They might just be reading your eyes or your treat bag. If the context changes, the obedience vanishes.
Biologically, pets are visually oriented. If you give a hand signal and a verbal command at once, the 'Visual Override' happens. They focus on your hands and ignore your voice.
In a Canadian winter, your heavy Canadian Tire parka can obscure your signals. To your dog, a 'down' signal looks different when you're wearing bulky sleeves.
Pets don't hear words; they hear rhythm and consonants. Cues with hard endings like 'Sit' or 'Back' are much easier for them to discriminate than soft sounds.
Using words that rhyme or share vowel sounds creates confusion. If 'Stay' sounds like 'Okay' to your dog, they’ll break their position before you're ready.
Try using French or German for commands. It separates 'training time' from the casual English chatter they hear around the house or at the local cafe.
If 'Down' and 'Stay' use similar hand heights, your pet is just guessing. Make sure every visual cue occupies a distinct physical space around your body.
If your dog only performs when they see the treat, you haven't taught the cue—you've taught them to follow the food. Practice with empty hands to build real trust.
Can your dog 'Sit' if you aren't looking at them? If not, they are relying on your eye contact, not your word. Test their discrimination by facing away.
True mastery means a 'Down' works on cold slush outside Shoppers Drug Mart just as well as it does on your warm living room rug. Proof your cues everywhere.
If you only call 'Come' when it's time to leave the park, that word becomes a negative signal. If a cue is poisoned, ditch it and start fresh with a new word.
Training is a dialogue, not a monologue. When you build a distinct linguistic architecture, you stop shouting into the wind and start being understood.
Get the full list of distinct cues and the step-by-step guide to fixing 'poisoned' commands.