Anja Posted June 14, 2000 Report Share Posted June 14, 2000 My dog Max is rather quickly loosing his mind. We have been doing obedience with him since he was like 3 months. He had gotten to the point where he could be off leash and would respond with no problem. He turned one year on Sunday and it seems now I have to say his name over and over to get him to respond. I find all of this so odd because his litter mate Ty has been doing just fine and actually better his commands are getting much sharper. But Max is like going nuts. Is this just a phase or what?? Any help would be great!! Oh one more thing I have been going back to basics with him like 2 min stays making him stay on leash all the time even when he plays frisbee ( well it drags but it is like 20 feet). Oh yes he has taken to growling at moving objects ( I use remote control cars or balls to distract them during their stays). Any help would be great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEL Posted June 15, 2000 Report Share Posted June 15, 2000 HI! I'm not an expert here, but I believe it is possible that your pup is going thru that "juvenile" period, and I think the best bet right now, if he is "testing" is for you to go back to basics on all of your training, keep him on leash and accentuate the positive while reinforcing the exercises that he seems to be having difficulty with. My non-BC, I started in puppy classes at 11 wks and was happily training along, and at about 11 mo, suddenly his responses starting getting slower, sometimes non-existent, and my trainer at that time felt he was entering that "juvenile" period, and told me to just keep him on leash (to prevent him from learning the "catch me if you can" game) and just go back and reinforce the basics. Well, at the time I thought it was kind of a cop-out, not to address what I considered the "real issue," but, she was the expert...and she was right! There was another very noticable shift in his maturity at about 15 mo, and we were able to pick right back up where we had left off at 11 mo with off leash work, retrieving, scent work...all the fun advanced stuff. Her feeling is that to some extent, if the pup is entering his "teenager" stage, he is struggling inside with these last stages of growing up, and that is not the time to forge ahead in your training, but rather to step back and reinforce all the good stuff, and as always, prevent bad habits from forming... I don't know if this advice just worked so well for us because she knew my dog so well, and was able to "read" him enough to know he wasn't necessarily being deliberately disobedient...rather he needed us to slow down in our training and just give him a couple months of reinforcement (because we were progressing very fast!)and this manifested itself in his minor rebellion - ? Its just something to think about....I do believe, however, that you don't want to allow him to slack off on his responses to your reasonable commands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica & Nash Posted June 15, 2000 Report Share Posted June 15, 2000 Hi You might want to try getting into another obedience class or try retraining him on your own. Take him for walks as often as possible to practice sitting and heeling and anything else. Make sure he has lots if exercise also. bye hope this helps ------------------ Jessica Cinti,OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted June 15, 2000 Report Share Posted June 15, 2000 I think JEL is right - it's almost like the teenage rebellion. Main point: he's testing YOU. If you let him get away with anything at this stage, you'll regret it. Yes, that't the voice of experience here... Also, my BC went through a period at between 1.5 and 2 years of fear of things she had previously shown no reaction to - everything from really loud noises to three-ring binders snapping shut to shaking out a paper grocery sack. Whew. Glad that didn't last too long. Stick with the basics, maintain your "alpha" position, and you'll be glad later. Also, don't get discouraged! You KNOW your dog can do these things - just give him a chance to show you again - later. Good luck! diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anja Posted June 16, 2000 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2000 Thanks everyone, I guess I will continue doing what I have been doing which is back to basics!! I was really starting to think he was slowly but surely loosing his mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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