Have you loaded your marker? It's the very basic foundation to marker training yet often times overlooked.
From there just start out with simple behaviors and don't over work the dog. Look at training in the beginning as in mins instead of hours.
With a new pup I will start by using tv commercials for a timer. 3-4 quick reps and done. That may happen 4-5-6 times a day.
More shorter training sessions will get you much farther then 1-2 long sessions.
!!!A HUGE ditto on The Ellis DVDs!!!
Worth their weight in gold even for us old farts that have done this a while.

Yes I've e loaded the marker......I even reloaded it when we were having troubles I was thinking maybe he didn't understand.

I will take your advice and try really short sessions. I need to watch the M.E. DVDs all the way through like was mentioned. He is about 6.5 months now and it seemed like things have gotten worse instead of better. He loses focus very easy. When he was a pup, or i should say younger as he is still a pup, he would just be anxious to be with me, still is, but now he loses focus a lot easier... Seems like he forgot or is just confused or something. Not his fault i know, poor training on my part. Now he gets all nutted up when people walk by outside or any strange noise now, other dogs barking, any little thing gets his attention.

Maybe we moved to fast, maybe we didn't have a good foundation set and now he is confused. I dunno but I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong so we can get on the right track while he is still young. Might sound dumb, but wonder if we need to almost start over from scratch if that's possible....

I will look for the stinky foods for treats too. May have to go pick up some fishy cat kibble! Along with cheese, and whatever else I can find. Anymore ideas on treat suggestions?

Something else I've been thinking of and meaning to ask. What effect does other family members playing with him during the day have with his focus on me? I work long hours sometimes and during the day the family will take him out for a walk, and run around with him in the back yard a few times during the day while I'm at work. Wondering if the playing has a role in the lack of interest.

Thank you for the advice.

 Quote: Mychal Scott

He is about 6.5 months now and it seemed like things have gotten worse instead of better. He loses focus very easy. When he was a pup, or i should say younger as he is still a pup, he would just be anxious to be with me, still is, but now he loses focus a lot easier... Seems like he forgot or is just confused or something. Not his fault i know, poor training on my part. Now he gets all nutted up when people walk by outside or any strange noise now, other dogs barking, any little thing gets his attention.

Sounds like a normal puppy moving out of the "clingy baby puppy" stage and into the "fearless explorer puppy" stage. Don't be so hard on yourself. He'll get the focus back in about 6 months.

How does he act when he's with the family? That could tell you a lot about how your training is going. You need to train with all the energy of "having fun". He'll feed of of that.
Also, at 6.5 months he may still be on the end of teething. Think about how lousy a kid feels when cutting teeth.
Teething, for some dogs, can put a huge crimp in training with a tug for sure.

My first time commenting on an other post than mine lol...but I am gaining experience lol...Ziva, my 6 1/2 months puppy has started to look at me a lot since we have developped a way to communicate that we both understand.....I started to use every eye contact she makes with me during our walk or at home and mark it with a "yes"..."look at me" and I touch my nose...then I reward it.....she is getting very keen on that and looks at me longer and longer waiting for a mark and the reward. It will become usefull to use that command when she will be distracted and starting to be engaged in her high pray drive.

and Mychal you will find help on this forum....people here are not only experienced with canine but also very happy to share their knowledge....they are very kind.

What exactly do you mean when you say " how does he act when he is with the family"?

The teething, hadn't thought of that. I know there are a few that aren't all the way in yet. Have cut back a lot on tug and when we do play, we do so for short time and not rough at all.

Solange, I was actually goin to re-read some of your topics as I know there was a lot of great advice given in your posts to get you on the right track with different things. Btw, congrats on your progress!

As far as marking, can you mark to much? I mean should we be marking anything and everything we like whether it is prompted or not? Just at random times throughout the day, on walks, around the house, etc. sounds like this is what helped Solange out. That sounds like a ton of treats in a day, lol!

What are some of the treats you have found to really get there attention? Understanding every dog will have its own favorites, but just some ideas that maybe aren't the normal prepackaged dog treats.
Quite a few people have mentioned cat food...Any special kind of cat food in particular?

I forget whether you have seen the Ellis and LB DVDs. Have you? Which one(s)?

Do you know what free-shaping is? (This is in reply to the "marking too much" question.)


For food rewards .... http://leerburg.com/usingtreats.htm

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=18415&page=1#182673

These form a basis of my bait bag ( http://leerburg.com/736.htm ): http://leerburg.com/1141.htm and http://leerburg.com/1078.htm

In with these are tiny bites of cooked poultry breast (grease-free for the bag's sake). A zillion rewards come from one whole chicken breast.

I like a mixed bag for the slot-machine effect.

But I also save very HV rewards for certain things, like procedures training. These might be small pieces of real bacon.



I do use a lot of food rewards. So I want them to be real food and not the crap most stores sell. LB has a great selection of marker-reward-size treats made of real food, and the cost isn't high because there are so many of them in the package. And they don't come from China. ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/dog-treats-china-chicken-jerky_n_2545876.html )

"What exactly do you mean when you say " how does he act when he is with the family"?



Is he playing with them with more enthusiasm then he does when your training or is his level the same?
If it's more upbeat with the family that could be an indication that he's not enjoying training with you. You need to make training more of a game. Just have fun with the dog.

Ziva having dominance tendencies and high pray drive....I mark EVERYTHING she does that I like. I mark A LOT lol.....for the first 3 weeks after she came out of bootcamp I just marked with a "yes" no other word related to the behavior she would be marked for....exemple lay down, or sit....She easily had a whole chiken brest in a day....cut in little pieces....3 would fit on a dime sort of thing.

AND on top of that I would mark 150 time a day (50 treats/marks 3 times a day)....just saying "yes" and treat one after the other....Willie calls that Loading the Mark....Ziva associated the "yes" with a treat. I usualy did that before feeding so she would stay keen during these 50 consecutive marks. it took about 4 min (I still do that btw)

Then once she got to be more attentive and that she had done soooo many time the wanted behavior I bridge it....I still do that....with a word. So now when she sits for exemple, I mark it with a "yes" then add "sit" and give the treat....and so on with what she does I like....

You see because Ziva had to have her pack restructured and me having done bad method of obedience, even though she new some of these things I started from scratch with no corrections just marking. She is teaching herself by knowing what behavior will give her a reward.

I do the obedience in a non "obedience" structure....I do it at play for exemple...we play tug....when I ask to "leave it" she does, I mark it and give a treat, then I add either a "sit" or a "lay down" or a "stand" or a "come" mark that and return to play again......

It works beautifuly for us.....I change her treat....chiken, bacon, lean lard, liver.....and use the smelly ones for high distractions or for things that I know are hard for her to comply. Lately for the come when distracted by the dog next door, she gets a beef broth ice cube.....oh boy....she leaves that corner of our garden for that.

It gives us the opportunity to avoid a confrontation. To bad ice cubes can't be kept in my pocket I could use that with dogs barking in their yard. lol

Oh yeah, because of the load of treats....she was getting a bit fat....I cut down her feeding portion a bit.

thanks for the congrats..... and good luck.....You'll make it work for sure

Actually, Solange, once you see a clear connection in the dog's head between the marker and the reward, then additional loading isn't needed (unless you want to add or switch to a different marker, like say from a clicker to a word or vice versa).

This clear connection would be shown by the dog starting to look for the reward when s/he hears the marker.



Mychal, you said "Maybe we moved to fast, maybe we didn't have a good foundation set and now he is confused."

IMHO and IME, it never hurts to go back to square one. One thing this does is remind me to add distractions very gradually, including venue changes.

We've all gone too fast at times, I think. I sure have.

So in addition to the good suggestions above, I'd do what you are considering:

"I will take your advice and try really short sessions. I need to watch the M.E. DVDs all the way through like was mentioned. He is about 6.5 months now and it seemed like things have gotten worse instead of better. He loses focus very easy. When he was a pup, or i should say younger as he is still a pup, he would just be anxious to be with me, still is, but now he loses focus a lot easier... Seems like he forgot or is just confused or something."

Sessions so short and so upbeat that the dog can't lose focus; if/when he does, then I'd go back to when he did not, and review what I have added in (duration, venue change, distraction) and do it much more gradually.

Also, are you remembering to end sessions when the dog still wants more? Never so long that the dog has become tired or frustrated -- so short, in fact, that the dog is eager to continue and shows up next time excited to do it some more.