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I have a few tenets I live by:
1) you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
2) you get out of stuff what you put into it
3) I pick and choose my battles (windmills that I tilt) very carefully
4) I don't pick a fight I can't win

For dog training I have added 2 more:
5) I don't give a command unless I can enforce it
6) And if my training program isn't working, I am not afraid to say it isn't working, and find something else that does.

How this relates to a hardheaded dog is that dogs do not start out hard-headed, they are trained that way. Dogs do and repeat what is successful, so the hardheaded dog is gaining some degree of success and reward for being “stubborn.”

A hardheaded dog is generally just a dog that the handler hasn't found the correct motivation. For some dogs, it is food. For others, it is a toy. And still others, just avoiding a correction and gaining praise is enough. It is a matter of finding the correct motivator for a particular dog. The correct motivator is one that will get the results while still maintaining the dog's drive and happy working attitude. And it isn't the same – can't be the same for every dog.

My first training class was pure old time command, correction, praise stuff. The only positive motivation was the praise, and when the dog was in the proper heel position to talk to them. The trainer said, “I don't care if you sing 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' as long as you are talking to them in a happy tone of voice.” That worked fine for my first competition prospect, but my next dog “didn't like the way I sang”! He was a “hard-head.” When what I was doing wasn't working, I took a step back and started looking at where I could improve my relationship with my dog. I get a dog as a working companion for the life of the dog – a four-legged family member. Getting rid of a dog because it doesn't “work out” is not my thing, so I look to ways to improve my communication with the dog. To see what the dog is good at and work from there.

The problem that I frequently see with handlers is that they label a dog as hardheaded because they have to give constantly increasing corrections. Generally, if they try some other motivator, the dog responds so much more readily and happily, and it becomes a win-win for both. Just because a handler “wins” doesn't mean the handler has actually “won” if the dog has lost. If the dog doesn't feel like it has “won” also, then the battle is, a best a draw and at worst, a loss for both. This will come back to “bite” you later, either in the ring, in trial, or in the field. My recommendation is always to look for the win-win situation for both the dog and handler

Copyright 2002 by Fran Peck, Sonoran Aire
Article printed with permission of the author.
Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the author is prohibited.