Why your dog doesn’t listen to you.
“My dog doesn’t listen to me,” is a phrase dog trainers hear often. In fact, this is often why we are contacted in the first place. In this series I’ll share a few of the reasons why your dog does not listen to you, with my favorite example from each category.
Reason #1: You never trained them to begin with
This is main suspect in most cases of the “but he never listens!” category. Upon further inquiry, I often find that dog was never trained in the first place. The way this seems to happen is the owner has rose colored glasses about a dog from the past the was “perfect” and “just got it” from the start. No, the dog wasn’t “perfect” and didn’t “just get it”. The dog learned somehow what you wanted, and you reinforced it.
The real gem in this category for me is “we expected this other dog to train this on”". This always gets me. Yes, social learning is real, and dogs can pick up on things from one another, but they are not teaching each other to come when called, stay, or walk nicely on leash for that matter. Furthermore, if your dog is reliant on the “teacher dog” being present, it will go out the window when that dog is not present.
Solution: Train the dog
This really should go without saying but, if you expect yourself to play a sport, you’re going to learn about that sport and participate to get better at it, right? The same line of thinking applies to training a dog.
Training is going to take time, practice, patient, and consistency. You cannot skimp on any of these ingredients. If I had to pick just one, I would go with consistency. Get the basics down first, Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.
The best trained dogs I have seen have a solid relationship with their handlers and clarity of task and what is allowed versus not allowed. Keep it fun, engaging, fair and rewarding for your dog to work with you.
You can go the route of group classes, private lessons, or train your own dog. A wealth of resources are available, and not all are created equal or suitable for every team. Sometimes you’re going to need a little extra help, depending on where you are looking to go with your training.
©Kathleen K Godfrey, Comprehensive Canine Training, 11/8/2025