Simple obedience

[Marmot]

I am starting to encounter problems with simple obedience commands with my 3 month old lab. For the past couple days, he has decided for the most part to not listen when I give him simple obedience commands (sit, come, wait…). Occasionally he will follow the simple commands, but he is not very prompt in doing it. Lately, I have had to physically place him in a sit position.

I am seeking suggestions on how to correct this problem before it gets out of hand. Is a simple soft spank on the hindquarters appropriate to let him know that I am serious when I give commands? Is a physical placement appropriate until he remembers that he must obey my commands? Any suggestion or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Marmot

[FISHER ED]

In my opinion I wouldn't sweat things at this point in the game. I got my lab when he was 13 weeks (3 months) and I was all gung-ho about obiedience. The first thing my trainer said was let the pup be a pup and gain his confidence. A lot of people will say wait until their puppy teeth fall out before any obiedience and I will agree with them. Just have fun at this point. One thing you can do is keep your pup on a long rope and use the "here" or "come" command. Each time you call them just reel them in on the rope and in no time they will get the point.
"Stay"/"wait" is a hard one for a small pup as they are so hyper and I think the last thing you want to do at this time is take that fire away by having them settle down.
You can start working on "heal" and "sit" when you go for rope walks by putting gentle tugs on the rope when you gove the commands but this will all come very fast with time. Have fun and good luck.

Ed

[Marmot]

Ed - I understand your points. I also understand a pup needs time to be a pup.

The reason for my post, was until recently, he was doing very well with the simple obedience and we were having fun doing it. His attempts at obedience commands were not always perfect, but I could tell he was trying. I was content with him trying as he was learning how to listen and trying to please me. Now he treats simple obedience commands as optional. I just don't want him to learn that obeying is optional.

Marmot

[jeffyo45]

My thoughts are if you give a command you need to enforce it. Take him back to the spot where he was when you gave the command and make him do it. Putting him on a short rope will help facilitate this as he won't be able to run away when you try to make him obey. I didn't think I was going to use treats to train my first dog but it helped to get his attention. Eventually you can start to phase out the treats. It worked with my dog but whose to say it will work with yours. Stay on top of the obedience. Keep it short, 5-7 reps at least a couple times a day then have some play time. Hopefully he will start to associate work with play. Good luck and try to remain patient.

[Grabs]

My thoughts are that your dog is going through a stage in its life and I think all you can do is to keep making things fun. This may mean you have to find something new to do. Go play in the pond, play with a dummy maybe add a wing a few times. Change things up for a while soon your pup will want to listen to you again, until then don't be to hard on him, if you established who was boss in the beginning and he was in joining the training then he will again soon.

Dogs go through stages and phases a lot like a little kid, your dog may be in the that terrible twos phase we see in young kids.

Good luck

[Walleye Wegs]

I am going through the same thing with my 4 month old lab and I know how frustrating it can be. I have talked with several people they have all said basically the same thing being said here. We just have to let them be a puppy. Good luck and let me know how it goes I can use the advice from others experiences.

------------------
WW
Lakes and Lures Guide Service
218 766 2933

[LABS4ME]

Jeffy is right, if you give a command you have to enforce it if he refuses you. Between the ages of 12 weeks and 16 weeks your dog should have a firm grasp of Sit, Stay, Here, Heel. It's not to say he will be flawless and that you can have him sit in the stay position for 5 minutes, but he should be able to sit, stay while you back up 10 paces and give him the Here command, and heel with some help from the lead. Letting him slide now only solidfies bad habits which have to be broke later. If he doesn't develop bad habits... none to break!

You do need to see each command through to the end. Make sure he does them using the minimum amount of pressure needed to get him to do it. If that means placing him him the sit position, so be it. If it progresses into a sit stick, so be it. Just don't use any more pressure than you need to get your results. Keep the sessions short. If you are having a rocky training session, end it on a positive note by praising him when he completes one of your commands, then do something fun. I use "fun bumpers"... just pitching a dummy out as fast as possible back and forth for 3-4 times.

I personally am not a fan of using treats as a reward when training... I really do think it's a shortcut. A dog should do each command for you, his Master, when told to do so, and his reward is your praise. Doing commands with treats is making him do it for himself (wants treat in belly) and not you... I've seen problems arise in the transition from treat training to no treat training. He no longers wants to do the commands because there is nothing in it for him.

Keep a calm voice when training and do so in a quiet area with no distractions. raising your voice in frustration leads to a dog who only listens when he is scolded.

I personally have never seen the "go" taken out of a dog who is taught obedience at a young age. If anything I believe it instills more "go" as it's one less thing to work on at the age when you begin formal field training, and he already has built up confidence through successful training sessions.

Good Luck! Ken

[Cootz]

I'll admit I'm not a veteran trainer. I'm actually on my first dog. So when I find myself asking too much out of my dog on a day he isn't performing to the level he's capable of performing to and each of us are getting mad I try to end on a positive note. I back off to something that is really simple that he will 100% accomplish the way you want it done. That way you can praise him and end with both of you being happy. Not you being all mad and the dog punished by ending the session on a negative note. Maybe obvious to most but took me some time to figure it out.

P.S. I sure don't miss the terrible two's...

------------------
So many scientists, so few rockets.