#227 How To Stop Untraining Your Dog In Daily Life

Ever feel like your dog hears their name and just… doesn’t? We’ve been there, and today we unpack the small everyday habits that quietly teach dogs to tune us out. From name overuse to muddy cues, we show how clarity and consistency turn a distracted dog into a responsive partner without adding more drills or gadgets.

Chapters

• 0:02 Teaching Versus Untraining
• 0:24 The Name As A Signal
• 0:58 Saving Cues For Real Action
• 1:34 Don’t Poison Promises
• 2:17 Consistent Rules, Clearer Training
• 2:46 Key Takeaways For Everyday Training

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

When we train our dogs, we usually think about teaching them something new. Sit, stay, come. But sometimes without realizing it, we confuse or even undo our own training in random everyday interactions. And here's one example. Overusing your dog's name. If I constantly say scooter this, scooter that, scooter here, scooter there, eventually scooter tunes me out. His name stops being a signal to pay attention and becomes background noise. That's why I actually use a lot of nicknames for him when I'm just rambling or talking to him casually. I try to save his real name for when it truly matters, when I need him to focus. And the same thing happens with cues like come. If I say come here, come in the kitchen, come upstairs, it no longer means drop what you're doing and get to me. It just becomes another casual word that they learn to ignore. That's why if I only want to check if scooter wants to come inside, I'll step on the porch and ask him, Would you like to come in? But if I say scooter come, that's a cue and he has to do it, even if he'd rather stay outside. Another way we confuse our dogs is by using cues or promises to trick them. So for example, when it's time for a walk, I'll say, Hey scooter, let's go. And he'll hop up and follow me. But if I started saying, hey scooter, let's go, and when he hopped up, I use that as an opportunity to get him in the bathroom for a bath. Pretty soon, those two words wouldn't mean anything trustworthy. And if I do it too often, he won't know whether let's go means a real walk, a bath, or something else entirely. And that's a fast way to ruin a useful cue. And here's another one: changing our rules without realizing it. So for example, sometimes we let the dog jump up on us when we're wearing play clothes and we're in a good mood. But then we get upset when they try to do the same thing and we're dressed for work. From the dog's perspective, the rule isn't consistent. They don't read our wardrobe. They just know sometimes it's allowed and sometimes it's not. So if you want clearer training, here's the big takeaway. Use your dog's name sparingly or use nicknames. Don't use cues or promises to trick your dog, and try to keep your rules consistent. Your dog will thank you for making their job much easier.