You cannot teach loose-leash walking in the driveway and then allow the dog to drag you three miles around the neighborhood every evening.
You cannot work on fence manners while you're outside and then leave the dog unattended in the yard all afternoon running the fence line.
You cannot teach the puppy that human skin is not a chew toy while everybody else spends the evening wrestling with him using their hands.
Repetition works in both directions.
The repetitions you didn't intend to teach still count.
If you are not available to follow through, manage the environment so the dog cannot endlessly rehearse the behavior you are trying to eliminate.
- Use the leash or supervised long line.
- Close the blinds while you're gone.
- Block access to a problem area.
- Use the crate, gate or another safe confinement option when appropriate.
- Stop taking the pulling dog on the exact walk where he practices dragging you.
- Supervise outdoor behavior until the yard rules are actually learned.
Management is not cheating. It protects the training.
8. You're Making It Too Hard Too Fast
Your dog learns Sit in the kitchen.
Great.
Then Saturday morning you take him to a farmers market full of dogs, children, food, music, golf carts and strangers and discover that apparently he has never heard the word Sit in his life.
He probably hasn't forgotten.
You changed the difficulty dramatically.
This is why I talk about the 3Ds: Duration, Distance and Distraction.
Build them gradually.
If the dog can hold a behavior for five seconds, work toward ten before demanding thirty minutes. If your reactive dog can work thoughtfully fifty feet from another dog, don't drag him to fifteen feet because you think getting closer means you're making progress. If your puppy can Wait while you lower the food bowl, don't assume he can automatically Wait beside an open front door while a squirrel runs through the yard.
Make one piece harder at a time whenever possible.
Practice before you test.
9. You're Confusing Obedience With State of Mind
This becomes especially important when we're dealing with fear, anxiety, reactivity and aggression.
A dog can technically be obedient and still be mentally falling apart.
Your reactive dog may be holding Sit while rigid, staring at another dog, mouth closed, body loaded forward and barely containing an explosion.
Yes, the dog's butt is on the ground.
No, I don't consider the behavioral problem resolved.
Training skills are useful because they give us communication. I want Recall, Place, Sit, Down, Wait, loose-leash movement, the about-face and other tools available when I need them.
But I also care whether the dog can observe, process, disengage and recover.
Don't become so impressed by obedience that you stop looking at the dog performing it.
10. You're Training a Method Instead of Training the Dog in Front of You
Dogs are individuals.
The dog who thinks everything is a party may need more help learning restraint and impulse control. The cautious dog may need a slower progression and more time to process. The highly aroused dog may perform worse when you make every reward a giant celebration. The softer dog may need you to be very aware of pressure and recovery.
That does not mean we abandon consistency and change the rules for every mood the dog experiences. It means the way we teach, motivate, challenge and progress the dog should make sense for that individual.
I don't need every dog trained with exactly the same emotional volume, speed, reinforcement or pressure.
I need the dog understanding the lesson.
Watch what is happening rather than becoming married to one method simply because someone told you it is the only correct way to train a dog.
Bonus Mistake: You Think Training Only Happens During “Training Time”
You can schedule ten-minute training sessions, and I absolutely like focused practice. But your dog is learning from you all day long.
The food bowl is training.
The front door is training.
Putting the leash on is training.
Walking past another dog is training.
Greeting visitors is training.
Coming out of the crate is training.
Waiting while you make dinner is training.
Getting off the couch when asked is training.
Hearing a noise in the hallway and deciding not to bark is training.
Everyday life gives you hundreds of small opportunities to reinforce the behavior you want without turning your house into a twenty-four-hour obedience school.
Use them.
Video Yourself
This suggestion was in my original article, and I still love it.
Set your phone up and record yourself training your dog for five or ten minutes.
Then watch the human.
How many times did you repeat the cue?
Did you give the dog time to answer?
Did your leash stay tight the entire exercise?
Were you leaning over the dog?
Did your hand signal change every repetition?
Did you say Good when the dog actually performed the behavior, or five seconds later?
Did you accidentally release the dog every time you delivered a treat?
Did your voice get progressively louder as you became frustrated?
Did you correct an error but forget to tell the dog when he finally got it right?
You will see things on video that you swear you weren't doing.
I know because trainers do too.
Your Dog Needs to Know When He's Right
Pet parents sometimes become so focused on stopping mistakes that the dog hears a whole lot about what is wrong and not nearly enough about what is correct.
Mark the good stuff.
Your dog disengaged from the window when you said Enough? Good.
He made the about-face with you before fixating on another dog? Good.
The puppy kept four feet on the floor while someone approached? Good.
Your dog paused at the open door instead of blasting through it? Good.
Clear feedback helps dogs learn faster because they aren't simply being told which answers failed. They also know which answer worked.
And Don't Forget the Release
This is one of those little pieces that cleans up a surprising amount of training.
If Sit means Sit until something else happens, your dog needs to know what ends Sit.
If Wait means pause until permission is given, the dog needs to know the permission word.
If Place means remain on the defined area, there should be a clear release from Place.
Your release might be Okay, Free, Break or something else entirely.
The word isn't magic.
The consistency is.
If Training Is Getting Worse Instead of Better, Look Deeper
There is another side to this conversation that does not fit neatly into a list of training mistakes.
If a dog who previously learned well suddenly becomes reluctant to move, snaps during handling, stops tolerating something they previously enjoyed, becomes dramatically more reactive, cannot settle, seems unusually tired or begins behaving differently without an obvious training explanation, I do not automatically assume the solution is more obedience.
Dogs have bodies attached to their behavior.
Pain, discomfort, poor sleep, digestive problems, itching, medication effects, hormonal changes and other physical stressors can affect what a dog is capable of giving you on any particular day.
Training is important.
Knowing when the problem may not be purely training is important too.
Aggression Is Not the Place to Experiment Until Something Works
If the behavior includes a bite history, serious threats, redirected biting, aggression toward household dogs, unsafe behavior around children or a dog you cannot physically control, mistakes can have consequences far beyond slow training progress.
Use management while you work on the problem. Gates, crates, leashes, muzzles, closed doors and other safety measures are not signs that training failed. They keep people and dogs safe while you determine what the behavior requires.
If somebody could be bitten when the training goes wrong, treat the risk accordingly.
The Fix Is Usually More Clarity, Not More Words
When training starts getting messy, simplify.
- Use clear cues.
- Say them once.
- Follow through.
- Tell the dog when he gets it right.
- Use a clear release.
- Stop allowing endless rehearsal of the behavior you're trying to change.
- Build Duration, Distance and Distraction gradually.
- Keep the household rules consistent.
- Pay attention to the dog's state of mind, not merely his body position.
- Adjust the training to the dog in front of you.
You don't have to do everything exactly the way I do it.
But whatever communication system you choose needs to be understandable to your dog and consistent enough that he can rely on it.
Your dog is learning every day whether you intentionally scheduled a training session or not. Be clear about what works, follow through on what you ask, reward the right answer, and stop giving the wrong behavior hundreds of opportunities to keep paying off.
You Aren’t Using Hand Signals. Did you you know dogs actually learn hand signals before they learn our words. This is why it’s not really hard to train a deaf dog.
Your Tone Of Voice Varies. You may be getting loud when you’re frustrated with progress or your dog’s misbehavior. And you may be way to excited and arousing to your dog when he does something good. Or you just might be boring and not motivating to your dog at all. Create a clear but neutral marker for errors (nope) and a clear but upbeat marker for job well done. (GooOD!) If you’re struggling with your verbal markers — consider the clicker, especially for puppies or when you are not using an ecollar for training
You Are Too Emotional. You’re still telling yourself a sad story about your dog’s rescue. Let it go and move forward wherever things are today. Maybe you are nervous about someone watching you or you are reliving the last 100 really bad experiences of leash reactivity, or you’re too worried you’re going to hurt his little feelings– even if he’s willing to bite your neighbors. Come at training with a confident purpose of making things better and leave the emotional roller coaster at the gate. If you’re upset or frustrated with things — take a break and train at a later time.
You Are Waiting On Magic To Happen. This comes in 2 forms. 1) For behavioral issues, you are hoping that the issue will go away on it’s own or at least not get any worse. 2) When training a new skill, you stand there looking at the dog, snapping your fingers, repeating yourself hoping he’s going to figure out what you want.
You Are Inconsistent. He gets away with things sometimes but not others. If you can’t be there to follow-up on errors he’s making, take actions to prevent them. Don’t let him practice bad behavior unsupervised. You may even have inconsistent language (your choice of words, snapping your fingers, volume, etc). You may have inconsistent actions & consequences — sometimes he’s corrected with leash, sometimes not, sometimes he’s removed, or crated, etc. You may even have different behavior and expectations between family members. Consistency is critical to success — otherwise the dog is just confused.
Now that you’re aware of these common dog training mistakes, you can fix them pretty easily. It’s not necessarily about doing things exactly the way I do them. It’s just important that you do things consistently well, in a way that works for you and your dog.
Our blog and videos can help you get started. But if you need more 1:1 help, we have options to support you.
Get out there and get training!
5 More Common Dog Training Mistakes
Adapted from my training @ National K9 2012 -- but oh so true!