“Sit. Sit. Siiiiit. SIT!”
We’ve all been there. Repeating commands is one of the most common mistakes dog owners make.
By repeating words over and over, the dog is only learning that listening the first or second or even third time isn’t necessary.
So if your habit is to always say “sit” 3 times, don’t expect your dog to sit unless hearing it 3 times.
If your dog always thinks your commands are optional like this, you won’t get reliable behaviour or obedience, which can be really dangerous is cases such as recall that must be non-negotiable for safety reasons.
If you want your dog to instead listen first time every time then you need to ask for the command once and then hold them accountable with some form of follow-through to make sure they do the command. With recall, for example, have them on a long line and if they do not respond to their recall command, reel them in like a fish.
This way, you teach them that there is no option of ignoring you and they have to listen and comply first time.
