Smell We can’t even come close to our dog’s ability to smell things. It’s been estimated that a dog’s sense of smell is 100,000 times more powerful than a human’s. Scientists think that humans have about 40 million olfactory receptors, versus 2 billion for your dog! That’s part of reason dogs make such good trackers, and can trace scents across all sorts of distractions – like across roadways or through dense woods. Dogs also use their sense of smell as a communications tool – when they’re running around park with their nose to ground, sniffing everything in sight, they’re actually reading calling cards of everyone – dogs, humans, cats, squirrels, and anyone or anything else, that has been there before him. Which is why he may not pay attention to you when you first get to park – he’s trying to see if any of his buddies have been there before him!

Taste Just as with humans, taste is closely linked to sense of smell – main difference is humans won’t eat something that smells bad; while dogs are opposite – smellier better. Dogs will gulp first and ask questions later. While humans many times won’t eat something that doesn’t look appealing, let alone doesn’t smell good, dogs are more concerned with smell, than taste. They frequently gobble down food before they have time to chew it, let alone taste it. But that’s ok – it’s why when we clean out our refrigerators our dogs think it’s time for treats. So next time your dog engages in some puzzling behavior, whether it’s barking for no reason, or ignoring you at park, he might not be trying to irritate you – he’s just responding to a different level of senses than you are. Take a moment to look around and try and figure out what’s triggering his behavior before you get mad. Your dog could be trying to tell you something! http://tinyurl.com/6u2cj

My hunch is that he’s not listening to you because you’re using a choke chain collar and you’re not able to get a good correction. If you WERE getting a good correction, he wouldn’t be throwing a tantrum.

He can’t be watching other dog and watching you at same time. If he has to worry about you sneaking off and getting caught at end of leash (where he gets a correction from collar)… then he’s not going to have enough room in his brain left to think about going after other dog.

To read more of my dog training ramblings, read about my book (click below): http://tinyurl.com/4efaq Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!