Using really yummy, aromatic treats will ensure that your dog doesn't ignore you. You don't need to become dependent on treats, but it helps to reward your dog regularly to keep them motivated. The best treats for training are cheap, healthy, and easy to find. Try some scrambled eggs.
The reasons for this are numerous, ranging from just an age related phase, not adequate training, fear, or just simple distraction issues. The first step a frustrated owner should take is to try to assess WHY their dog is not taking a command, as the solution differs for each reason.
Boredom, pain, aging and stress can all cause a dog to act distant from you.
Use high value rewards, like boiled chicken, sausage or cheese cut up into tiny pieces. This food is quite unusual and a special treat for the dog, so they will be very eager to learn and give you their attention. Even if your dog already knows their name, it's important to start simple and progress from the beginning.
Dogs need to be taught how to focus on their owners and respond to commands in every situation as part of their socialization and training. Other reasons for dogs ignoring their owners are fear and anxiety, not bonding with owners, distractions, pain, and a negative experience.
When done correctly and when combined with proactive training, ignoring unwanted behavior can work. However, the time it takes depends on your dog's reinforcement history and their own personal enjoyment of the behavior. For some dogs, they get through an extinction burst quickly, while others can take quite a while.
Most cases however, are simply overly energetic dogs that may not be getting sufficient exercise and routine to their day, or who are being accidentally rewarded when they act excitedly (see Play and Exercise and Using Enrichment, Predictability, and Scheduling to Train Your Dog).
If your dog has stopped offering to look at you and is clearly engaged in something else, you may have added too many distractions – move away or remove the distractions until your dog can focus on you. For some dogs, toys are too exciting.
An easy way to demand respect is by making him wait for things. Make him wait a minute before you give him food. Make him wait for a couple of minutes before you take him for a walk. This will all show him you're the boss and that he has to respect that.
The reasons your dog may not be listening might be medical in nature, but most often, if your dog will not come to you or ignores you completely, it is because of a training or a behavioral issue. Once you feel you have ruled out potential illness, training and conditioning your dog will improve his recall ability.
Changes in behavior may indicate a health problem, so it's important to bring your dog to the veterinarian. Health isn't the only reason a dog's behavior changes. A dog who suddenly becomes disinterested in his pack may be experiencing a wide range of emotions, such as jealousy, anxiety or depression.
There are ways you can tell if a dog feels uncomfortable around you or doesn't like you very much. It's a bad sign if your dog is deliberately avoiding you or leaving the room every time you enter. Sometimes a dog's body will stiffen up if they are uncomfortable in your presence.
Dog language is visual. They communicate volumes with their posture, their tails, their eyes, and their ears. For this reason, their first instinct when trying to figure out what we want is to watch us; not to listen to us. Our constant talking is just noise to them.
Dogs can get depression, and it's most often caused by big changes, such as the loss of a significant human or an environmental change (such as a move). Depressed dogs may show symptoms such as a lack of interest in activities, loss of appetite, increased irritability, and unusually clingy or needy behavior.
If an owner rewards the behavior, purposely or accidentally, the undesirable behavior will continue to linger. Even if the owner ignores her dogs 10 times, but screams “no” once, the behavior won't go away. To truly extinguish a behavior, it must be ignored each and every time.
"Dogs forget an event within two minutes," reported National Geographic, citing a 2014 study performed on various animals from rats to bees. Other animals have long-term memories, such as dolphins, but dogs don't seem to have a long-term memory that lasts much beyond those two minutes.
The more likely explanation for your dog's disobedience is that they're overwhelmed by the environment and simply can't focus. There are too many interesting things to explore, and dogs need to sniff them all. It's often not deliberate defiance.
He's watching for clues from you.
Dogs love, love, love to please their humans. Sometimes your dog will stare at you just to make sure he doesn't miss anything. He may just be watching intently to make sure you're not giving him a non-verbal clue that you want him to do something for you.
Due to confusion: A dog might give you a hard stare because they fail to understand what you want from them. If you use confusing body language or give them a command they do not understand, your dog may give you a hard state as they try to read you.
Don't yell or scream at your dog: Your dog understands the difference between your normal voice and shouting voice, just as you understand the difference between a bark and his play sounds. However, if all the disciplining you do just sounds like loud noise to your dog, he'll eventually begin to tune you out.
Some reasons dogs don't come when called include distraction, confusion, or fear. Gradual training and positivity are ways to help build a reliable recall so your dog will come when called.