Your pet isn't ignoring you on purpose. You're just speaking a language they can't translate yet. Fix the signal, get the response.
Pets are biologically wired to prioritise your body language over your words. If your hands are moving, they might not even 'hear' what you're saying.
Using a hand gesture and a word at the same time? The gesture often 'overshadows' the word. To make a command stick, you must eventually fade the hand movement.
Dogs don't know English; they know phonetic patterns. Words with hard consonants like 'K' or 'T' are much easier for them to distinguish in a busy park.
'Walkies' and 'Cookies' sound identical to a dog. In a noisy environment, these become a muddle of 'O' sounds. Use sharp, distinct words like 'Lie' or 'Floor'.
If you say 'Down' but your partner says 'Off', your pet is lost. Ensure everyone in the household uses the exact same vocabulary for every action.
Repeating 'Come, come, come' while they sniff gorse makes the cue optional. Say it once. If they ignore it, you have a motivation problem, not a hearing one.
If you only call them 'Here' to go to the vet or end garden time, the word becomes a warning. The cue is now 'poisoned' and they will start to avoid it.
Poisoned a word? Ditch it and start fresh. Choose a brand new cue and pair it with high-value rewards like small bits of Irish cheddar to rebuild trust.
Can your dog 'Sit' if you're sitting on the sofa or facing away? If not, they're reading your posture, not your words. True training works from any angle.
Training at home is the easy part. To truly master cues, practice in distracting places like a rainy pier in Galway or a crowded cafe in Cork.
It's about clarity. Stop blaming 'stubbornness' and start refining your linguistic architecture. Clear signals create a bond of total trust.
See the exact phonetic word list and discrimination drills used by top Irish behaviorists to transform your training.