If you have a stubborn puppy, you are not alone. The best thing you can do in this regard is to try and find some adjacent ways of training your puppy without making the training process more challenging as you go along. It’s important to tackle all these things with confidence all the time. Sometimes it will feel easy to do, other times not so much. The idea here is to figure out a way to deal with the stubborn puppy as fast as possible, otherwise, things can get worse.
Do you have a specific question about dealing with a stubborn puppy? Then use the table of contents below to jump to the most relevant section. And you can always go back by clicking on the black arrow in the right bottom corner of the page. Also, please note that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. For more details, check the Disclosure section at the bottom of the page.
Here's what we'll cover:
Don’t rush
A good idea when you train the stubborn puppy is to not rush. You have to create a positive association with training. Otherwise, your dog will feel that this is a bad thing, and he will not like it. Ideally, you want the stubborn puppy to learn that training is a good thing and it can do wonders.
Stay in control
You need to control the environment. Training the stubborn puppy needs to be a serious thing. That’s why you need to put those toys away. Instead, you want to make sure that the training process is convenient for both you and the puppy. It will work quite nicely if you tackle it correctly and don’t rush into it. Yes, it may feel a bit challenging at first, but the outcome will be second to none as you go along.
Some tasks are more difficult than others
Every trick you want to teach your pup is different. Two abilities that appear to be the most difficult for dog parents to teach are “leave it” and a strong recall. Both abilities are critical and can potentially save a person’s life.
What is involved in these two talents from the dog’s perspective? Pup’s nostrils. It directs him to the tasty chunk of hamburger meat you inadvertently dropped on the kitchen floor. And his nose is urging him to flee at full speed as he chases the scent of the wild rabbit that hopped across his yard.
Instead of battling the nose, learn to work with it. For example, while teaching your dog to “leave it,” ask your pet to leave a dull piece of kibble. Mark with a “Yes!” and give him a much better-smelling meat reward when he lifts his nose from it. A dog can be taught to leave items once he realizes that doing so would result in a far better reward. This brings us to the next tip.
Consistency is key
If you want the stubborn puppy to train properly, you have to be consistent. That means you need to train over and over, to the point where your stubborn puppy understands that training is a good and helpful thing. Be consistent with commands too and try out various commands multiple times. Adding in new commands will also come in handy, so try to take that into consideration if you can.
Don’t punish the stubborn puppy
Most of the time a stubborn puppy is like that due to the way you influenced him. It’s still important to reward your dog and not punish him if possible. Some rewards based training system that focuses on petting, playing or offering treats are way better when compared to other options, so you have to think about that the best way that you can.
Pick the right rewards
Let’s be honest: a proper treat can go a long way toward training your dog.
But you don’t want to overcomplicate the process of choosing appropriate treats. The idea is to find rewards based on how complex the exercise was. All these things can add up to bring some fantastic results, and the outcome will be worth it in the end.
However, for it to be effective, your reward must be worthwhile compared to your dog’s work. Is your dog interested in food? Then go out and get some high-quality goodies.
If your dog is indifferent about eating, substitute a favorite toy or an extra game of catch.
The goal is to discover what motivates your dog and use it to reward desired behavior. And I can refer you to a more in-depth article if you need help in choosing the best treats for puppies.
Clear communication is important
Consider a dog who is always jumping on people in the house. If one pet parent from a household constantly requests a certain behavior — say, a sit — and rewards that sit, the dog will begin to sit and stop jumping if he receives nothing in return.
It might be the case that the other pet parent in the same house returns from work, and they appreciate the dog jumping up to say hello. The master unknowingly promotes that behavior by playing with the dog, possibly even patting him on the sides and talking cheerfully to him. This dog is getting a lot of contradictory signals.
So you can see how some dogs can experience their masters encouraging a behavior one day and correcting the same behavior the next.
In that case, most dogs are simply perplexed because we haven’t expressed the desired action clearly enough. Before bringing a dog into your home, make a list of house rules and then work together to encourage the desired behavior at all times.
Thanks for the blog graphics: Canva.com
Thanks for the blog graphics: Canva.com
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