I’ll point something basic out right off the bat. You’ve probably heard it hundreds of times before, but your dog is not human. Too many dog owners make the mistake of thinking that their dog sees the world in the same way they do: He doesn’t.

Dogs learn differently than humans. Specifically, they are very context focused. What I mean by this is that if you teach your dog to sit on your command in the kitchen, he won’t necessarily follow the same command when you’re in the park. You haven’t taught him to. Your dog learned to respond to your instruction in the kitchen, not anywhere else. So, until you start to show your dog that you expect him to sit on command in additional settings, he simply won’t understand what’s expected of him.

I have been working with dogs for a while. I have trained multiple breeds and dealt with a wide range of issues. If my experiences so far have taught me one thing, it’s that you should always be wary of a dog trainer who claims they can “fix” all your dog’s problems if your pet spends a set period of time being boarded and trained in their facility.