The reasons your dog may not be listening might be medical in nature, but most often, if your dog will not come to you or ignores you completely, it is because of a training or a behavioral issue. Once you feel you have ruled out potential illness, training and conditioning your dog will improve his recall ability.
Dogs may resort to calming signals when they don't know how to respond to your cues. This is a common way for dogs to communicate between one another to keep the peace. They yawn, sniff the ground, and avoid eye contact as though to say, “I'm trying not to do anything to make you mad at me. I come in peace”.
Distractions are another common reason why your dog may ignore you. Dogs have a cognitive ability to get distracted easily, especially when more exciting things are happening around them.
Dog language is visual. They communicate volumes with their posture, their tails, their eyes, and their ears. For this reason, their first instinct when trying to figure out what we want is to watch us; not to listen to us. Our constant talking is just noise to them.
A sudden change in his surroundings could cause him to suddenly avoid you or even make him depressed. Did you move, introduce a new person or pet, or make drastic changes to your home? Just the presence of strange noises can cause anxiety in some dogs.
The reasons for this are numerous, ranging from just an age related phase, not adequate training, fear, or just simple distraction issues. The first step a frustrated owner should take is to try to assess WHY their dog is not taking a command, as the solution differs for each reason.
He Walks Away While You're Talking
If you're like us, you may tend to over-talk things with our dogs. We explain the 'whys' at length. Dogs don't need that type of talk. They do not get it, and they may get annoyed and walk away.
Science proves that dogs understand the emotional aspect associated with the insult based on tone, and body language, not necessarily the insult itself.
5 reasons why your dog may be distant from you. Boredom, pain, aging and stress can all cause a dog to act distant from you. Understanding them can help you find the underlying cause as to why they're acting distant, and show you how to get them to engage with you again. Look at you, being a dog psychologist.
A dog's body language is very telling, so if the animal begins to stiffen up they may be in the presence of someone or something they don't like. Sueda told Insider that, in some cases, "they may stiffen and stare at a person they perceive as threatening."
When comfortable, dogs are more likely to interact with unfamiliar people.” While it's strange to think that your best friend could actually prefer a new person, animal experts said this shameless display of behavior is not a surprise at all.
When done correctly and when combined with proactive training, ignoring unwanted behavior can work. However, the time it takes depends on your dog's reinforcement history and their own personal enjoyment of the behavior. For some dogs, they get through an extinction burst quickly, while others can take quite a while.
Does ignoring your dog make them sad? Based on my first hand experience as a dog owner, I can safely say that the answer is yes. Dogs can absolutely sense when their owners are too busy to pay attention to them when they are around.
It's possible your pup is picking up on your own bad mood and it's causing them stress. It could also be something innocuous, like the smell of your perfume or hair product. Or, if you've been playing with them or teasing them, they might be frustrated or overstimulated and need space to calm down.
There is nothing wrong with using the word “no” properly when training your dog. “No” should be said calmly and should mean, “That is not a behavior that I want.” “No” can also be a “no reward marker.” It can just mean that the dog will not get a reward for that behavior.
Use high value rewards, like boiled chicken, sausage or cheese cut up into tiny pieces. This food is quite unusual and a special treat for the dog, so they will be very eager to learn and give you their attention. Even if your dog already knows their name, it's important to start simple and progress from the beginning.
Methods such as alpha rolls and physical corrections (via the leash and a choke chain or by smacking the dog on the nose or by shaking their scruffs) were often recommended as a way for humans to establish dominance over their dogs.
You need an incentive to encourage your dog to come back - a really tasty treat or a fun game with a toy. Show your dog the toy or food. Run away a couple of paces then call your dog's name and say "come" in a friendly, exciting tone - getting down low can also encourage them to come back.
Any changes in routine, even small ones, may be reason for your dog to act disinterested in you. It's also important to make sure that you're respecting your dog's personality and not just assuming, "I guess my dog doesn't like me," when really his personality is different than your expectations.