My 5 month old German Shepherd pup knows sit, down and to some extent come. Recently I have been letting him lose inside when I'm home with the leash dragging behind. Beginning a week or so ago, when I would give him a sit or whatever, he would stand and look at me - as if he had no idea what I meant. I then wait a few seconds and as I begin to approach him he sits or obeys whatever command I give immediately - but not until I begin to approach him.
He is teething right now. Is this just "teenage" rebellion, or should I be doing something now to get a quicker response?
If you are not near him when you are giving him the command then you probably have no way to enforce the command if he doesn't obey. You should give a command to a puppy that you can't enforce. If he is complying when you approach him that means he knows the command but knows you can't correct him for not obeying.
Go back to leash work and don't give a command unless you are ready to correct him for not obeying.
Yes, your dog knows you can't enforce the command if you are far enough away to have to walk towards the dog, unless you have an e-collar on the dog.
As far as letting the dog run the house with a leash on?? I wouldn't for the reason that he risks hanging himself with it. Just don't give the command unless you can correct him immeadiatly for not obeying. When you walk towards him, it's too late. Good luck
I have to throw in the obvious alternative of motivating the pup to WANT to give the behavior, instead of coercing him into giving it for fear of the consequences. You'd be amazed how fast the little buggers can sit or down once they understand that their life gets a little better just by giving a little cooperation.
David Morris Webboard User Reg: 11-28-2002
Posts: 570
Loc: North Carolina
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In my experience ,getting the dog to do sits and downs from a distance is a whole different step than having them perform at your side.When training at your side timing is very important and this shows up when you start trying to do things at a distance.Also when you are working a dog at your side you have to be aware of the body language that you may be teaching with your commands because they wont be there when you start giving commands at a distance.With that being said that is why when Im doing "in kennel training" for 2 weeks on peoples dogs I go ahead and teach hand signals with it.You would be surprised how much it helps when you start it off that way.I have alot dogs with no training going home in 14 days able to do obed.with hand signals and a down on recall{with a hand signal).I guess Ill be attacked for making that claim.NOT ALL DOGS!Just talking about pet obed. here.
Stop making excuses for your dog and start training it!
Lee, my response included the "disclaimer" that the dog know the command that was being given before a correction was given to the dog.
It is obvious that the dog knows the command "sit" because the command is given, the dog disobeys, then the handler starts approaching the dog. Then the dog complies and sits. The dog knows what to do, it is just testing to see what it can get away with. Thats why when the handler approches the dog, it does what it's told.
Sounds like it's back to the drawing board for puppy, he's got your number, try squirting him with water to enforce the command For some reason dogs don't like getting a blast of water in the face.
We're talking about a 5 mos. old puppy for crying out loud. A blast of water in the face????? Puhleeezzz.
Joe, I understand exactly what's happening. He's using avoidance conditioning, and the time lag between the conditioned stimulus (sit) and the unconditioned stimulus ("correction") produces a corresponding lag in the performance called the latency of response. The longer the lag time between the two stimuli, the longer the latency of response. Closing up that lag time by positioning yourself closer to the pup before giving the command will of course work. What I am suggesting is dumping the whole avoidance conditioning scenario and switch over to some positive reinforcement.
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