Dog Training Tip 101: The Importance of Ignoring

In addition to running a premiere dog grooming salon in Littleton, the owners of Lucky Dog Grooming have owned, trained, rehabilitated, rehomed, fostered, and otherwise worked with hundreds of dogs throughout their career! Most of our clients ask us how we can keep doing this work for so many years—after all, dogs can be frustrating at times, and their little teeth can be pretty sharp! To help you manage your wild beasts (or even your tiny Yorkies), we have a series of dog training tips.

This week’s tip is ignoring! We love this one, and have used it successfully on our own dogs, our fosters, our grooming clients, and our spouses and children. Yep, these tips work on human animals, too! The basic concept of ignoring is simply to ignore behaviors that you don’t want repeated. For example, when a dog is barking his cute little head off while we give him a bath, we don’t bother to scold, yell, or correct… we simply go on doing what we do.

Why and how does this work? Most dog behaviors are done as a way to communicate. “Bark!” can mean “I want water, I want to play with my toys, or I want you to stop spraying water on me!” Many people accidentally reinforce behaviors that they do not want by “giving in,” much like when parents give in to a temper tantrum. When dogs bark, we usually just ignore it. Eventually, the dog will understand that his message isn’t being received, and will stop it—although, they often only stop after trying harder for a while.

When doesn’t it work? To ignore a dog effectively, you have to do more than keep your mouth shut. Dogs are experts at nonverbal communication, which means that they watch your facial expressions and body language, making sure they know everything that’s going on. The result? You may think you’re ignoring them, but your grimace lets them know better. We like to turn our backs or sing a little song to keep our minds off of it. Also, make sure your dog doesn’t really need anything. If he is in pain or real distress, always attend to those issues.

What behaviors can be fixed by ignoring? Irritating behaviors are best for this approach. This involves barking, whining, pawing at you, or anything else that bothers you, but doesn’t injure you, your dog, or others in the home. If your dog is aggressive or in extreme distress, don’t ignore—contact a trainer.

At Lucky Dog Grooming in metro Denver, we know that there are a wide variety of components that add up to a healthy, happy dog! In addition to getting your dog groomed in Littleton every few weeks, make sure to put good practices in place at home as well!