How to Confuse Your Dog

In my line of work I see a lot of confused dogs … including my own sometimes!

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How does this happen?
 
In my case, often because I need to sort myself out before I start training my dog. If I get things wrong, Jess has this habit of looking at me like I am a fool (and she has a long nose to look down on me from!). Then she will go off for a sniff while I sort out what I am doing and she will come back and re-engage with me when I have got it right.
 
How clever is that? I think it is amazing, but many people might think she is stubborn or bored.
 
No way. She is a very smart cookie!
 
It would be tempting in those moments to call her back, get her to listen, to focus, get more food out, but honestly it’s me that needs a talking to at that point.

Look at Merryn in the picture above. No confusion, no distractions, just a super focus of getting back to her mum because great things happen when she does. That relationship is everything.
 
Here are the top ways I see people confusing their dogs …  if you are falling into these traps, stop, listen to your dog, and sort yourself out first.

1. Have no plan

If you don’t know what your goal is, how do you expect your dog to know?  Sounds simple, doesn’t it? As I walked off the beach a few days ago I saw someone coming down the steps clearly struggling with some food, an extendable lead, an excitable dog who wanted to charge around. The lead ended up in a dangerous mess … and all she needed was a breath to get a plan in place.
 

2. Double handling

This is one for the couples. On occasion we might have two of you getting involved in the training and it can work really well, but who has the food, crinkles the bag, puts their hand in their pocket, asks for their dog to do something, holds the lead, reinforces the behaviour, hands out the reinforcement? If that is all swapping between the two of you then hey presto, we can have CONFUSION with a dog literally not knowing which way to look. If there are two of you, or more, just be clear to your dog and try not to sabotage the efforts of another member of the family.
 

3. Reinforcing what you don’t want

You don’t want your dog to jump on you, but when your dog comes up to you and jumps up, you give them a  cuddle because you love them with their paws up on your knees. That’s so cute.  However, sometimes you don’t want them to do that. How the heck do they know the difference between snuggles allowed and you wearing your best outfit for a night out and not wanting to get dog hair all over it? There are ways to bring clarity, so let’s not CONFUSE your dog.
 

4. Tighten the lead

In classes I used to call this “The mystery of the levitating hand”. Your dog is chilling out with you, doing what you asked, but your hand has gone up or back with a magical levitation and made the lead tight. Now you are training with a tight lead, how CONFUSING! It happens all the time. It’s often about you feeling safe, and you tighten the lead so your dog can’t launch out. Shorten the lead by all means, but a short and safe lead does not mean a tight lead.
 

5. Have 5 different cues that mean the same thing

I ask what is your recall cue? You say ‘Fido, here,’ and off we go for some practice.  All is fine until we add a bit of pressure … and that can be as simple as me saying hello to your dog.  ‘Here’, ‘come here’, ‘Fido, Fido, FIDO’, he’s not coming so you better get the whistle out and wave your hands in the air like you don’t care.  I think you get the picture.  One clear cue.
 

6. Have 1 cue that means 4 different things (or nothing)

Again, look at that recall cue. What does it mean to your dog? To come back to your vicinity, to come and be close enough to get a lead on, to come in the same direction as you, to run past you? All of these are different and depending on what you want to achieve, may well need different cues. If you want to call your dog back to get a lead on you need them close and still, and if they think it means running in the direction you are going, you are going to struggle. I have a few different coming back / paying attention cues, and they all have different meanings. One clear cue, one clear meaning.
 

7. Just say NO

‘No, No, NO, NOOOOO,’ … I ask you what does that little word mean and often people find that question difficult to answer. Of course we all use the word with our dogs, it’s human nature and it would be foolish to suggest otherwise, but I have ALWAYS been able to suggest a better solution than using the word NO, something that helps you and your dog understand what is expected of them.

 
8. Chop and change between different methods

It’s normal to want to google and investigate all the methods on YouTube, and then try one, that ‘doesn’t work’, so we try something else, then something else, never really getting to grips with any of the methods and CONFUSING our dogs and hopefully doing no harm.  If day you are all food and praise, and the next NO and turning our backs, what does that do to our relationship with our dog? This is where working with a professional can help. We curate all those methods, throw away the ones that we feel will do harm and give you the best solution for YOU and YOUR DOG.

There you go, ways to confuse your dog, and a few tips on how to help NOT confuse your dog.

The main takeaway from me is if you find yourself falling into any of these traps, sort out what is going on at your end of the lead first, and your dog will most likely join in when you get it right!

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