Stop Relying on "No" When Training Your Dog | Pupford
66 Comments
Filed under training
Are you obsessed with the word "no" when it comes to training your dog? While the word 'no' can have a time and place in training, it isn't a 'behavior'.
Too often as pup parents, we become obsessed and oftentimes overreliant on the word 'no'. The problem with the word 'no' is that it doesn't teach our dogs what we DO want them to do!
The key to training is communication, and if the only thing we communicate to our dog is 'no' or 'stop', we've only done half the work.
If your sports coach stopped practice and just yelled 'no, no, no' with zero explanation, would your team know what to do to improve?
No, you need your coach to tell you what went wrong and what they want you to do instead. And the same goes for our pups!
We have to change our communication from 'no, no, no' to 'do this' or 'try that'.
So if you're overwhelmed by your dog barking at the door, teach them what you want them to do when someone comes to the door... instead of just saying no.
If your dog jumps on people while on walks, teach them that you want them to sit and stay when they're being greeted... instead of just saying no.
If your dog pulls on the leash, teach them where you want them to be and reward heavily when they do that... instead of just saying no.
SMART X50
Kathy Sdao coined the phrase and technique called SMART x50.
SMART stands for See, Mark, And, Reward, Training.
This technique can help you overcome your reliance on 'no' and start to focus on the good things your dog is doing. Here is what you do!
Grab a bowl and put 50 treats (Pupford ones work great!) in the bowl out of your dog's reach.
Throughout the day, look for 50 opportunities to find good behaviors your dog is doing. This shouldn't be during 'dedicated' training sessions, but rather just moments when your dog is doing something good.
Here is an example.
See- Your dog comes and lies down by your feet without being asked
Mark- Use your marker word or clicker to let your dog know that behavior is desirable
Reward- Give your dog one of the 50 treats from the bowl
Then repeat that 50 different times throughout the day!
This act of focusing on the good can not only help reinforce good behaviors (which will make those behaviors happen more frequently), but it will also help you avoid using the word 'no' too frequently.
RECAP
It's not feasible to never use the word 'no' with your dog, but you shouldn't become too reliant on it.
Focus on teaching your dog what you DO want them to do! And of course, try out the SMART x50 method for at least a few days and see what it does for your communication and relationship with your pup!
Yes, absolutely! Our Scotties are 2 1/2 years old and while they have learned a lot it’s still hard at times to get the right responses. A couple of reasons they’ve been hard to train—
1. They are brothers from the same litter and we got them when they were a little older so they are VERY bonded and even when I tried to separate them, the individual dog was so concerned about his brother that he couldn’t focus.
2. My husband and I are both older now and that makes a BIG difference. Plus I am the main trainer and lost a lot of time when I got sick. Unfortunately, my husband never got on the same page with me so they unlearned a lot.
3. An older dog (meaning 9 months or more) is certainly trainable but I think with some it takes a bit of a longer time to get their brains hardwired.
4. Think I’ll try the 50 in 50 thing though.
T
Team Pupford01/26/2025
Yeah, we can plan on a blog post like that for the future! Thanks for the idea. You’ll slowly want to work up to longer amounts of time that you ask your dog to leave it. It can be a slow process, be sure to work at your dog’s pace and don’t rush it.
N
Nandini01/26/2025
Great idea: the smart x50. Question for future: can you help with the unending “leave it” command. And how to move in the process to LONG-term leave it. My 6-month-old pup is great if I say leave it before he picks something up or after if I’m close by. But then he will try soon after to pick up the item again (pull a plant from the ground) or chew it again (the corner of the rug). And another leave it and treat. And so it goes. Or, he succeeds in picking up something that dropped. But I’m at a distance and it becomes a "
catch me if you can game. He runs away with the item even if confined in one room. To “leave it” often requires moving slowly with an adequate display of treats to convince (bribe) him it’s a good trade to leave it.
M
Marsha01/26/2025
This was very good information. Lucy has not ever responded to the word “NO” she turns deaf
P
Patti 01/26/2025
You are not alone, sounds like my puppy! Thanks for suggesting the topic!!
Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
66 comments
Leave a CommentYes, absolutely! Our Scotties are 2 1/2 years old and while they have learned a lot it’s still hard at times to get the right responses. A couple of reasons they’ve been hard to train—
1. They are brothers from the same litter and we got them when they were a little older so they are VERY bonded and even when I tried to separate them, the individual dog was so concerned about his brother that he couldn’t focus.
2. My husband and I are both older now and that makes a BIG difference. Plus I am the main trainer and lost a lot of time when I got sick. Unfortunately, my husband never got on the same page with me so they unlearned a lot.
3. An older dog (meaning 9 months or more) is certainly trainable but I think with some it takes a bit of a longer time to get their brains hardwired.
4. Think I’ll try the 50 in 50 thing though.
Yeah, we can plan on a blog post like that for the future! Thanks for the idea. You’ll slowly want to work up to longer amounts of time that you ask your dog to leave it. It can be a slow process, be sure to work at your dog’s pace and don’t rush it.
Great idea: the smart x50. Question for future: can you help with the unending “leave it” command. And how to move in the process to LONG-term leave it. My 6-month-old pup is great if I say leave it before he picks something up or after if I’m close by. But then he will try soon after to pick up the item again (pull a plant from the ground) or chew it again (the corner of the rug). And another leave it and treat. And so it goes. Or, he succeeds in picking up something that dropped. But I’m at a distance and it becomes a "
catch me if you can game. He runs away with the item even if confined in one room. To “leave it” often requires moving slowly with an adequate display of treats to convince (bribe) him it’s a good trade to leave it.
This was very good information. Lucy has not ever responded to the word “NO” she turns deaf
You are not alone, sounds like my puppy! Thanks for suggesting the topic!!