Ok little Tess my Patterdale was doing O so well her recall was getting there with a whistle and by voice command her sit and stay was and is to some degree doing fine. Now I find that when we are out and about and she starts sniffing around or something else and I call her to me or use the whistle she just ignores me doesn't even look at me no matter how close I am to her. So what went wrong I wonder. And as for the whistle in any circumstances forget it even when on her lead. Sit stay and walking to heel find and her looking back at other dogs is getting much much better. Frustrated daddy.
Have you got the book ‘Total Recall’? The last chapter is excellent and all about turning this problem round. Also - up your treats to tastier ones. I get pouches of fishy cat food, Keir (also six months old and finding his wings) adores it!
Tess isn't ignoring you @Len Smith it's just that as she gets older the world becomes more interesting particularly the world of scent. One thing I learnt from reading Turid Rugass is that dogs don't seem to hear when they are having a good sniff - all the focus is on the scent. So don't call or whistle Tess when she is engaged on the sniff but wait until she is beginning to lose interest or looks up - then call or whistle her. Also as @Boogie says make sure you are rewarding well for recall and make yourself exciting/the best fun to return to
That's really interesting -- that's exactly how it appears ! Totally preoccupied, would account for being more difficult to get her off the scent of a hare very close to us, than the sight of a squirrel or deer at a distance.
Thanks Boogie yes I have total recall and have to admit I haven't read it all and I really must. Yep will give that a go with the extra treats too. I do sometimes mix cheese with her liver treats as well but maybe she wants more. Little Tess you have expensive tastes
Thanks for that tip Jojo I will do that. Looks like I will have a lot of hanging around waiting for her but never mind. Good job I'm retired.
Yep it is interesting isn't it Selina. Tess only has to catch site of a pheaent and she is off. It used to worry me a lot but when she does that I know she is not going to come back straight away. Once the bird or what ever has gone yep she will come straight back again so it looks like she still has a lot of training to go yet
The world becomes a whole lot more interesting when a dog starts to enter adolescence, so you have to think that a situation she could follow your cues in before is suddenly so much more difficult for her. Her senses are being assaulted on all sides. She’s not being wilfully stubborn, she’s just unable to filter like she did before. At this age it’s worth going right back to basics and forgetting that “she already knows this”, because you’ve not trained her yet for this new exciting environment. Start at the beginning again and you’ll get back to where you were. If you try to keep at it at the level you had previously reached without going back to basics, you will both end up frustrated and you’ll damage your cues.
I wonder if this is one of the reasons why they used to start training puppies when they were older. Maybe they had the logic that anything taught in earlier years was "forgotten" during adolescence, so they just didn't bother. @ Len Sympathy from my side We're at a similar stage with our 9 months old boy. We've gone right back to basics and will work up again. We now only use his recall when he is not distracted and is practically already running towards us. All retrieve practice in the forest has been put on ice, as he simply runs around with the dummy, ears flapping and tail wagging, and learning bad habits. We now try to teach basic retrieves in the hall, and honestly said, it is atrocious compared to what he could do earlier. We're back to basic heel work inside, turning 90° and treating him if he turns with me. We're back to max 30 second "sit and wait" from 5m away, and he even struggles with that sometimes. But things should improve, as I slowly claw my way up the sand dune of Labrador training.
The reason they used to say 6 months to start training was that there was a belief that a younger puppy couldn't learn to sit/down/stay/recall/impulse control . Thankfully we now know how ridiculous that is easy and how much fun you can have training young puppies. Yes adolescence can throw a spanner in the works for some but you just keep training through it. How much harder it would be if an adolescent dog had been taught no manners at all .
Thanks for that snowbunny I think you may be right I read on the forum somewhere that someone had done the same thing. Gone back to basics and it helped. I think this may well be the answer, don't you. Time to up the ante I think.
O yeah it is fun training isn't it Jojo and the joy when someone says wow isn't she well trained. (little do they know that yesterday she was almost swapped for a goldfish with the rag and bone man. LOL) And yes you are right that because she has had some training this can only get better
Have you tried hiding from her, when she finally looks up, there you are gone!!!! It is great for teaching them to keep their eyes on you.
Yep tried that but not recently I think she is one smart cookie because I think she knew I was still there
I tell my clients that training is a lifetime commitment, not just a few sessions of basic cues or a few weeks at a village hall. We, and our dogs, continue to learn or reward the good behaviour through out life. There is no timescale for our pups to learn things by - just enjoy the experience @Len Smith
Yep you are so so right Jojo training is an ongoing thing but right now at this 6 month stage I sometimes think I have missed something or gone wrong somewhere along the line. Its nice to have the reassurance by those on the forum that I haven't. and as I said she is so so good and learnt so much in other ways. Or its my last dog teaching her what is to be expected of Tess like sitting so good while daddy is on a photo shoot and at 6 months that is exactly what she does with no training
You haven't gone wrong anywhere or missed something I'm sure. Adolescence can be a challenging time (human or dog) as they realise that there are more exciting things in the world other than their parents. Going back to basics, hiding behind trees etc is a really good idea and it will pay off with consistency.
