Why Your Dog Pretends You’ve Never Met When You
Go to the Park
Many owners tell me the same thing: “My dog listens perfectly at home, but the moment we go to the
park it’s like he’s never met me before.”
At home, your dog may sit, down, and come without hesitation. Then you arrive at the park and
suddenly your dog is pulling, ignoring commands, and far more interested in everything else going on
around them.
The problem usually isn’t that your dog is stubborn or trying to be difficult. The park is simply much
more interesting than your living room.
Dogs experience the world through their senses. At the park there are smells, movement, other dogs,
people, squirrels, birds, and a thousand exciting distractions competing for your dog’s attention. To
your dog, all of those things may be more rewarding than listening to you — at least at first.
This is why training needs to happen in stages. A dog that understands a command in the house still
needs to learn that the same rules apply when distractions are present. We build that reliability slowly
by practicing in different environments and gradually increasing difficulty.
Rewards also need to compete with the environment. A plain biscuit might work in the kitchen, but in
the park you may need something much more exciting like freeze dried liver, chicken, or cheese. In
other words, sometimes you need to step up your treat game.
Over time, as your dog learns that checking in with you consistently leads to good things, your
relationship becomes more valuable than the distractions. Eventually the dog stops pretending it
doesn’t know you — because choosing you becomes the better option.
Dogs aren’t ignoring their owners to be bad. Most of the time they simply haven’t learned yet that the
same rules apply everywhere. Training helps them understand those rules clearly