_edited.png)
Your Dog Isn’t Misbehaving. When dog training is not working.
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
I used to think dogs needed more. More training. More structure. More control.
But most of the time, that makes things worse.
When you stop focusing on fixing anything, behaviour changes.
I know that sounds strange.
I do believe that training is important. But it isn't the MOST important. It also isn't the first thing to do with your dog when your dog is struggling or 'misbehaving'.
Instead, pay attention.
Pay attention to your dog. To the environment. To what is actually happening underneath the behavior.
That shift changed more than any training plan I’ve ever created and followed.
Training doesn't work if your dog doesn't feel safe.
Just quiet. Space to slow down.
And when you slow down, you start noticing things most people miss; like how your dog is feeling before anything even happens. Most people wait for behavior. The barking.The pulling.The reacting.
But by the time you’re seeing that, your dog is already overwhelmed.
No pressure to perform. No constant stimulation. No expectation that your dog has to “handle it.”
And you can feel the difference immediately.
Their bodies soften. They move differently. They check in (without being asked).
This is what safety actually looks like. Not obedience. Not “perfect” behavior.
Just a dog that isn’t bracing against the world.
We ask our dogs to adapt to environments that don’t feel good to them, and then we call it training when they struggle. That’s backwards. When a dog feels safe, they play. Not in a frantic, overstimulated way. Not in a way that looks like an explosion of pent-up energy. But in a way that’s loose.Present.
And you don’t create that by correcting behavior.
You create it by changing what your dog is experiencing.
Doing nothing.
Resting. Settling. Existing without tension.
If your dog can’t do that, they’re not actually okay. Even if they “look fine.” They are living in a state of overstimulation.
This doesn’t just apply to your dog. I noticed it in myself, too. The more I slowed down, the more my dogs did.
The more present I was, the less they had to figure out on their own.
There’s this common belief that more exposure fixes things: “Just get them used to it.” But that only works if the dog actually feels safe during the process. You’re not building confidence, you’re stacking stress. And stress doesn’t always explode right away. Sometimes it builds quietly until it shows up in ways people don’t connect back. Those challenging behaviours.
So if you’re feeling stuck with your dog, be honest about this:
It might not be that you’re not doing enough.
You might be doing too much in the wrong state,in the wrong environment.
Pay attention to what your dog is actually experiencing.
Not just what they’re doing.
For more about this topic, dog training that is not working, watch the video below and enjoy the beautiful sights of whistler and my dogs.
Comments