05/15/2026
You can’t train a dog who isn’t paying attention.
That sounds obvious, but most humans, myself included, are guilty of trying. What that often leads to is nagging… saying the dog’s name over and over… repeating cues over and over…. Kissy noises or ‘eh eh’s!”…. shoving food and toys at the dog… physically manipulating the dog with our hands/body or the leash or collar…. raising our voices…. At best, nagging gets the dog’s attention briefly in the moment, but overall, I think it actually results in less connection between the dog and the human.
Kiri is 5 months old now and will need to have rock solid obedience skills if she is going to be a service dog candidate. However, I’m not prioritizing obedience in training. I’m prioritizing building a relationship with Kiri where Kiri pays attention to me not because I tell her to, but because she wants to. I’m building engagement which is a little like watching grass grow. You don’t see it developing on a day to day basis, but it grows slowly over time and is so worth the effort.
This is a video with 3 different clips:
#1 is from about 6 weeks ago when I was attempting to train with Kiri in my driveway. She disengages from me and doesn’t respond to her name. I end the session.
#2 is from about 5 weeks ago and this time, Kiri isn’t readily engaged with me, but does engage briefly when I call her name.
#3 is from earlier this week. She is glued to me. You’d think that we have spent a ton of time working on loose leash walking. We haven’t. In fact it’s been over 6 weeks since I worked on loose leash walking. The reason the leash is loose here is that Kiri wants to be engaged with me.
If you want to know how I’m getting from video #1 to #3 (and beyond) please ask! Kiri is teaching me a lot.
