January 13, 2020
Recently, I started adding verbal cues to my dog's behaviors and now his engagement is waning. Why?
Full Question:
I have a 7-month-old mal/dutch shepherd puppy and I am just starting to put his behaviors on cue. Up to this point, he looks really good being lured into position and I am about 90% happy with the positions he is ending up in. We are both also having a ton of fun with a lot of engagement. Previously in my routines, we have worked through several different positions/behaviors which seems to keep him more engaged. Lately, I have limited the sessions to one behavior per session and have begun to put the behaviors on cue. He is understanding well but I have lost a ton of engagement from him and I have no idea why. I feel if I try to do more than one behavior at a time that it will be too confusing. I have tried shorting my sessions, cutting back on his feeding, and changing food rewards. I'm not able to utilize a toy with my obedience yet as he gets completely overstimulated and no learning occurs. I have gone from a laser-focused dog to a dog who gives me about half of his attention. Help!
Cindy's Answer:
Without seeing your dog I can only make a general guess about what is going on but in my experience raising lots of puppies and using this system I have a couple of guesses.
One is that your dog is hitting the age where they start becoming more mature and hormonal, they notice smells and other things more and generally start behaving a bit like a teenager in many cases. My puppy is just 8 months old and I'm going through it now.
The other thing that it sounds like he may be bored, are you still working on engagement and getting him primed and ready for training before each session? I see many of my students forget that engagement is still a very big part of the training session, don't forget to invest in the relationship and make sure the dog is ready to train. Make sure your rate of reinforcement is high.
The young dog I'm training now is super amped up and I no longer do really high excitement engagement activities before each session but in the beginning, I did food chase recalls (2 or 3) before every training session and it really got him engaged and ready to work. You can still only work on one behavior per session but put some effort into engagement before and after and vary it, don't be predictable. Experiment with doing some engagement with food, then a behavior (for example down), and then more engagement, and then maybe work touch pads or restrained recalls or something that's very different from positions.
What is your ultimate goal for your pup?
One is that your dog is hitting the age where they start becoming more mature and hormonal, they notice smells and other things more and generally start behaving a bit like a teenager in many cases. My puppy is just 8 months old and I'm going through it now.
The other thing that it sounds like he may be bored, are you still working on engagement and getting him primed and ready for training before each session? I see many of my students forget that engagement is still a very big part of the training session, don't forget to invest in the relationship and make sure the dog is ready to train. Make sure your rate of reinforcement is high.
The young dog I'm training now is super amped up and I no longer do really high excitement engagement activities before each session but in the beginning, I did food chase recalls (2 or 3) before every training session and it really got him engaged and ready to work. You can still only work on one behavior per session but put some effort into engagement before and after and vary it, don't be predictable. Experiment with doing some engagement with food, then a behavior (for example down), and then more engagement, and then maybe work touch pads or restrained recalls or something that's very different from positions.
What is your ultimate goal for your pup?
User Response:
Thanks so much for the reply! I plan on doing IPO work with him. I just joined a regional Schutzhund club and I’ve been learning a lot. This will be my first working dog so I’m nervous and excited. It’s amazing all the different challenges that you face that I never would have imagined. I think you have some great ideas and I definitely think the touchpad and restrained recalls are a great idea, he does really great and loves both of those activities. I also agree that I’m probably boring him. In anticipation of the session starting I have full engagement. He even whines and barks in frustration if I don’t start soon enough, but when I start doing the same behavior over and over and putting it on cue he noticeably changes in his demeanor. I want to keep going because he doesn’t know it yet, but I know I have to always make his engagement a priority. Thanks again for the advice.
100% (1 out of 1)
respondents found this answer helpful
Can't find what you're looking for?
100% (1 out of 1)
respondents found this answer helpful
