Hi wonderful people, My puppy Enya turned 6 months and I feel that I have hit a wall in her training. She is good with Sit, Down, Stay (mostly), comes when called and we are working on not jumping (which is proving to be hard). However, she does not seem focused during training and is all the time looking for treats and food scraps...I think she is bored. Plus, she failed her puppy test today and the trainer will not move her to the next higher class, saying that she is still immature I feel that we are stuck on the same commands and are not progressing. Did anyone experience something similar? If so, how do we get out of this rut? Thanks, Priya
Hi there Priya, this is very common - lots of labs are slow in maturing, but they make up for it later. My Merlin is eight months old now, and at six months old I thought he just wasn't very interested in retrieving and he was unable to concentrate. A few weeks later, he suddenly switched on, the difference in two months is amazing! It does sound like Enya's normal training is too simple and boring for her, but I understand the trainer saying she cannot move into the higher class until the basics are mastered. I would just up your individual training with her. Do some more retrieving exercises on your own with her - hide a ball in the grass, then send her to find it. Another exercise is to practice sit and stay, then leave her sitting and walk away and drop a ball where she can see it, then walk back to her and send her for the retrieve. You can make up further exercises for her; anything where she is engaged with you and has to use her brain is very good. At home I've been doing a few minutes training in the evenings training 'sit', 'down', and 'crawl', which has been good fun for us. I've also just taught Merlin to 'shake' on command (when he gets out of the stream at the end of our walk). All these little things help our bond, and make him feel very proud of himself and happy when he does well. Another thing - I personally don't use treats with Merlin when we are doing retrieving work, as I found that to begin with he would focus on the treats rather than the dummy. Now that he is so focused on retrieving, the dummy or the retrieve has become the reward in itself. I do use treats for all other training though.
I had the same thing as you. The truth was we were both bored with the classes, me and my dog. He wasn’t doing the commands perfectly but we went up to the next class, and it just got frustrating. Then we moved schools - at 1.5 yo. I wish we’d moved MUCH earlier. We were simply at the wrong school, which taught in military style, all straight lines and heel work, no fun stuff or focus stuff for a rowdy pup. The new class was “dog dancing” - basically doing “tricks” to music. No formal tests to pass, all done at our own pace but in a small group. It was a lot of fun, but more importantly helped me and my dog form a stronger connection. Perhaps you just need to find a school that meets your needs. Or why not opt for 1-on-1? In retrospect I wish we’d done 1-on-1 cos it was me who needed the individual attention rather than my dog.
I think there is a lot in that, it's certainly been my experience. It took me until Cassie was 18 months to find a suitable class for us, and I think it really helps her being that bit older. I've done lots with her at home, many exercises I've learnt on here and with my 1;2;1 trainer, so it's now a case of doing so in the presence of other dogs etc. Keep going, 6 months can be a trying time.
I have just bought a snuffle mat for Penny. She is 6 months..and i put her lunch time kibble in it and she happily for about half an hour got most of it out. She then decided that she would throw it in the air to get the rest of it to fall out. It was literally in the house for about an hour and she flipped it over until she could chew the mat and was able to pull the tassles off and chew the actual rubber. I have taken it off her. The mats are quite pricey and are really good quality so i am disappointed that my shark baby has managed to destroy it so quickly. Penny is very bitey and chews need to be tough. Has anyone else had this problem xx
Hehe, yup! My older two use the snuffle mat (that I made with my own blood, sweat and tears) very nicely. The puppy (now one year old) throws it around and chews it. It's a very effective way to get the kibble out, but she can't be left for two minutes without her chewing bits off. She just doesn't get it anymore!
Making one is a good idea. I think i am gonna stop spending money on my croco pup. She is happier throwing/chewing on a plastic bottle. I think i have spent a small fortune trying to engage my pup and keep her occupied. I am not sure my kids were as lucky haha.
Thank you for all of your kind responses! This is just an amazing place to get help I will continue to work with her and as @MF mentioned, maybe look around for other classes
