Why Obedience Doesn’t Matter: Dog Behavior Rehabilitation

So your dog can sit, stay, focus-heel, shake, and bark on command? That’s great!

But he still lunges and barks at every dog you pass by on your walk? And can’t stay still for more than 2 minutes? Or she bit you when you told her to get off the couch? But why didn’t the obedience fix or prevent that?!

Here’s what’s wrong with an obedience-focused training program.

The majority of our training clients need help with challenging behavior problems. They may have dogs who are always on edge; anxious and nervous. They may attack other dogs, growl and bark at strangers, jump on guests, or pull their owners on walks.

If we focus solely on flashy obedience and what the dog can do for a treat or toy, we never really address the underlying issue causing these behavior problems. We never really address the dog’s overall state of mind. And so, we never actually change the behavior or “fix” the real problem that clients call us for in the first place! You might end up with a dog who knows a few tricks, but still can’t actually function in public. 

We need to focus on CALM.

We can teach the dog how to be calm in every aspect of life, no matter the amount of excitement going on around them. Sure, we can utilize the obedience to help us get there, but we do not actually need an obedience command to ask for “calm.” 

Calmness is the result of removing the arousal that causes the majority of behavior problems, and we can ask for “calm” over and over again during training.

Now, when we ask our dog to “down” at our feet at the local coffee shop, they are down and CALM. They aren’t scanning the environment and keeping an eye out for other dogs to bark at. They aren’t popping up out of the down anytime they hear a strange sound or a person walks by.

Teach a dog “down” AND remove arousal, and now we have a calm down. 

Calm is the goal!

If you want a calm and well-behaved dog, it just doesn’t come from simply teaching obedience. Focus on the calm!