Your Canine's
Sense of Smell

A much larger part of a dog’s brain is devoted to processing smells than yours. Some search dogs locate people buried under the snow of avalanches, search for evidence in crime, and find people in the water. Cloudy days, mornings, and evenings are the best times for dogs to search. And depending on the conditions, dogs can pick up a scent up to a half a mile away!

Learn more about dog senses, training and agility at this free dog agility teleseminar.

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When Your Dog Ignores Commands – Learn about Dog Training Commands

Your dog doesn’t ignore your commands because he forgot how to do them. You can prove that to yourself by giving him a command after showing him his favorite treat. If he still ignores what you ask him to do, take him to the vet and have his hearing checked! (Seriously, older dogs may develop hearing and vision problems or even neurological problems that interfere with memory or understanding. If your dog doesn’t respond to a favorite treat, check out any possible physical problems before starting to retrain.)

Usually dogs who stop acting on commands have grown lazy because their owners have grown lazy. Either they aren’t really expecting their dog to respond, or they aren’t really paying attention. Dogs sense this as immediately as children do, and act accordingly. The best way to get your dog to start acting like your commands matter is to show that they matter to you!

People are busy, and dogs sometimes get left out. If your dog has been feeling ignored or taken for granted, he may be ignoring you in hopes of getting your attention. While this may get him the wrong kind of attention, it’s still better than nothing. The most powerful remedy for this situation is for you to pay attention to your dog by working with him.

Set aside uninterrupted time for training. Ignore phone calls and just work with your dog. Work together daily, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

1. Focus your attention.
2. Get his attention.
3. Look him in the eye.
4. Give the command, and mean it.

Reward him every time he obeys, including petting and praise whether or not you are using food too. You want your dog to feel good about achieving his training goals, but you shouldn’t have to plan on carrying beef bits around in your purse either! Although training works best when you start out with food bribes, the idea is that over time you’ll taper off the edible treat, only using them when it’s convenient. But since you don’t want your dog only listening to you when it’s convenient for him, teach him that verbal praise and pats are also rewards.

Use treats to remind him of why it’s fun to work together. Plan to start out using food treats for every command your dog obeys, in addition to petting and verbal praise. After he starts obeying you on a regular basis, you can fine-tune by only giving him a treat when he obeys within five seconds, and then after a dozen repetitions or more at five seconds, taper down to only rewarding him when he obeys immediately.

These are the basic commands you dog should know and obey.

1. Sit
2. Lie Down
3. Stay
4. Come
5. Fetch
6. Stop

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