Your puppy doesn't have a clue to what you are saying. She doesn't understand when you call out "Fluffy, come here!" She has no idea what "Come here" means. She can learn, but you have to teach her. More importantly, you have to teach her in terms that she can understand. What seems very clear to you may not make a whole lot of sense to your puppy. Remember, she is a different species than you. Her brain is wired differently, so she learns differently.

If you ask your puppy to do something and she doesn't do it, is she stubborn? Is she defying you? Could it be that she's just not intelligent? Not likely. The truth is that she either doesn't understand what you're asking, or you have unrealistic expectations about her ability to perform the task. For example, let's say you're trying to teach your puppy to come to you when you call her. You're indoors, with the television turned off and no distractions. You crouch down, hold your arms open invitingly, treat in hand, and croon "Come here!" Your puppy runs to you, tail wagging happily. Does this mean that she understands the cue? Nope!

Let's take the scenario outside, with your puppy off leash in a fenced-in yard. (For their protection, puppies never should be off leash unless the area is fenced.) Your puppy is across the yard. You hold your arms out invitingly, and with a cookie in your hand, call out "Come here!" She ignores you. Or she starts to come, then veers off in another direction. Why? Is she stubborn? Is she stupid? Not at all! She's distracted by the dirt she's shoving her nose into, the butterfly that just zipped by, or the neighborhood kids cooing at her from the other side of the fence.

This is normal any time you change your puppy's immediate environment. If you teach her something with just you in the room but later try to get her to do the same thing with other people present, you may find that she has difficulty responding. That's because added distractions are competing for your puppy's attention. Now, this doesn't mean that your puppy will never learn to respond to you outside or with other people present. It just means that you have to have extra patience to teach her what you want.