This is a phrase nearly every dog owner has said at some point. It feels intuitive: you asked your dog to do something, they didn’t do it, so the logical conclusion is that they’re ignoring you on purpose. Right? Or is it?
Let’s unpack why the “stubborn dog” myth falls apart the moment we look under the surface of the problem behaviour.
The “Stubborn” Label Is Harmful
And here are the reasons why:
- Labelling a dog as stubborn simply shifts blame onto their character without any proof that this is the case. We stop looking at ourselves – have we actually done enough?
- It closes the door on curiosity. Why isn’t this working? How do dogs learn? What about the environment, the dog’s DNA, or the level of training they’ve actually received?
- It creates frustration and punishment-based reactions.
- It frames the dog as defiant rather than confused, overwhelmed, or under-trained.
- It places responsibility on the dog instead of the training process.
Stubbornness Requires Knowledge — Most Dogs Don’t Have It Yet
Stubbornness assumes the dog knows what to do and is choosing not to.
To refuse something, you have to understand the request.
Many dogs simply don’t. Most of the time, the dog never truly learned the behaviour in the first place.
A dog performing a sit in the kitchen does not mean they understand “sit” in the park, around squirrels, when wet grass feels weird, or when another dog is walking past.
Dogs don’t generalise well. They learn in contexts, not abstract concepts.
Most owners unintentionally skip some critical stages of teaching. What I hear often is: “I want my dog to have a good recall in the park, but he just ignores me”. When the truth is, we expect too much, too soon. Training doesn’t start in the local park and there are important learning stages missing:
- Clear learning: showing the dog what the behaviour means in a low-distraction environment
- Repetition: many, many, many successful trials.
- Generalisation: practising in different places, on different surfaces, with mild distractions.
- Maintain knowledge: reinforcing the behaviour long-term, even when it’s reliable.
If any one of these steps is missing, the dog doesn’t “know” the behaviour.
They’re not being stubborn — they’re untrained in that context.
Reinforcement History Predicts Behaviour (Not Attitude)
Dogs repeat behaviours that have been reinforced.
Full stop.
Owners see puppy classes as a tick box exercise – my puppy has completed it, so they have been trained…
But no trainer can teach your dog all they need to know in just a few weeks. They show you the HOW and send you home to practice and improve.
We often expect “obedience” from behaviours that have:
- Been practised only indoors
- Only been practised a few times
- Never been rehearsed around distractions
- Not received reinforcement in weeks or months
- Been overshadowed by much more appealing alternatives (e.g., wildlife, scents, other dogs)
In those scenarios, a dog who “ignores” you is making a perfectly rational choice based on natural instincts, needs and reinforcement history — not being stubborn.
Competing Motivations Aren’t Disobedience
If a dog is chasing a squirrel, investigating a scent patch, or worried about a nearby dog, those motivations often override whatever cue you’ve given.
Dogs aren’t refusing you out of spite.
They’re responding to the strongest stimuli in the environment.
Understanding your dog’s motivation and needs, will help you become more important than a squirrel, or another dog, you name it…
Working Breeds: Why are They Not Designed to Be Compliant
This part matters.
Many guardians choose a dog because of looks, not function — and function always influences behaviour.
Example: Dachshunds (Call me biased…)
Dachshunds are cute, but often described as stubborn, difficult to train, or having “selective hearing”. And people just accept it, and stop trying.
In reality, Dachshunds were bred to work independently:
- Following scents underground
- Making decisions without handler input
- Persisting in problem-solving
- Staying highly focused despite discomfort or stress
Independence was always a breed requirement, not a flaw. Getting a puppy from a working line of dogs is almost always a guarantee of strong instincts.
A Dachshund ignoring a recall around scents isn’t being stubborn.
They’re being… a Dachshund. And we just haven’t shown them how to be the pet we want them to be.
The same applies to:
- A terrier who “won’t stop digging”
- A herder who “won’t settle”
- A spaniel who “won’t come back when they’re on a trail”
- A guarding breed who “won’t relax around the front door”
- A husky who “pulls like a train”
- The list goes on…
If a dog wasn’t bred to prioritise human instruction in certain situations, we should not brand them stubborn when they don’t.
Adolescence: The Perfect Storm for the “Stubborn” Label
Between roughly 6–24 months (depending on breed, size, individual dog), dogs enter adolescence.
Brain development during this period temporarily affects:
- Impulse control
- Emotional regulation
- Response consistency
- Risk–reward assessment (“that squirrel is worth EVERYTHING right now”)
- Reinforcement sensitivity
- Stress recovery
This is the stage where many owners say:
- “He knows this, he’s just refusing.”
- “She’s suddenly stopped listening.”
- “He used to come back, now he runs off.”
Adolescence doesn’t create stubbornness.
It exposes gaps in training, reinforcement, or unmet needs that weren’t as obvious during puppyhood.
A Better Question: “What Does My Dog Need Right Now?”
Instead of assuming refusal, try asking yourself “Why isn’t this working?”.
The response I often get during training sessions is – “This makes perfect sense now that you’ve mentioned it”.
And most of the time it’s all common sense. Questions, which as owners we don’t ask ourselves because we don’t want to hear that we maybe haven’t done enough, that we might be letting our beloved companions down, not the other way around…
Ask yourself:
- Am I expecting him/her to actually respond or just “hoping” for the best? Hoping equals insufficient training.
- Have we practised enough?
- Have I reinforced this enough?
- Am I trying to rush this and move too fast?
- Is the environment too difficult for my dog right now?
- Have I taught this behaviour in this context?
- Am I giving clear instructions, or am I confusing her?
- Is my dog stressed, tired, or over-aroused?
- Is their breed influencing their response?
- Is adolescence in play?
Looking at our dogs’ behaviour with an open mind can be liberating. This shift moves us from frustration to problem-solving — and from blame to partnership.
Conclusion
Your dog isn’t giving you a hard time.
Your dog is having a hard time — understanding, focusing, generalising, or meeting their natural needs.
When we rethink behaviour through reinforcement history, learning theory, and breed function, the idea of the “stubborn dog” simply doesn’t hold up.
What does hold up is this:
Dogs do what works.
Dogs do what we’ve taught clearly.
Dogs do what we’ve reinforced.
And dogs follow their natural instincts and do what their genetics prepare them to do.
Swap “My dog is stubborn.” for “What does my dog need?”
That mindset shift changes everything.