Most of the time — no. Dog training almost never moves in a straight line. But that doesn't mean every setback is automatically proof of progress either. What matters is understanding what's actually happening with your dog before you decide it's good, bad, or nothing at all.
Old Behavior Can Temporarily Come Back
If barking, jumping, pulling, or demanding attention used to get your dog what it wanted, it will try those strategies again once they stop working the usual way. Sometimes a dog repeats the old behavior harder, or shows other signs tied to frustration, before it settles into the new pattern.
Studies on pet dogs found that removing an expected reward triggered fast behavioral changes, signs of frustration, and a partial return of a previously extinguished response between sessions. This is known as spontaneous recovery. (Bentosela et al., 2008; Jakovcevic et al., 2013)
An unwanted behavior sometimes gets temporarily more intense right before it decreases — what's called an extinction burst. But a research review is clear that this doesn't always happen, which makes "it got worse, so it must be working" a dangerous shortcut to lean on. (Fisher et al., 2023)
A New Command Isn't a Real Skill Yet
Your dog might sit perfectly in the kitchen and seem to "forget" the same command on the street. That's not necessarily stubbornness.
For a dog, "sit in the kitchen" and "sit next to another dog, a passing car, or a stranger" are two very different levels of difficulty. A command has to be practiced separately with different people, in different places, and with gradually increasing distractions before it becomes reliable.
Behaviorists at the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior note that dogs don't automatically transfer a learned behavior from one context to another — reliability is built gradually, one layer at a time. (AVSAB)
Age Matters Too
In young dogs, a temporary dip in obedience can line up with adolescence. A study published in Biology Letters found that adolescent dogs go through a passing phase of reduced trainability and responsiveness — specifically toward their primary owner. (Asher et al., 2020)
That doesn't mean an adolescent dog gets a free pass to do whatever it wants. It means consistency, clear rules, and correctly calibrated difficulty matter more right now than at almost any other stage.
What a Normal Dip Looks Like
You're most likely looking at a temporary setback — not a failure — when:
- The problem shows up mainly in new or more difficult situations.
- Your dog succeeds again once you increase distance from the trigger or lower the difficulty.
- Appetite, interest in walks, play, and social contact all stay normal.
- A rough day is followed by an improved one, not another rough one.
- The overall trend from week to week is still moving in the right direction.
Progress should be judged by concrete markers, not a single bad rep: distance from the trigger, recovery time, the number of successful repetitions, and whether the owner can manage the dog independently.
What You Should Never Write Off As "Just a Normal Dip"
- Constant shutdown or flatness
- Fear of the trainer or the equipment
- Refusing food
- Avoiding contact
- Signs of pain
- A sudden spike in aggression
- A complete change in temperament
None of the above is a normal cost of training. Sudden behavior changes can be linked to pain or illness — in those cases, a veterinary check comes first, and the training plan gets reassessed afterward. (AAHA)
A quiet, shut-down dog is not the same thing as a trained dog.
What Should Actually Happen in the First Month
The first month isn't a promise of a "perfect dog in 30 days." Its real job is bigger than that:
- Identify what's actually driving the behavior
- Build a clear system of rules
- Teach the dog alternative responses
- Gradually transfer those skills into real life
- Teach the owner how to manage the dog correctly
- Track progress and adjust the program when needed
At Take Me to K9, I don't just check whether a dog performed the command. I look at how well the dog understands the task, how fast it recovers, what actually triggers the unwanted reaction, and whether the owner can reproduce the result on their own.
If your dog seems "different" during training, don't guess and don't just wait it out. Figure out whether it's an expected stage of learning, too much pressure too fast, a gap in the program, or a possible health issue.
Real training doesn't hide behavior. It helps the dog and the owner handle real life.
