Obedience Cannot Be Taught
We get lost talking about obedience. Here’s an interesting and different way to look at it.
There’s No Agreement About What Obedience Is
We all want our dogs to be obedient. However, were I to ask a dozen different people, “‘What is obedience,’ or ‘What does it mean when a dog is obedient?’” I’d get twelve different answers, twelve personal opinions, twelve guesses, twelve points spread all over the map. That doesn’t help.
Although we’d like obedience to be a real thing, it’s not. Yes, there is a way to argue that obedience is a thing, but not in the way we would like it to be.
If obedience was something that was real, it would be something that we could measure. But… there *IS* no way to measure it. THIMK about that. Dog owners don’t talk about their dog’s
obedience levels; those discussions don’t happen. If you’ve ever heard owners comparing their dog’s obedience levels, please, tell me—tell us all.
We’re not being forthright about what obedience is. We’re really not. I’m calling it. Obedience is an indicator; it’s a yes-or-no thing.
Indicators
Interestingly, we know when dogs are obedient or not: that yes-no thing. Frankly, it’s identical to the following two, yes-no categories
- that dog is a low energy dog, with its brain in charge—it’s obedient—or
- that’s a high energy, out of control dog that’s not obedient—its “wild dog” is in charge.
It makes sense. Obedience is an indicator, but not something that’s teachable.
Obedience happens when a dog is relaxed, when it’s submissive, when its brain has appeared and its wild dog has been pushed aside. Get your dog to be at a low energy level, get its brain to be in charge, and that’s when it has the ability to be obedient. That’s the thing that will have people saying, “Your dog is obedient” when they look at your dog’s behaviors from a distance.
Respectfully submitted.
Doug Parker
The DOuGTrainer