Why Dogs "Ignore" Commands #323
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
Why dogs "ignore" commands has less to do with defiance and more to do with education. When a dog doesn't respond, it's easy to label it as disobedience, but what that moment actually offers is feedback on what the dog has learned. In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between commands and cues, how Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence shape understanding, and why dogs respond to pictures rather than words alone. When cues are taught with intention, reliability grows naturally, and responses become confident, joyful, and consistent, wherever you are.
In this episode, you'll hear:
• The difference between giving a command and cueing a behavior.
• Why a dog not responding isn't disobedience, but feedback on their education.
• How Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequence work together in training.
• Why dogs think in pictures and not in words.
• What causes cues to fall apart in new situations.
• How food can unintentionally become the focus instead of the behavior.
• A real-world "sit" example with Kim's dog, Belief.
• Why reinforcement isn't about eliminating rewards, but about evolving what is reinforcing for the dog.
• What well-taught cues have in common under distraction and distance.
Resources:
1. Podcast Episode 245: Make Dog Training Easy! Quick Guide To Antecedent Arrangements - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/245/
2. Podcast Episode 177: Dog Training Outside The Box: Transfer Of Value Case Study - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/177/
3. Podcast Episode 135: Test Your Dog's Sit Stay Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/135/
4. Podcast Episode 205: The Hidden World Of Reinforcement For Dogs And Why You Need To Know - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/205/
5. Podcast Episode 144: Teach Your Dog To Listen No Matter What… Even If You Think They Are Stubborn - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/144/
6. Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube - https://youtu.be/uI5YtGIriRg
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Imagine living with somebody who commanded of you all day long. |
| 0:04.5 | Get in, get off, get over, get on, don't touch. |
| 0:08.0 | In a very stern, militant voice, wouldn't you want to pack your bags and leave? |
| 0:18.8 | Hi, I'm Susan Garrett, and this is shaped by dog, where dog training makes sense at both ends of the leash. |
| 0:25.3 | And I'm going to start with a question today. The question is, when you ask your dog to do something, |
| 0:30.8 | sit, down, come, roll over, get in a bed. What do you believe you are doing? Do you believe you're giving a command? Do you believe you're |
| 0:39.6 | queuing a behavior? Do you believe you are making a request or maybe depending on your dog? It might be a |
| 0:47.6 | suggestion. Because what you think you are doing has an unbelievable impact on how you will do it. And I hope this gives you |
| 0:58.1 | reason to think. Think about the way you talk to your dog today and maybe about any words |
| 1:02.3 | you've ever spoken to your dog in the past. When we talk about giving a dog a command, |
| 1:06.0 | it's something very militant. It's very stern and it's absolutely non-negotiable. It's a command. I am the master. |
| 1:14.6 | There's just so many powerful words that the command is demanding. Now, a cue, a more scientific |
| 1:22.2 | word, cues a behavior. I truly believe I'm queuing my dog, but I'm making request. In my brain, I'm making a |
| 1:30.8 | request. And I'm going to preface this by saying, when I make a request of my dog, my expectation |
| 1:37.3 | is that they will respond to that request with joy, with drive, with expediency, with urgency. |
| 1:46.1 | And if my dog, for some reason, chose not to do what I'd asked, I don't take that as a sign |
| 1:54.1 | of disobedience. I don't take that as anything other than a reflection on the education |
| 2:00.6 | I've given that dog. What is missing? What is |
| 2:04.4 | incomplete? I think if the world considered dogs behavior from that point of view, they would not only |
| 2:11.8 | have more patience for the dogs in their life, they would have more patience for the people in their |
| 2:16.3 | life because I believe dogs are |
| 2:18.5 | a vector to help us all to become the kind of people were meant to be. Now, if you consider that all of the |
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