Hi there. My boy Max is 15 weeks and we are half way through his first puppy training. I have noticed that even after three weeks he still gets distracted really easily when practicing at home. I try to do some work inside just us two, inside with kids around and in our backyard. If it's just the two of us and he's not tired or it's not right before his meal, he does really well. However any other time he hardly pays attention, unless I have chicken or hot dogs. If he's not on a lead, and I call his name under the above circumstances, he doesn't acknowledge me. It seems random whether he will answer when called or follow a command. It is so frustrating, I feel like all the time I've spent isn't producing results. Maybe it takes longer? I'm sure there's something I'm missing or possibly not doing correctly. I tried to watch some videos on YouTube by Zak George, but his tips seem to be so quick, I haven't quite found something to help. I would appreciate any advice! Also, how much time per day and how often daily is best for training? I've tried to work on atleast 2 or 3 commands at a time for maybe 10 minutes all together once or twice a day. Sometimes more if he's awake enough. Also, we are doing a Petsmart training using treats/food and using mark words. Thank you!!
If he needs the chicken or hot dogs to be focused then keep using those. Would you be able to video a short session of you doing some training with him, showing everything from when you get his attention to how you are giving him treats? If dogs don't respond to a cue there is always a reason. It's because, for example: - they haven't actually learned the response yet (even if we think we've trained it) - or they are not motivated enough by what we have on offer (how food motivated is he? How does he respond to a game with a toy?) - or the environment is too distracting and we've made the task too hard too quickly (so we need to reduce the difficulty/distraction level a bit) - we are not being clear and consistent in our training (so maybe the dog is confused).
I think 10 minute sessions with such a young pup is too much. I would make it only 1-2 minutes at a time. It takes much longer to build up their concentration and focus. How have you taught your dog to come to you? Did you start by calling his name everytime he looked at you or came to you and reward with either praise or a yummy treat?
Okay, this should work. I did a really short version of what's been pretty typical. Thanks for looking.
The first couple weeks I didn't practice recall, we didn't review that in class. However last week I saw a video from Zak George on YouTube and I've started saying "come here" in an exciting way then saying yes and giving a treat when he comes. In a non distracting house environment he does well, if distracted then I have to run towards him first to get him excited. The way I learned to use his name requires that I have his attention a little and once he looks at my eyes I can say yes and give him a treat. That is hard because either he's too distracted for this to work or he's constantly staring at me so if I say his name he's already looking at me. That's been a little challenging so when he is distracted he does not respond to his name.
Thanks for the vid! His attention on you actually looks really good to me. Yes, he wanders off now and then but he quickly responds to you asking him to look back at you. I don't see any issues with his level of responsiveness. The issue I do see is that you are luring him to perform most of those behaviours and you always have food in your hands. If you keep doing that: A) he will learn not to bother responding unless he can see that you have food in your hand B) he's not really learning to respond to the cue. He's just learning to follow food in your hand. Will write more about how to move on from that unless someone else gets in first. Got to walk my own dog now!
Thanks! I'm anxious to hear. It seems that he rarely responds if I don't have food, so that makes sense.
He is a gorgeous pup...I think doing so so well. It takes months to proof behaviour...keep at it, be patient and enjoy him
So, luring. Luring means having food in your hand and getting the dog to physically follow the food in your hand. Luring is a good way to show a dog what you want them to do. But after they've successfully followed a lure a few times then you want to stop using the food as a lure and start using the food as a reward. Lure = food is produced before the behaviour and is held in the hand during the behaviour. Dog follows lure in hand. Reward = Dog performs behaviour in response to a hand signal. Food is produced after the behaviour and is given to the dog. Here are the steps to get from luring to rewarding when teaching the drop or down (dog lies down). Let's say your dog has successfully laid down, following a lure in your right hand, three times in a row. Now it's time to move on. Step 1: Hold food in your right hand and in your left hand. Using your right hand, lure the dog into the down position. The instant your dog lies down click or use your marker word and then give him the food that's in your left hand. This tells him that food does not always come from the moving hand. Repeat this a few times till he's obviously got it. Step 2: Hold food in your left hand only. Using your right hand make exactly the same downward movement you usually make to move your dog into the down position. This is now your hand signal or visual cue. You have no food in your hand so it's not a lure. The instant your dog lies down click or use your marker word and then give him the food that's in your left hand. Repeat this a few times till he's obviously got it. Step 2: Have food in your pocket, a treat pouch, or on the table. Do not have any food at all in either hand. Using your right hand make the downward movement you usually make to move your dog into the down position (your hand signal). The instant your dog lies down click or use your marker word and then give him the food from your pocket/pouch/table. Repeat this a few times till he's obviously got it. Now you have moved from a lure to a reward! A few tips: - Make sure you have your dog's attention before asking him to lie down - Use really good treats that he really wants - If you cue (give your hand signal) and your dog does not respond, DO NOT ever, ever, ever put food in your hand and resort to luring. If you do this you have just told your dog loud and clear that "you must ignore me unless I have food in my hand". And your dog has just trained you to always show him the food first. - If you cue (give your hand signal) and he doesn't respond just wait. Give him time to figure it out. - If you have waited half a minute and he does not respond then walk away. Try again in another minute. Be patient. Be strong! Let us know how you go
Thanks for the second vid When he jumps on you I'd just get up and walk away. If standing and outdoors turn your back. Show him that jumping makes all the good stuff go away (including opportunties to earn treats). Make sure he's looking at you before giving any cue. Be consistent with this. Be more excited and animated yourself. You need to be more fun than anything else in his environment. Channel your inner clown and really ham it up to get his attention and also when he does what you ask.
Impressed ! I agree with @Oberon , you have to be the most interesting thing on the planet , no matter how daft you might feel doing this ! You`re doing everso well x
Great videos, thanks for sharing! I find it makes it a lot easier for people to see common problems when there are videos like this to look at. Well done for being confident enough to post them and ask for feedback I would echo everything that Rachael has said above. He - and you - are doing fantastically well for such a young puppy. But it's important to fade the lure as quickly as you can - normally after only a couple of repetitions once they will consistently follow that lure - otherwise you end up with a dog that only follows a bribe, rather than creating a trained response. Do not worry in the slightest about his level of distraction in the second video - there's a lot going on there, with your kids talking, walking by and stroking him. All of that is hugely distracting, and training a dog against distractions is the toughest part. Your kids can help with this if they're interested. I would work on fading the lure as described above first, and get a really snappy response to your cue when there are no distractions around, then you can start on introducing the distraction (a child). I would start this with a simple attention behaviour. Uncued - that is, you don't say anything to get it. In a room with no distractions (no children!), you just sit quietly and wait for your puppy to make eye contact. The instant he does, you mark ("yes") and drop a treat on the floor. This breaks the eye contact, so he has to make an effort to look up at you again. Only mark when he looks you in the eye, not when he looks at your hand. Be very quiet, other than your marker word. Once he understands that he needs to look at you, he should start becoming snappier doing so. When he understands the game really well, so maybe after your second session of it, you can start to introduce distractions. This is where the child comes in. At first, have them just inside the room, a distance away from you. Standing perfectly still and quiet - like a tree. Do a few reps of the game and see how Max gets on. If Max goes over to see your child, that's fine, just stay completely quiet (and your child must stay completely quiet and ignore Max, too - not even eye contact) and, eventually, Max will realise that everything is more boring than interacting with you. Once he has this, and can come with your child being by the door, have them come a little closer. Repeat. Do this over several sessions, judging how far you can push it by Max's reaction. In the end, you'll have your child sat next to you while the puppy plays the attention game. The next steps would be for the child to start becoming ever so slightly more distracting. For example, they would gently wiggle the fingers of one hand while you played the game. Next step might be lifting that hand off their lap and an inch towards Max. By going in tiny, tiny steps, and letting Max work out along the way that the only way he gets rewarded is by interacting with you (so, child stops wiggling fingers, removes hand, looks away if Max approaches him), then you'll set him up to be successful and be able to cope with more difficult distractions. Eventually, kids running around the house past him, screaming and throwing stuff at each other will be something he can cope with, by building up very slowly to it. Don't expect it to be a linear progression - at any stage, if he's struggling, even if it's with a level of distraction he could cope with in the previous session - just go back a few steps and start again. And, absolutely, throw him a party when he does something well! I'd say your voice is a little gruff. Raise the pitch a little on both your cue and your marker, and make your "YES!" sound much more like praise. If you've increased the difficulty and he's succeeded, let him know! Have a little game of tug or whatever he really enjoys. Training should be fun for everyone Here's a video from the very enthusiastic Lauren and Tom (only available for another four days) which might give you some ideas: https://game.absolute-dogs.com/focus-on-me
Lovely videos, thanks for sharing. I can't add to what Rachael and Fiona have explained above but I'd like to say that you and Max are doing really well! My two year old Ella would be just as distracted as Max in that second video! You should see her when my toddler throws a ball when I'm trying to train her
@Oberon and @snowbunny Thank you so much for the detailed advice! I really appreciate your time. I will work on all that and keep everyone posted. @edzbird @kateincornwall @Emily Thank you all! It is helpful to hear that we are doing good for his age. It's hard to know this being so new to me. @Edp We think so also - he is so handsome and sweet. I will try to be more patient.
