The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training

#91 NO is not a verb

Personable Pets Dog Training Season 2 Episode 91

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The problem with NO?  It doesn't tell your dog what to do.

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When you think about it, when we train our dogs, the cues that we train—sit, down, place—they're all verbs. They tell our dogs what to do.

And this is why I'm not a huge fan of using the word no with my dog. No is not a verb. It doesn't tell our dogs what to do.

I much prefer to use the word leave it. Leave it has the definition: back away and move on.

So keep that in mind—if we ever just yell no at our dog, we're not training them, we're not communicating with them. We're probably just trying to scare them out of the current situation.

And I would bet that anytime you use the word no, leave it would be a more appropriate response—because it tells your dog what to do and how to get it right.