"Stubborn"

"Headstrong, hardheaded, willful, strong-willed, dominant..." These words applied to dogs suggest one thing: "He won't do MY will."

Why won't he do your will?

1. He doesn't understand because you don't communicate effectively.
2. He doesn't wish to comply because he doesn't want what you offer as motivation.
3. He can't.
4. You don't understand the game.
5. He's freaking terrified.
6. Other reasons.
   

1. Failure to communicate effectively can be failing to teach cues, using the wrong cue at the wrong time, failing to provide effective yes/no feedback, or inadvertently displaying an emotional state of fear or frustration.

2. Motivation is often confused with feedback. I suppose technically, you only need feedback for teaching/learning. But for continued interest in learning and performance, you need motivation. Motivation is WAY more than food, play, attention, petting, praise, though those are all extremely effective.

3. There's an old joke about training a crab to come and sequentially breaking off legs. When the last leg is broken off, the crab is pronounced "deaf". For some dogs, in some contexts, multi-tasking is simply not possible. The brain is so overwhelmed by the intensity of the stimuli that the dog seems deaf & blind. These dogs must learn to a) prioritize attention to owner and b) shift focus before any more compliance can occur.

4. There are dogs who will attempt to elicit some reaction from you by playing games. This is a good game and a fun game. If you realize that is what is going on. Dogs who invent games outside of a clearly delgated play context often require more structured play time. These are bored, bored dogs!

5. Fear strongly affects the brain. Imagine being demanded the capital cities of US states while hurtling down a double black diamond ski run. Maybe if you are a pro skier, this is no big deal, but for most of us, the terror of the run would significantly affect our ability to think! Raise the stakes to pain for the wrong answer and $5 million for the right answer, and you've got a whole lot going on. Your brain is likely to "freeze". You stubborn thing.


What I find is that the word "stubborn" used by owners is that it predicts absolutely nothing about the personality of the dog I am about to meet. It does, however, predict something about the way the dog & person are relating to one another. This person is generally frustrated, wants to change the dog's behavior, and is at a loss about how to do it.

My initial question is why change the dog's behavior? If this is a dog who is merely inconveniencing you or embarrassing you by lack of response, well, what's the big deal? Don't focus on changing behavior for your ego or for some idea that it is ESSENTIAL for ALL dogs to have a human leader who dictates every decision they make. Change the behavior because you want a closer relationship with your dog.