It is a common frustration we have all experienced: your dog listens perfectly when you have a piece of chicken in your hand, but the moment the treats are tucked away, they develop a sudden case of “selective hearing.” You find yourself repeating “Sit, sit, sit!” to a dog that is looking everywhere but at you. Your dog isn’t trying to annoy you; they simply haven’t been taught how to listen.
Training often fails not because a dog is stubborn, but because the owner is missing the clear communication system required for success. Experts like Nate Schoemer don’t treat every dog as a brand-new puzzle; instead, they utilize a consistent foundational framework designed to build trust and engagement from the very first interaction. By shifting your focus from “giving orders” to “building a shared vocabulary,” you can eliminate stress and foster a dog that truly loves to learn.
Relationship is the Non-Negotiable Foundation
The first step in any training program—whether you are working on high-level off-leash obedience or addressing serious behavioral issues like resource guarding—is establishing a relationship. You cannot effectively teach a dog that does not trust you or feel comfortable in your presence.
Instead of jumping straight into commands, the professional approach begins with simply sitting with the dog in a neutral environment. By sitting on the floor and allowing the dog to approach on their own terms, you establish a baseline of safety. This process might take minutes for a friendly pup or days for one with a difficult history, but it is the most efficient way to start. Trust creates a willing partner; control alone only creates a temporary hostage.
“This is always where I start… It doesn’t matter whether I’m working on basic obedience, advanced off-leash training, or helping a dog with some serious behavioral issues.”
The “Yes” Button (Charging the Marker Battery)
Once trust is established, you must teach the dog how to learn. This is achieved through “markers”—consistent sounds that predict a reward through classical conditioning. A “terminal marker” (like the word “Yes”) tells the dog: “What you just did was correct, you are now released from the task, and a reward is coming.”
Markers are essential for three reasons:
- Bridging the Gap: They connect the behavior to the consequence instantly, even if the dog is at a distance.
- Pinpointing Details: They allow you to reward specific micro-behaviors, like the exact second a dog looks at your face instead of a distraction.
- Release and Reward: They signal the end of a successful repetition.
The Spectrum of Conditioning To make a marker effective, you must “charge the battery.” This involves repeating the marker followed by a reward dozens of times. Conditioning isn’t binary; it’s a spectrum. You’ll know the battery is gaining a charge when you see a physical change in the dog upon hearing the word—such as salivating, opening their mouth, or moving their paws in excitement—before the food even appears.
To keep your dog from “checking out” after a single treat, vary the reward event. Sometimes give one treat; other times, give three or four in a row for a single “Yes.” Because dogs are masters at recognizing patterns, randomizing the reward keeps them engaged and wondering what comes next.
The Phenomenon of Overshadowing A common technical error is “overshadowing,” a proven psychological phenomenon where a dog ignores a verbal cue because it happens simultaneously with a physical movement. If you move your hand for a treat while saying “Yes,” the dog only processes the hand movement.
“You want to have a half-second pause roughly between saying the word and giving the reward.”
This half-second pause is notoriously difficult for humans to master because our impulse is to move and speak at once. However, by separating the word from the movement, you ensure your voice becomes the powerful predictor of the reward.
Stop Talking and Start Luring (Avoiding “Learned Irrelevance”)
Professional trainers utilize “luring” as the power steering of dog training. By using a piece of food to guide the dog’s nose, you can manipulate their body into position: where the nose goes, the butt does the opposite. If you lift the lure up and back over the head, the butt goes down into a sit.
The key to this phase is silence regarding commands. While you can use verbal praise to encourage a dog to keep moving toward your hand, you should never say “Sit” or “Down” yet.
This avoids learned irrelevance. If you chant “Down, down, down” while a dog is still trying to figure out the physical movement, the dog learns that the word is just meaningless background noise. Furthermore, dogs cannot easily process complex verbal cues while focusing intensely on the physical lure. By staying quiet, you allow them to learn the physical “muscle memory” first. Only once the dog performs the movement perfectly every time do you “name” the behavior with a command.
Capturing the Proactive Dog
The final shift is moving from a dog that waits for orders to a “proactive dog” through a technique called “capturing.” This involves marking and rewarding desirable behaviors the dog offers on their own, such as a random sit or spontaneous eye contact.
Capturing is transformative because it gives the dog a sense of control. They realize they can “make good things happen” through their own choices. This builds immense confidence and shifts the dynamic away from the dog needing to see a “visual bribe” (the lure) before they perform. Instead, they become active participants in the conversation, offering good behaviors in hopes of earning a marker.
Conclusion: Train with Purpose
Effective training is not about bossing your dog around; it is a complete communication system built on three pillars: Markers, Luring, and Leash Pressure. When you follow this clear system—prioritizing the relationship, charging your markers, and avoiding the trap of learned irrelevance—you foster a genuine love for learning.
Consistency and clarity are the greatest gifts you can give your dog. With the right foundation, training stops being a chore of obedience and starts being a game that your dog is excited to play.
Is your dog ignoring your commands, or have you simply not given them the right vocabulary to understand you?
