Dog training advice please?

Question

Hi all.

I have always trained my own dogs. I have a pup that I just adopted and she is about 4 months old. She was potty trained in 4 days, she will sit, laydown, and heel right beside me.

However as she will heel...if she is around a whole bunch of chaos she will just dart off. I love her to death but she is so hard headed....more hard headed than any other dog I have trained before.

So I guess I just want some advice as to how I can get her to heel, or come and actually stay put around a lot of distractions, without having to get after her a thousand times. Any advice would be awesome!

Thankyou in advance for reading :o)

Ok I see I have some comments. I want to make one thing clear. I do use a lead to train my dog.

I just want her to be able to do this without a lead as well.

My first dog trains on lead great....and does the same without a lead as well.

I just want to be able to train to that point that I do not need a lead.

The main reason I do this is in case my dog is off a lead and if there is an emergency....say my dog runs into the street or something and a car is coming...I want her to be able to respond to my command without having to yell, yell, yell and have my dog running mad.

I train beyond just lead training.

Just to note. I know my dog is pup and she is full of energy like any other pup. I do not expect her to do this over nigh I would just like to have some tips on how to work with distractions starting as a pup because it is the best time to start.

I know this takes a while and keep planing on working with her in the future months...years. I expect this. Just wanted some tips on where to start with distractions.

Answer 1

You don't say how long you have had your new friend but I am guessing only a short time. So I will make a suggestion you may not agree with. Go take a training class with her. This will help you to bond with her, it will get her used to listening to you even with distractions and the instructor will help you teach your new baby to come when she is called and to stay put when you want her to. I know you know how to train a dog but every dog is different and sometimes we need a different approach in our training. Good luck and a big thank you for adopting your new friend.

Answer 2

At 4 months the pup doesn't have the cognitive development to properly understand training and corrections.
Rest assured that everything you have taught the dog so far, you will get to teach it again.
At that age a pups only motivation is food, so take advantage of that and have fun and cookie train. It's time to make friends with your new friend. What you are really trying to teach the pup at this age is 'how to learn'.
Work on the three basic motions, moving away from you, remaining stationary, and moving toward you, but only on a fun basis.
At about 5-6 months the pup will demonstrate a newfound since of independence and self awareness (you will swear that it has forgotten everything you have taught it). This marks the development of 'other motivations' (should not need an explanation). At this time the dog will also have developed the necessary cognitive skills so that formal training can begin.

When teaching off lead, the dog needs to be almost 100% without any form of distraction, and then start adding distractions sloooooooly!

Answer 3

Well, first off, congrats on knowing what you are doing! Sad to say, you are not among the norm, but I applaud you!

And now to the training. Working with distractions, in theory, isn't all that difficult, but is a behavior that needs to be built up to. It can take months, even a few years, to effectively train your dog around heavy distractions.

To start, you want the general behavior to occur in a quiet, calm place. Do what you would normally do to train the dog (the motion for sit, heel or down). Repeat until the dog knows it down to a pin. Then you should find an area with a low level of distraction. Somewhere like the family living room works well for this, where two people are having a conversation and you are training. Begin this training as if you are teaching the dogs all of the tricks for the first time. Show her how to sit, go down, stay, heel, etc.

Repeat for a few weeks working on low distractions, then move to medium. Eventually, your dog will be paying attention to you and only you.

And remember, NEVER hit or punish your dog for not performing the desired behavior! Just let her try again.

A really great book to check out on this subject is "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training" by Pamela Dennison. I suggest it to many many people, but I think you specifically would appreciate the theory behind it. So check it out and get to training!

Best of luck!

Answer 4

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://bitly.im/aL6aq

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 5

Puppyhood can be soo frustrating!

A four month old puppy isn't even 5 years in age in humans. I think you have very high expectations for a puppy who just left their mom less than 2 months ago.

Dogs also have a very hard time generalizing. that is one reason why a dog can 'sit' at home, but has a very hard time 'sit'ing at another place (park, friends house, vet etc) Dogs and puppies have to be taught the same command in different areas.

A great training book is "The Dog Whisper" by Paul Owens. This book really shows some great way to train and explains the way dogs think and see things. (this is *not* the same 'dog whisper' as Cesar Milan. Please stay away from his stuff/books.)

Your puppy is also a great age for puppy classes. You'll both learn a lot if you can get him in to a class soon. The benefits to puppy classes are over with at about 6 months. Then you can look in to obedience classes.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Stick a leash on her till she grows a little and the brain fills in. 4 month pups have the attention span of a grasshopper (so do human toddlers...). Its to be EXPECTED that a youngster that age has trouble with distractions.

Answer 7

Never let an untrained dog of her leash. It's commen sense.