Sam wanted to pop in again with a message on behalf of all of his friends. Think about how confusing it must be for your non-human companions to try and figure out what it is you want them to do, and what rules you want them to live by, if you are not providing consistent enough feedback.
Your pet’s interpretation of its name is one of those grey areas. If you use it affectionately over and over without purpose, it is easy for that word to fall into that category of learned irrelevance. You may want to consider using a nickname for your dog, one that, you teach consistently to mean ‘this word causes awesomeness to happen. You don’t want to miss it!’
How do you teach it? Simplifying it down to a couple sentences: lots and lots of pairings of THE nickname (or name) and great things…in a variety of settings and circumstances while being cognizant to avoid using THE nickname at any other time other than when it is used with purpose and is followed by something of great value to your dog. NEVER use the name to call your dog when you are angry or when you will be following it with something aversive from your dog’s standpoint.
