What to do if the dog gives out the whole arsenal of skills to any command?

Sometimes owners complain that instead of following the command, the dog gives out the entire arsenal of learned skills. And she does not listen at all and does not hear what they want from her. Why is this happening and what to do in this case?

As a rule, this situation has two reasons.

The first is if you ask for something that seems to be explained, but the dog does not comply. But it suggests other actions. In this case, the pet most likely does not really understand what you need. It means that you did not explain clearly enough or your signals are not clear enough.

The way out in this case is to shoot yourself on camera and then analyze what the problem is. Or use the services of a specialist who will see the situation from the outside and tell you what needs to be changed in your training.

The second option is over-excitement when you are trying to teach your dog something new. This happens with overly motivated dogs who are so eager to get “excellent” that they can’t listen to the task statement.

This happened many years ago with one of my dogs when we first started training.

When I tried to explain what I needed, Ellie, like the otter that Karen Pryor described in her book, offered the entire repertoire already studied:

– Oh, I understand, you need a somersault!

— No, Ellie, don’t somersault, listen to me.

– Okay, okay, I already understood, not a somersault means crawling, right?

– Not! Can you listen to me at all?

– Jump! I know to jump! Above? Farther? Is that not it either?

This could go on for quite some time. And only after exhausting the entire supply of tricks, she finally listened carefully to what was required of her, and immediately reported:

“Yeah, got it! Why didn’t you say right away?

In this case, working with the condition of the dog helps. Including teaching a four-legged friend to switch from excitation to inhibition, self-control skills and the ability to relax.