There Is A Difference Between An Obedient Dog And A ‘Not Disobedient’ Dog

Obedient Dog vs. Not Disobedient

Okay, I know when you first read the title of this post it may seem a bit confusing. ‘Obedient’ and ‘Not Disobedient’ basically sound like the same thing, right? I maintain that, no, they are entirely different.

The difference that I’ve seen in these two descriptors can mean the difference between aggression problems and no aggression issues at all. A destructive dog and a dog who is safe to leave home alone. A dog that runs into traffic and a dog that stays by your side.

What Is An Obedient Dog?

Let me get a bit deeper into my meaning.

Throughout my career I’ve met hundreds of dogs who are, overall, good dogs. They don’t typically chew things, they don’t typically get in fights or act aggressively. People meet these kinds of dogs and generally comment on how nice, friendly, and well mannered they are.

Out of these dogs, though, I’ve met many that, with little change in their life, have developed aggression issues, destruction issues, and overall manners issues.

You see, there are many dogs that just aren’t prone to doing that much wrong. They are calm dogs, perhaps house trained easily, and are generally more laid back. As a result, their owners didn’t take much time or put in too much effort into formally and properly training these dogs.

What that means is that a lot of these dogs don’t really have much of a foundation in learning, discipline, cause and effect, etc. Many dogs can go their whole lives and, because they don’t create too many problems, can essentially hover beneath the radar when it comes to their need for training.

The Hidden Danger In A ‘Not Disobedient’ Dog

I refer to these dogs that don’t have much training, but don’t do too many things wrong, as ‘not disobedient’ dogs. If you asked this dog to sit and stay for 5 minutes he probably wouldn’t. If you asked this dog to come when there were heavy distractions she most likely wouldn’t return. If you wanted this dog to heel off leash it likely isn’t going to happen.

Based on those standards you can’t really call them ‘obedient dogs’ but because they are overall good dogs you can call them generally ‘not disobedient’ dogs.

Like I say, many of these dogs can go a lifetime and not cause heartburn for their owners.

Where I’ve met MANY of these dogs, though, is when there is a change in the dog’s life. I’ve met many of these dogs when a new dog is introduced to the home. The primary dog has generally got on well with dogs during his life but suddenly doesn’t like the change of a new dog and turns to aggression.

I’ve met many of these dogs when a life event occurs like a divorce, child being born, or the family moving to a new home. In the face of change the dog turns to destruction, house training problems, or other anxiety related behaviors.

You see, these dogs didn’t have much of a foundation in structure to begin with. When there is a change, big or small, the dog has nothing to fall back on. The dog and owner likely have a good relationship but it also likely isn’t rooted in solid leader/follower protocols.

In the absence of this even small changes can send a dog into a tail spin. That’s why we always recommend solid obedience training to all dog owners, whether their dog is a holy terror or simply a ‘not disobedient’ dog.

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What The Amish Can Teach Us About Dog Training

Dog Training & The Amish

I was recently watching a show on television. The show was about a group of Amish and Mennonite youth who left their homes in rural, small town America and went to live in the Big Apple. The show was chronicling what their lives were like once they got so much freedom. Freedom from rules, freedom from supervision, etc. The whole point of the show was to marvel at cultural differences and to study the characters of those who are raised in one setting and then dropped in another.

The show reminded me of another show that I once saw about Amish Rumspringa. Rumspringa is a time when many Amish youth leave their homes and some of them become very rebellious and wild and depart from the values they learned growing up.

You may be wondering what, on earth, this has to do with dog training.

First off, let me start out by saying that I have no opinion on the Amish faith. My comments here are not directed towards their doctrine, their beliefs, or their ideals. What I want to comment on, however, is what I call ‘Canine Rumspringa’.

You see, many people understand the value of supervision when it comes to their young puppies. They get this 8 week old bundle of trouble and they set out on a program of supervision, care, and training.

Dog Training- ‘Canine Rumspringa’

Unfortunately, though, many of these same dog owners find that it is difficult. In my company we get many new clients when the dogs are six months old to a year. At this time these dogs are on their ‘Canine Rumspringa’. The dog owners, once diligent with training and supervision, have essentially stopped and now they find their dogs rebellious, insolent, disobedient, and worse….just like many of the Amish teenagers who leave a sheltered life for the first time.

Now, I don’t pretend to know how to raise an Amish teenager. Is it a good idea to raise a child with structure and rules only to abandon those rules in one fell swoop? I doubt it, but it’s not my culture so I’m not going to judge.

I will tell you this, though, with 100% certainty. Dog owners who give their dogs too much freedom too quickly will almost always regret it.

Dog Training- Too Much Freedom

When I talk about too much freedom too quickly what I refer to are actions like:

- Allowing a puppy free reign of the house when the puppy isn’t fully house trained or doesn’t have complete understanding of what is okay to chew and what isn’t.

- Taking a dog off leash in the front yard, park, dog park, or trail without having first off-leash trained the dog.

- Leaving a young dog in the back yard all day while the owners are gone at work.

- Allowing a young dog the freedom to play with children or other dogs without supervision.

These types of activities, amongst others, tend to lead to dogs with aggression issues, house training problems, destruction, obedience deficiencies, and more.

Raising and training a dog is all about going one step at a time. A dog masters one thing and you move on to the next. Too much freedom too quickly and you end up with a rebellious, disobedient dog. Proper dog training requires a plan that you stick with long term.

Filed Under: Behavior Problems, Obedience Training Tagged With: , , , ,

How To Train A Dog To Use A Bell To Go Outside

How To Train A Dog To Use A Bell To Go Outside

How To Train A Dog To Use A Bell To Go Outside

Many of my clients come to me asking how to train a dog to use a bell to go outside. The title of this post is actually quite misleading.

I’m not going to teach you how to train this skill. The reason why is that it is a bad idea.

During my career I’ve met hundreds of dog owners who have trained their dog to use a bell when they need to go potty. In a large majority of those cases the dogs in question had learned how to ‘game the system’.

What I mean by that is the dog had learned to ring the bell….whenever he felt like it. He may or may not need to go to the bathroom. His bladder may or may not be just about ready to burst. Perhaps he just wanted to go outside to chase butterflies, bask in the sun, or run around barking at neighbors.

What I’m getting at is when you know how to train a dog to use a bell to go outside you’ll often find that the dog is abusing the privilege by ringing the bell 50 times a day! Now you are at the beck and call of your dog. It doesn’t matter if you are taking a shower on the other side of the house, relaxing by reading a book, or otherwise engaged….if your dog rings that bell then you’ve got to get up and go attend to the needs of your dog.

When you got your cute little puppy did you ever imagine that you’d end up being a butler to your dog? That is what happens when you use this bell system.

My advice is to avoid this training altogether.

How To Train A Dog To Use A Bell To Go Outside- Alternatives

So the question that often comes up with my clients is, “Well, if we’re not going to learn how to train a dog to use a bell to go outside…then what are we going to do?” The answer is simple, train the dog to hold it.

With my clients I’m constantly preaching a very simply concept of ‘who is controlling the outcome?’ What I mean by that is when you look at various behaviors that your dog does, trained or not, who is controlling the outcome? If your dog is controlling the outcome then HE is the one doing the training. If YOU are the one controlling the outcome, then YOU are the one doing the training.

In the case of bell training, your dog is controlling the outcome. She is the one at the back door ringing that bell and she is the one training and controlling you. I don’t like that. I don’t like putting myself in a position where the dog is telling me what to do and when to do it.

When I’m house training a young puppy or older dog I’ll keep the dog on a leash so that he or she can’t sneak away. Then I’ll simply take the dog out at regular enough intervals so that the dog learns to hold it and go out on my terms. It’s as simple as that.

How To Train A Dog To Use A Bell To Go Outside- Other Areas To Avoid

Along with potty training with a bell there are other areas of housebreaking that you want to avoid at all costs.

At all costs avoid using potty pads, avoid indoor bathroom structures for your dog, and avoid litter box training. All of these train the dog to go to the bathroom indoors whenever they like. Obviously this isn’t ideal or hygienic. Train your dog to eliminate outside and outside only and you’ll be much happier.

Filed Under: House Training Tagged With: , , , ,

That Darn Leash

“Okay, the first thing you need to do is keep your dog on a leash…”

“With your dog on a leash you can keep the dog supervised…”

“With your dog leashed at all times you can better teach obedience and other wanted behaviors…”

“Keep your dog on a leash and you can use the leash to correct behavior problems when they occur…”

These types of statements are things that I find myself saying on almost a daily basis when I’m working with my clients.

My clients come to me with house training problems, aggression issues, behavior problems, destruction, manners, and more and the first thing that I teach them is to keep the dog on a leash.

I found myself saying it so much that I wanted to examine why.

The simple reason is that most people give their dogs too much freedom too quickly.

The dog isn’t house trained yet they allow the dog to roam the house not supervised. The dog doesn’t know what not to chew on yet the dog is allowed to go chew on whatever he wants. The dog doesn’t know the proper way to greet guests at the door yet is allowed the freedom to go jumping on new guests.

Everyone WANTS a dog that listens when off the leash, does what he or she is told, and can be trusted to follow voice commands. The problem is that most people attempt to start there. They start with a dog that is off leash yet has never even learned to be good on the leash. Life doesn’t work that way.

You don’t set the goal to be a doctor and tomorrow start dispensing medicine. You work your way to that point. You don’t desire to be a mechanic and tear apart your neighbor’s engine this weekend having never done anything mechanical. You don’t expect to hit a home run out of the park the first time you swing a bat.

And you don’t expect a dog to be obedient with great manners if you haven’t started in the right spot.

That spot for most folks is to keep a dog on the leash, yes, even in the house, for the first month, two, three or more depending on how fast you reach your goals. As your dog improves with obedience and manners you slowly move away from leash work and you end up at your target goal.

Don’t skip the hard stuff, though. You need it to get to the payoff.

Filed Under: Obedience Training Tagged With: , , , ,

Train The ‘Place’ Command

Teaching the ‘place’ command is training your dog to go to a bed and stay put.

When to Use the Place Command

The Place command can be used in any situation when you want your dog to stay still, or to prevent problem behavior. You may wan tto place your dog when someone comes to the door, when you eat dinner, while you’re working at your desk, while you’re watching TV, or to prevent housebreaking accidents. If your dog is in front of you on their bed in the place command, they aren’t getting into trouble somewhere else in the house. I end up sounding like a broken record with the place command.

People will ask how to train their dog to stop begging at the table.

“Let’s train him to go to his bed and stay instead of begging,” I’ll say.

Clients will ask how to get a dog to stop bugging guests when they come over?

“Let’s train him to go to his bed and stay instead of bugging your guests,” I reply.

But how can I get him to stop sneaking off and going potty in the house when I’m doing something else?

“Let’s train him to go to this bed and stay instead of sneaking off,” I respond.

The bottom line is that your dog DOESN’T need to be in his bed for 20 hours a day. But there are several times throughout the day where your dog can benefit from just lying in a bed comfortably and staying put.

Image credit: harminder dhesi photography

Filed Under: Obedience Training Tagged With: , ,

Potty Training A Rescue Dog

Here is a dog training question from a reader of our site…

Hey, I work at a rescue center and a dog came in that wouldn’t go near anyone even after a week. So I fostered her to see if she would be better in a home. In the end we kept her but we’re struggling with toilet training because she will only go in the house. If we put her in the garden she will scratch at the door until she gets let in. If we leave the door open she will go out but come back in to go toilet. It seems like she thinks she’s supposed to go wherever she is. When we put newspaper down she will use it to hide what she’s done even though we wont tell her off because of her past and she just rips up puppy pads. Do you have any suggestions?


The suggestion for I have you, there’s one main suggestion and I think it’s going to pay big dividends for you. That is, keep your dog on a leash. The first thing you mention is the dog has a really hard time bonding with people. You mentioned too that in a whole week she still wouldn’t go near anyone. By keeping the dog on a leash, and keeping the dog tighter to you, what happens is the dog becomes accustomed to you. You’re able to correct the dog, guide the dog, lead the dog. And what happens is it’s great for this bonding process.

And so, that’s the first thing I would recommend. Well, that’s the main thing I would recommend - but that’s the first reason I would recommend. The second reason I would recommend is the only way rather that the dog is able to sneak off and go the bathroom is because it’s unsupervised. And for you specifically and for anyone that has a new dog, a new foster dog, a new puppy, a new rescue dog, whatever, that new dog does not know your house rules. And so you cannot let that dog sneak off. It’s imperative. Now, eventually you want the dog to have freedom. But you can’t start that way.

And so I would definitely recommend getting rid of those puppy pads, getting rid of newspapers. That’s just a bad habit. Keep the dog on leash. Go out to the bathroom - don’t just put the dog out there - with the dog. While you’re out there, walk the dog back and forth on leash, encourage her to go to the bathroom. When she goes to the bathroom, make it a big deal. Really, jump up and down, make it a super great thing that she went to the bathroom outside. But like I said, just keeping him on a leash is going to be huge. Now, you’ll do that for a few weeks, a few months. It depends on the dog. Once she starts to get it, then you can kind of start backing off on that leash. But right now, you’re allowing her too much freedom because she is able to have these accidents. So you’ve got to cut back on freedom until she’s earned it. Like I said, if you can do that, you’re going to be in great shape. So, time to get to work.

Filed Under: House Training Tagged With: , ,