How do I get my dogs to respond to their names and follow commands when they are together? They seem confused.

If I have two dogs and separately they know their names and respond to commands, how do I get them to respond to commands when together depending on whose name I called out? For example, if they're in a sit and I say "Lexi, come" I only want Lexi to come and Roxy to stay seated. They're getting confused when I attempt this. I want to keep the motivation high and not use "no" every time the wrong dog responds.

Cindy's Answer

This is something that may be hard to explain via a message. The first step, I make sure my dogs know a rock solid place or bed command individually, I use a training platform from the time they are puppies and they first must learn to stay and then stay under distraction.

After that, I have a person help me and have both dogs leashed so that they are stopped from leaving their place/bed when they are distracted. expecting a sit stay when the dog is first learning this may be too much, I'd work on the dog staying on a bed or platform individually under distraction first. I don't care if they sit, down or stand at this point. I just want them to stay on their platform. I use the Klimb and the Cato boards for this. They are hands down one of the most useful training tools I've ever used. I take them with me when I go visit family or do training in a new location. Ideally, you have one table or platform for each dog.

It's how I begin teaching stay from the day I get a little puppy. It's very clear to the dog that rewards happen in training when they are staying on there and I say Nope and guide them back on if they jump off and give lots of high value rewards for being on there. I use it for grooming my dogs, doing nails, putting collars and harnesses on, etc.. I use these platforms multiple times every day.

It's also really helpful if your dog knows and understands marker training, which we teach using food.