If My Dog Responds To ‘No’, Do I Still Need To Correct Them?
In this episode, I’m talking about a topic that comes up in almost 100% of our go home lessons. Once you teach your dog what the word no means, they tend to be very responsive to the word. No. This leaves people thinking that they can use the word no stop behaviors without needing to use any kind of tangible correction.
And although we might all do that every once in awhile, there is a problem with doing that regularly.. And that problem is that no in and of itself is not a tangible correction and will not influence the dog’s behavior long-term. And so, while it might get you what you want in the moment, the lack of an actual consequence will likely result in your dog committing the same crime over and over again. This results in you having to interrupt the same behavior every time potentially for the rest of your dog’s life. No thanks!
Another very common question is how to manage a dog’s excitement when people are coming in or your dog is greeting people and the human inclination is to be very command centric in those cases and that’s usually a big mistake. You’re much better off to address behavior in state of mind. Not using any commands. Just let your dog make some choices and tell them if those choices are good or bad.
This is all explained in detail in today’s episode!
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Minute-by-Minute Breakdown
- 00:00 – Kati opens the episode, gives a trigger warning, and asks listeners to subscribe.
- 01:00 – Kati admits she’s exhausted and mentions an unexpected influx of puppies from program restructuring.
- 02:00 – Puppies are hard to settle but learn quickly and are highly food motivated.
- 03:00 – Kati values client ‘aha’ moments when training concepts click.
- 04:00 – Even great off-leash dogs face issues because visitors insist on petting them.
- 06:00 – A dog gets overexcited by ‘yes’ and jumps; holding them down during greetings has problems.
- 08:00 – If you don’t want jumping, you must mark it with ‘no’ and provide a proper correction.
- 10:00 – Avoiding corrections creates a spiral where you repeatedly interrupt the same behavior forever.
- 12:00 – Corrections should be strong enough to prevent the dog from jumping in future interactions.
- 14:00 – You must decisively address persistent behaviors—it’s painful but necessary.
- 16:00 – Kati uses e-collars routinely for attention, settling, and correcting unwanted behaviors.
- 18:00 – Many ask whether to correct when dogs fix mistakes—Kati frames this in an obedience context.
- 20:00 – Keep it simple: mark unwanted behavior with ‘no’ and deliver a meaningful correction.
- 22:00 – Even if the dog gets down, you must ensure they won’t jump later using appropriate e-collar levels.
- 24:00 – Stop seeking off-ramps; provide consistent consequences to end the repetitive racetrack of behavior.
- 26:00 – Final training stages require fewer cues; Fire Blazer’s four-week progress illustrates this.
- 28:00 – Dogs may respond to ‘no’ yet immediately resume behavior if you omit physical correction.
- 30:00 – Early on use moderate corrections; avoid harsh punishment but be consistent and deliver consequences.
- 34:00 – Withholding information creates confusion; clarify expectations using the e-collar rather than avoiding it.
- 40:00 – Provide consistent information; dogs will quickly learn patterns and resolve confusion.