Confessions from a frustrated puppy trainer

[RickRed]

To All,
It's taken lots of time for Teddy and I to get where we are. By 5 months old he was doing great with off leash training. We could go to a park and be off leash even in the presence of other dogs. We could take walks off leash with Teddy heeling. I could take his leash off and play fetch with me throwing an object as far as I could and Teddy would come bouncing back asking for more.

At 7 months all of that disappeared. Teddy might start to chase a ball, but a new smell would make Teddy forget all about fetch.
At trips to the park no more interest in playing fetch or find object game. All he wants to do is mark everything in the park. Engaging him in play is nearly impossible. Things like find your treat or toy no longer compares with his new found interest in all smells of the environment. This is what I've been doing both to myself and to Teddy, because:I WANTED MY TRAINED PUPPY BACK AND I WANTED HIM BACK NOW!

Here's the confession part, I've been angry, frustrated, impatient, and NOT having a good time at all. Training stopped being fun.

In the last few days the true meaning of going back to kindergarden hit home. I've stopped taking his interest in the world personally. I've decided we got to find ways to have fun together and I've got to limit his distractions and reinforcements from the environment.

Going back to kindergarden meant more time on a leash. It meant spending less time in grassy areas where the smells were way to novel and interesting. It meant sitting outside with a chew toy having Teddy sit on my lap while he chewed and chewed.

In other words it became fun again Teddy is responding well to this. Today for the first time in weeks, I was able to remove his leash and play a few rounds of fetch. We was even willing to heel off leash and did VERY well. This is only coming back in small doses, but it is coming back.

I guess what I've learned is not to take training set backs personally and take out MY frustration on Teddy. I suspect that's a good parenting lesson as well. I'm sure my kids would agree!!

I'd be interested in hearing any experiences with regard to taking training back kindergarden and what was necessary to do to bring the dog back to and surpass the training level before the training regression.
Rick

[rmci]

I suggest you read the "Critical Periods in Puppies" link:

Originally Posted by Carrie

To better understand what your puppy is going through, what makes him do what he does at various stages and ages, here's a link which I think would be helpful, especially to new puppy owners:

http://www.doglistener.co.uk/puppies...lperiods.shtml

4 to 8 Months
Play Instinct Period. Flight Instinct Period. Puppy may wander and ignore you. It is very important that you keep the puppy on a leash at this time! The way that you handle your pup at this time determines if he will come to you when called. At about 4-1/2 months, your puppy loses his milk teeth and gets his adult teeth. That's when he begins serious chewing! A dog's teeth don't set in his jaw until between 6 /10 months. During this time, the puppy has a physical need to exercise his mouth by chewing. Training must continue through this period or all your good work may revert back to stage one. Occasionally the puppy will start to urinate in the house again if this happens, just go back to basic toilet training.

It's a tough period but you'll make it through it. Deep breaths....

[Carrie]

For the entire life of a dog, it is perfectly normal to have regressions in the training they've had....absolutely normal. They need practice and it HAS to be fun and reinforcing. You have to try and prevent reinforcement for unwanted behaviors and replace those with behaviors you want.

Definitely don't take it personally. If you are upset and frustrated, your pup won't understand anything, but that something is wrong. If you're not feeling in a good mood, don't work with your dog....wait till later.

Dogs get "sour" sometimes when training, if things are too repititious, boring or no fun.... just like we do..."burn out." Sometimes they just need a little break and some fun and exercise. And then back at it. But if you make learning fun as well as use good training techniques, your dog will be so much more into learning. Train for short period a couple of times a day and a trick here and there throughout the day.

Some dogs are very sensative to their enviornment. Dobermans, for instance are so highly intuned to everything going on around them. It's how they were bred to be phenomenal protection dogs. They're so alert to everything around them, that they can be very, very distractable at times. You have to learn how to be creative. And then they're incredibly receptive to training....very trainable, but also have a very high prey drive. So, you're walking a thin line with them all the time.

Some of Lyric's skills have become sloppy. His attention on me has gotten bad. It's because I haven't worked with him as much lately. Having a new comer, my son's dog has given him a terrific play mate that he can play rough with and have a blast with. So, his attention is not soley on me anymore. Weah, weah. So, I have to make a point of working a little harder with him, find better motivators etc. I've just been a little lazy lately, actually busy with some other things and he has regressed a little bit. So, I have to beef up the training....the motivation and reward and I know he'll "come back." LOL.

I wouldn't let your dog off leash unless it's in a very safe area. Don't call him to come unless that recall is solid as a rock. Entice him without using your cue word, "come" and when he's close and you're sure he's coming, then you can say "come." (and reward) Always reward his compliance...reinforce the things he does which you want him to repeat. If you don't, that behavior you like will not get solid. Reinforcement is what drives behavior, not cue words, leadership, energy, attitude or force. This is law of animal behavior. Don't ever give a command unless you can be sure to have it enforced and reinforced. Everyone thinks commands and cues are what causes behaviors to happen. They are communications, associations that the dog has made and has learned mean to do something. But they in themselves will not cause a dog to do these behaviors over and over again. Reward, reinforcement for giving a correct response to your cue is what causes the probability of a behavior reoccuring in the future. This is because dogs are wired to do what works for them...opportunists, survivalists. They do not do things to please their owner. So, this is very important.

I highly recommend you get a few books, Culture Clash, The Power of Positive Training, Don't Shoot the Dog. They will really help a lot.

[sammy]

I agree with the others.
Rather than not letting my dog off leash at all though, I would find a safe place to let the dog run, sniff and explore BEFORE I would ask them to any obedience work. Set your dog up to be successful.
When your dog is older and better trained you can expect them to listen and be attentive from the get go. (although I still mostly let my dogs run and play for a bit before we work whenever possible)

You are spot on with your comparison with kids. In different developmental stages there are different struggles. We seem to be more understanding of it with kids though. If you are kind and consistent and stay the course you will come out the other side with a very well behaved dog. Getting impatient or pushy with training only causes further delays in training and makes your dog less enthused about working for you. A big part of learning is making mistakes and learning from them.Dogs need to make mistakes.

Dog training can be very frustrating at times and I think it's how you handle those times that matters the most. That's what separates the good trainers from the not so good ones.

It was good for me to write this out-- we have a rally obedience trial in 9 days that I'm feeling very unprepared for. It's at the biggest dog show in our province and there will be several other rings going at the same time with conformation, agility etc. Talk about distraction! I'm having to fight the urge to really drill the dogs to get ready but that won't help! The most important thing is to make training fun, work at the level they're at and be patient. Hopefully we'll both be successful

[Carrie]

Terrrific points Sammy. When Lyric was younger, there was no way I'd try working on obedience commands or anything that required any attention without first letting him get the zoomies out....lots of running and fun, maybe a good walk and then work with him. But I had to make sure he wasn't really exhausted or anything, or he couldn't concentrate either. So, LOL....it was a balancing act.

And it's so true about the environment being very very interesting to pups at that age. I mean, it's interesting anyhow, at any age, but these youngsters....everything in this new, big wonderful world is just making them ecstatic. LOL.

It was good for me to write this out-- we have a rally obedience trial in 9 days that I'm feeling very unprepared for. It's at the biggest dog show in our province and there will be several other rings going at the same time with conformation, agility etc. Talk about distraction! I'm having to fight the urge to really drill the dogs to get ready but that won't help! The most important thing is to make training fun, work at the level they're at and be patient. Hopefully we'll both be successful

Hey! Wow! Good luck. You'll have to tell us how it goes.

[GoldenPup]

Great job for figuring out what wasn't working, and changing so that your training was successful!

GoldePup

[DFrost]

Ahhh the teen years. Frustrating aren't they. As difficult as it may seem, the best course of action is patience, practice and reward. Just keep doing what you've been doing. Obviously it worked, and this too will pass.

DFrost

[RickRed]

Appreciate the responses and reading the article about critical periods in a dog's life. We just gor back from a trip with Teddy. For the first time in many months he urinated and pooped in his pen. Whether this was a regression or a response to the stress of being in a new area, is something I will never know. I was just VERY glad we had him on a tile floor. It made cleaning very quick and easy. He also urinated in the house. Fortunatley we caught him in the act and stopped him. In the 30 + years I've owned dogs I've never had a regresssion in house breaking. I don't know whether this is a small breed issue, or a regression mentioned in the article regarding periods of a dogs life. We've been home 5 days and accident free.

Teddy's become increasing more responsive outside and that is a relief. Today I may try taking him to a shopping center, and see where we are with distractions.

The CGC test we were going to take on Sat was canceled because there was not another person taking the test. The person doing the test wanted at least two dogs testing. I'm amazed no one else was interested in taking the test.

I'm more relieved than disappointed. I think with more training and maturity we have a better chance of making it through the distraction portions of the test.
Rick