3 Training Tips For Stubborn Dogs

I’ll be totally honest with you — Bill has been a challenge when it comes to training. He has a fantastic disposition and is super sweet (he loves to give kisses all day long), but he’s stubborn as hell. It was an eye-opening experience when we began training him, because Judy was nothing like that. She had her moments, but overall — she was great. As I’ve gotten used to Bill’s obstinant ways, there are a couple tricks I’ve learned that help to keep him motivated and me sane. Today I’m sharing 3 training tips for stubborn dogs…

3 Training Tips For Stubborn Dogs

1. Tasty Treats. When we trained Judy, we would use food she ate at mealtime as rewards and incentives. Bill — not so much. He refuses to perform for the food he gets at breakfast and dinner, so we had to get creative to combat his stubborn ways. We went to the store and picked up some treats that Bill doesn’t normally get as a special reward.

2. Exercise. With Judy, I would take whatever portion of my day that I had available and get to work with her and she complied. Bill requires a substantial amount of exercise to relieve all of his pent up energy before he will even think about listening to me. I try to run him for at least 10-20 minutes before attempting to start a training session and — it works! He’s not too tired where he loses all interest, but his puppy energy has been burned off.

3. Avoid Yelling. Believe me, trying to train a stubborn dog gets incredibly frustrating and it’s easy to want to scream WHY WHY WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO SIT/STAY/STOP BARKING?! But honestly — this does nothing more than scare your pup and cause anxiety toward any sort of training techniques. It has even been shown that you taking your frustrations out on them leads to them taking their frustrations out on you (acting out, aggression, etc.). If you feel yourself becoming frustrated — walk away and end training for the day.