Reason #4: You have rewarded the wrong behavior
Again, dogs are simple in terms of understanding what works versus what doesn’t work. This is a personal favorite of mine - it just makes me laugh in my mind as I watch dogs in the world. “I just don’t know what he does this,” exclaims the exasperated dog owner. Usually, it’s because you’ve somehow reinforced the wrong behavior.
I did this today with Heidi the Rottweiler high stepping in the underwater treadmill rather than walking normally. It was her first time in the treadmill so I was paying her well and often until I realized about every 3-4 steps she’d do a high step with a big splash. We do not want high stepping in the underwater treadmill!
I needed to fix it immediately, so payment was then denied with a negative verbal marker anytime a high step happened. Note, high-stepping is not helpful in the physical therapy we are pursuing with underwater treadmill! So, only normal steps were rewarded.
This situation reminded how quickly some dogs make connections as to what is being rewarded. Heidi thought high stepping was getting a reward, but then learned that only normal steps were rewarded. What do you know, there was a dramatic decrease in the high stepping when it was not longer rewarded. I do believe the negative verbal marker helped as well.
A very common example of this would be the puppy or young dog that goes absolutely crazy to interact with dogs and humans and the handler is like a rag doll at the end of the leash encouraging them to “say hi”, only later down the road to complain about how rowdy the dog is and how they “never listen” when around other dogs or people.
Well, the dog has learned that wild, crazy behavior gets them access to other dogs and people. The dog has learned, “I see other dogs or people, go nuts, and then get to greet them”… which is the opposite of what you should be teaching and rewarding. Greetings can be very rewarding for dogs, so be sure the behavior leading up to it is behavior that you like.
Take a moment to look at what behaviors you are reinforcing with the dog that “doesn’t listen”. It is highly likely you have reinforced the very things you do not like.
©Kathleen K Godfrey, 11/8/2025