Kelly123 Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi all, ive not posted on here for ages!!! My boy Ollie is now 18 months old, and has been very well behaved.... until now.... He has always known his basic commands, and we took him to training classes once a week for 6 months just to keep him in check, but the classes seemed more about making money than dog training so we stopped, and have just recently found an agility club, within driving distance that he will be making his first visit to on sunday. So why now that we can step up his training a level and get him into what i know he will love doing has he suddenly decided that he will only do his commands if he wants to?? eg. we are at the park, have a nice hour long walk, his recall is great, hes a really good boy, and im so proud of him, then we get to the gate, i call him over, tell him to sit, and the second i do he bolts in the opposite direction because he knows it hometime, and i then spend another 20 mins just getting his lead on! SOOOO FRUSTRATING!! He has never been like this before, and its just started happening in the last week or so, its like somethings clicked, and hes realised," hey, i dont wanna go so i aint gotta cause she wont leave me here". Mega annoying that he has his first class on sunday cause i dont want his chances of getting in the class re=uined cause of his stuborness!! He always gets at least 2 hours off leash excersize a day, so i dont know what to with him. Do i go back to treat training? Should i keep him on a long lead? (i dont really wanna do that cause hes really good the whole time im out, except when its home time) Any advice appreciated! Note: the pic is ollies new " as if im gonna get out of this water and let you put my lead on" look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 I think the answer to your question is in your post: My boy Ollie is now 18 months old Adolescence. I got my dog at 18 months, and he learned lots of cool tricks and stuff... and then decided to laugh at me when I tried to get him to listen. That only lasted a short time, and maybe I was lucky and got off at the tail end of teenage years... but looking back now, I can't imagine him acting that way! Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly123 Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Adolescence. I got my dog at 18 months, and he learned lots of cool tricks and stuff... and then decided to laugh at me when I tried to get him to listen. Tell me about it, i swear hes laughing at me when i call himand he comes just within my reach, and then runs off "gotcha, thought i was gonna let ya didnt u" look. And i just know the other dog owners are laughing... I did think it could be his age, but im just not sure how to tackle it. take action or continue as i am and show him that in the end i win anyways... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 I did think it could be his age, but im just not sure how to tackle it. take action or continue as i am and show him that in the end i win anyways... Well, I wouldn't want him to be practicing such bad habits as ignoring a recall and playing keep away. So I would not have him off a long line until I felt he was back to being reliable. That way you can stop the keep away and then engage in a mini refresher of what come means (stay positive). At the same time, I'd make a game of putting him on his leash in the middle of play, giving a few commands, then releasing him back to play so he learns that the leash doesn't always mean the fun ends. And I'd practice lots and lots of recalls. Quinn's recall didn't develop as nicely as my other dogs always seemed to do naturally with time. So I finally started making him do numerous recalls to earn his dinner in portions. It was almost like a light went on in his head, "Oh. So that's what you want. Why didn't you say so?" He became much more reliable pretty quickly. So revisit training. Do it with lots of rewards. Do it with buidling distractions. Teach him the leash doesn't always mean all fun ends. Don't let him practice bad behavior. Oh, and don't be afraid to talk to the people at the agility center about training issues. A solid recall and keeping your dog's attention are very essential to agility. You'll find training for them is a subject near and dear to agility peoples' hearts. They might have some great suggestions for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Ollie is cute! Call him about ten minutes before it's time to go, with his leash in hand. Give him a treat with the leash hand, something really great like real meat. Dismiss him. Do this about once a minute until it's time to go. Make sure while you are treating him, that the leash snap is touching him, touching his collar, etc. About the second from last time, actually snap his leash on if you can before you treat him. Then release him again. This should work. It's important that you work on this way before you go, so necessity doesn't add to the frustration of his refusals. This is pretty normal at this age, by the way, so don't feel like you or he is a failure. If you can't even do the above, work on this from the first that you release him to go play, and just know you'll have to work on it the whole time you are at the park. I"d also work on a lot of other obedience stuff with him at other times to get him really tuned to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly123 Posted January 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 I'd make a game of putting him on his leash in the middle of play, giving a few commands, then releasing him back to play so he learns that the leash doesn't always mean the fun ends. Thats a really good idea! *slaps head and asks why i didnt think of it "Call him about ten minutes before it's time to go, with his leash in hand. Give him a treat with the leash hand, something really great like real meat. Dismiss him. Do this about once a minute until it's time to go. Make sure while you are treating him, that the leash snap is touching him, touching his collar, etc. About the second from last time, actually snap his leash on if you can before you treat him. Then release him again." *Again slaps head Frustration has been stopping my brain from working methinks! Thanks for all the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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