Puppy Training Series: No is Not a Cue

I'm Dale Buchanan, and this is Puppy Talk, the podcast that offers free advice and tips for raising a happy, healthy, and obedient puppy. For more information on this podcast, visit us online@puppytalkpodcast.com.

Welcome to Puppy Talk podcast, episode number 68. I'm your host, Dale Buchanan. Today we're continuing the puppy training series with no is not a cue. I hear a lot of puppy owners using the word no or using the command. No ma'am. And it's not really applicable to most puppy training. I have other methods to use instead, and I'm gonna teach you those in this podcast episode. Let's get started. When people use the word no, it does nothing to help the puppy learn what you want it to do. No. Is just to stop the puppy momentarily from doing something and usually it doesn't work on the first. No. Most puppy owners have to use the word no often in repetition, such as No, no, no. They do it that way because the puppy isn't listening and then they complain because the puppy doesn't listen. I've said this over and over again in numerous puppy talk episodes.

Focus on what you want the puppy to do and don't try to stop the puppy from doing something. There is one exception to this. It's called Correct it and redirect it. However, we still don't use the word no. While browsing Instagram. Recently I saw a post from another dog trainer, mannered mutts dog training that says No is not a cue. And it got me thinking that I never used the word no. In fact, when my mother was here visiting recently, she was walking Dixie through Home Depot. She used the word no when Dixie started going in the garden center at the after the trees, after the bushes. And she said, no, no. And I told her, I said, don't use the word no, I don't use the word no in my training. I don't use the word no with Dixie. Just tell her what you want her to do.

And she did that and she just said, Dixie, come over here. And Dixie came to her and stopped fighting on the bushes. So that's how we did it. And she said, oh, well I now I learned something. I don't need to use the word no when walking puppies. That's something that's a lot of people unconsciously do is they use the word no. Back to this Instagram post that I was referring to, the image on this post, I'm gonna put in a blog post on all of my websites, puppy talk podcast.com, top gun dog training.com, and puppy training.dog. In the center, it has a circle that says No is not a queue. And then it has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 circles that reach out from this center circle to use instead. And here are the things that it recommends to use instead. Go to place. That's a great alternative to know down.

That's also a great alternative to know because it's showing and teaching the puppy what you want them to do. Lay down, that's great. Or I'll do this one, go to your bed, lay down and stay. That's better than no. Stay is also a good one. Sit. Stand off this way. Those are all alternatives to using the word no. Yesterday I was training a puppy, which is a German short-haired pointer and a German shepherd mix, 13 week old puppy. We were at an outdoor mall, an outdoor strip mall with a lot of restaurants and shops and so forth. There was a lady with her, I think it was a poodle, and she kept telling the dog, no ma'am, no ma'am. And yelling at the dog. And I informed my clients, I said, don't ever do what that lady's doing. What in the world is she thinking?

I hear this a lot with people that have female dogs. They use the command. No, ma'am, where did that even come from? I never even thought of using that command. And it's absolutely not applicable to dog training. No, ma'am teaches the dog nothing. And it can't be used with a male dog because you're not gonna say, no, ma'am, to that dog. You're gonna say, no, sir, that doesn't make any sense. No is not a cue. No, ma'am is not a cue. No, sir is not a cue. Don't use anything with no, because there's nowhere for the puppy to go to learn something. What do we do instead? I've mentioned this in so many podcast episodes before, and one I did recently was using about using corrections, and then another one about using positive reinforcement. So we use what's called correct it and redirect it. I like to use this sound, I I, to interrupt the puppy's behavior and stop them from doing something, and then you direct them to what you want them to do.

So it would be like this, Uhuh, sit down. Good boy, good girl, stay. Yes, good boy, good girl. Now you've taught them what you want them to do and interrupted their thought pattern from what you didn't want them to do, instead of just saying no. Back to this Instagram post that I was talking about earlier. In the body of this post, it says, no is not a cue. No is not a behavior. It's not something your dog can perform. You might mean one thing like stop, come here, stand still, lie down, drop it down. But it's likely very unclear to your dog what you want. That's why no doesn't work. And then she goes on to say, stop telling your dog no, and start asking for behavior they know. Instead, tell them exactly what it is that you want them to do. Set them up for success.

This last sentence is very important. Set them up for success. No, does not set your dog up for success. It means they are failing and you never want the puppy to think they are failing. You always want the puppy to think they are succeeding. Think about this for a second. You tell your dog or puppy, no or no ma'am, and they're failing. How frustrated do you think they are when they hear you saying no and listen to the way that no sounds? No, because no can't be said nicely like, good girl, good boy. No, nobody says no like that. Nobody says, no, no. They say it like this. No, they say it harshly and they say it in a tone that frustrates the dog. And the dog senses your frustration. And then that cycle keeps going around and around. I know there are some people that will say, oh, I use the word no all the time and my dog listens to me.

That's great. But you still have to teach them what you want them to do. If they've learned to listen to the word no that you've programmed into their software, which I don't do by the way. I like to use the sound uhuh or leave it and then redirect to what we want the puppy to do. Correct it and redirect it. You always have to redirect to teach the puppy something, to teach them a behavior that's gonna make them succeed. Not to fail. Always end everything that you do with a puppy on a positive note, what you want them to do, rewarding them. Good boy, good girl. That's a very good puppy. Good baby. Yes, good girl. I do that with Dixie all the time. She's doing something good. I'm always recognizing when she's doing something good and she's making good decisions. Puppies will learn to make decisions at about 12 weeks old.

Most of their decisions won't be good decisions, maybe five or 10%. And then you want to get that pendulum over to the other side over time where your puppy's gonna be making 80, 90, 90 5% good decisions, and the other five or 10, 15%, they're not making so good, but that's okay. They're still succeeding. Set your puppy up for success. Don't use the no command because no is not a cue. Use the commands that are teaching the puppy to do what you want them to do and have them succeed and continually reward that behavior. I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have any questions about this episode or Puppy Talk podcast, you can reach me through the website, puppy talk podcast.com. Have a great day.