Your Stockdog Isn’t Just Being a Jerk: What Training Mistakes Are Really Telling You

Written by Dawna Sims | PSR Stockdogs

One of the biggest mindset shifts you can make in stockdog training has nothing to do with learning a new technique or mastering better timing. It comes from changing the way you interpret your dog’s mistakes.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing our dogs are being stubborn, disrespectful, or deliberately difficult when they don’t do what we’ve asked. We’ve all heard people say things like, “He’s just blowing me off,” or “She knows better but she’s choosing not to listen.” Almost always, that’s simply not what’s happening.

Dogs don’t wake up each morning trying to figure out how they can frustrate us. They aren’t planning ways to make training harder or intentionally refusing to cooperate.

More often than not, when a dog isn’t doing the job, they’re telling us something important about the training process.

 Stockdogs Need Clear Training

One thing we have learned after years of working stockdogs is that most dogs genuinely want to be correct. They want to understand the work, they want to know what earns the right answer.

When we’ve built a solid foundation, introduced concepts progressively, and given them the skills they need, most dogs will put in a sincere effort to get it right. That’s why, when something falls apart, we try not to ask, “Why is my dog being difficult?”

Instead, we ask a much more useful question: What is my dog trying to tell me? That single question changes everything.

 Every Stockdog Training Mistake Is Information

When a dog makes a mistake, they’re giving us feedback. Maybe they’re confused, maybe I skipped a step. Maybe the pressure became too high, or maybe I’m asking for more than I’ve prepared them to handle. Maybe the environment has changed enough that they no longer understand the picture. Or maybe I assumed understanding before true understanding had actually been built.

None of those answers mean the dog is being a jerk, they simply point to a gap somewhere in the training process. Every mistake provides information if we’re willing to see it.

 Become a Better Stockdog Trainer

When we stop viewing mistakes as disobedience and start viewing them as communication, we naturally become better dog trainers. Instead of reacting emotionally, we become curious. Instead of increasing pressure immediately, we start evaluating what the dog actually understands. Instead of asking, “How do I make my dog obey?” we begin asking, “How can I explain this more clearly?”

That shift often produces far better results than simply correcting harder. Great stockdog trainers don’t just fix dogs, they fix confusion.

 Yes, Dogs Can Make Poor Choices

None of this means dogs never choose incorrectly, they absolutely do. There are moments when a dog understands the task and still makes a poor decision. Those moments require accountability. But accountability only works when understanding already exists. If we correct for something the dog never truly understood, we’re often punishing confusion instead of improving performance.

That’s why it’s so important to honestly evaluate the training before assuming the problem is attitude.

Go Back Before You Go Forward

Whenever your dog struggles, resist the temptation to simply repeat the training exercise louder or with more pressure.

Instead:

* Go back to the last point where your dog was successful.

* Break the skill into smaller pieces.

* Fill in the missing foundation.

* Build confidence and understanding.

* Then put the picture back together.

It’s amazing how many “behavior problems” disappear once the dog finally understands what we’re asking.

 Strong Stockdog Partnerships Begin with Understanding

Our dogs aren’t trying to fight us, they’re trying to understand us. The more carefully we listen to what their mistakes are telling us, the better teachers we become. And the better teachers we become, the more confident, willing, and reliable our dogs become in return. The strongest stockdog partnerships aren’t built through force. They’re built through communication, clarity, and trust.

When we learn to see mistakes as feedback instead of defiance, we stop training against our stockdogs and start training with them, and that is  where real progress begins.

About Dawna Sims

Dawna Sims has more than 21 years of hands-on experience training dogs and handlers to work livestock and is the author of The Rules of the Hunt. She leads PSR Stockdogs with Megan Sims-Kennedy; together they were named 2025 Herding Breeder of the Year by the American Kennel Club, and their program is ASCA Hall of Fame Excellent Kennel #25.