Improving Your Dog's Reliability with a Formal Name
The final part of teaching your dog to respond reliably on cue is testing and troubleshooting, to increase reliability in challenging, real-world situations.
If you want your dog to listen to you in extremely distracting situations, first, you need to teach and test for high reliability in non-distracting settings and then and only then, progressively increase the level of distractions.
This will be made easier if you clearly communicate to your dog when absolute attention and compliance are essential.
It’s completely unrealistic to expect your dog to promptly obey every single instruction that you give. If you are like most dog owners, then most of the things you ask your dog to do are optional. If your dog wants to do them, that's cool, but if not, most of the time that's actually ok. However, there are times when you want your dog to listen to you and obey your instructions immediately, so the question is, how can you communicate that information to your dog?
We suggest using two names for your dog — a formal name only when you require prompt and absolute reliability and an informal nick-name for when you are just hanging out together and really just offering casual suggestions.
At first, use your dog's formal name for relatively short periods of time. For the best results, you must release the dog from its high-alert status each time you use it, by saying "free dog” , or by using their informal name, to let them know that they can relax. For exmple, “hugo louis, sit! Good dog … good dog …” and then, “hugie, com’ere, settle down”, or “hugie, go play”.
To get this to work, every time you use your dog’s formal name to issue an instruction, you have to pay absolute attention to your dog and be consistent. If your dog complies, praise and release the dog. If they don’t comply, be persistent and calmly follow up until your dog eventually complies. Approach your dog repeating the formal command plus the handsignal. Should your dog require several commands before complying, then once it finally does comply, say “thank you” in a soft and maybe even sarcastic tone, then step back , call your dog with their formal name and give the instruction once more. Repeat this sequence until your dog obeys following a single command and then, praise and release.
Initially, only use their formal name when you are able and ready to follow up. If you use their formal name, and they don't do what you've asked them to do, then you must persist. You may practice this indoors, or in the yard, where it will be easier or you can “meet the beast” and issue a formal command in a dog park with loads of distractions, so long as you are prepared to persist until your dog complies.
Some trainers teach formal names and formal commands using the threat of punishment. There is no need to do this. There’s no need to get angry, shout, or raise your voice even. All you need teach your dog is that when you use their formal name, you will follow up, and you will not give up, and they will not be able to do anything else until they've completed the task following a single command.
Once you have a reliable emergency sit, your dog is likely to respond to additional commands and so, gradually, increase the length of these extra-intense obedience interludes, until your dog is capable of intense focus and compliance for a couple of minutes at a time. Just be sure to release your dog at the end. For maximum effect and usefulness, its best to integrate many short formal obedience interludes into highly enjoyable activities, such as games you play with your dog, walking, sniffing and playing with other dogs because the reward of resuming the activity is so powerful and effective.
Yes, you have to be consistent when teaching your dog to respond to formal commands. But you only have to be consistent for as long as you want your dog to be consistent — usually just a few seconds or minutes. Once you release your dog, and yourself, from vigilance, you may both return to a casual, enjoyable life of wonderful relaxation, preoccupation and inconsistency.