09/05/2025
why else might a dog refuse ‘known’ cues?
‼️Pain or discomfort (injury, stomach upset, sore paws, arthritis, etc.)
‼️Emotional state (fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, overexcitement, shutdown, etc.)
‼️Competing distractions (smells, wildlife, kids, other dogs, etc.)
‼️Unmet needs (hunger, thirst, toilet, not enough exercise, tired)
‼️Unclear communication (cue sounds different, body language confuses them, etc.)
‼️Reward issues (reward isn’t worth it right then, the reward history isn’t strong enough)
‼️Overstimulation (too much going on at once)
‼️Lack of practice in that specific context
… and the list goes on
The question you should be asking yourself isn’t “should I give my dog a correction to hold them accountable?”
The question you should be asking yourself is “why isn’t my dog responding?”
Not only because of risk of pain, but because of the risk of fallout.
Using corrections, pain/fear, to change behaviour can have a whole other laundry list of additional problems it can cause. I would imagine some of you reading this know exactly what I’m talking about, and it is NOT easy to come back from. We can talk about it on another post, because I’m running out of space here.
as a side note - since we got a diagnosis and started treatment for Bodhi’s hip dysplasia, guess what has become more reliable? Yeah, you know what’s up.
➡️ So, is it always pain?
➡️ No.
➡️Is using corrections worth the risk?
➡️what do YOU think?
