We have been working with Arnie for a good four months now on leash manners. He does well for the most of the time, but today we went walking and he went ok, however, a little while into the walk he seemed to lose focus and just wanted to pull and be a clown. He's six months old so I put it down to him just being over worked and being young. Would I be right in assuming this?
Yep they have butterflies in their heads. just keep doing short fun learning things and it does stick but they are just too puppish to use the training as they start to calm down and mature they seem to use it more. I'm just doing some 121 training with Rory and at 2 1/2 i'm amazed at how much he does know and whats in his head. He's learning really quickly now too but we still only do about 30 mins of actual training it seems better for him in small bursts. They are a late maturing dog some more so than others and at 6 months he's still very much in his butterfly head stage. He sound like he's lots of fun and really normal. I learned to just take my time and not to worry to much or expect perfection. Any good thing they do at this stage even a tiny thing is worth loads of praise and/or treats, they love to think they are clever. Its something which I've always used to my advantage, they are really wonderfully intelligent fantastic dogs and after 24 years of having them still routinely amazed and delight me. love them
@sdegg you've hit the nail on the head there, butterflies in their heads perfect description. Mabel is 19 months and we do short bursts of training, sometimes as little as 5 mins at a time. Ive just spent 10 mins C&T training to get her to use the ramp to get in the car. She is now snoring her head off as its a completely new activity. I love how she learns and the look on her face when she sees the clicker. She gets so excited it's a joy I'm always filled full of wonder when she offers a behaviour I haven't asked for (only the nice ones ).
Yeah he is doing really well. It was strange to me how he just turned into a melon when he couldn't take anymore. Concentration went out the window. Tomorrow we got a group training class
I think they are all different - my new pup seems to me to have the concentration span of a fruit fly! My older dog will stay focussed forever (in a boring environment, anyway) but she can only do 4 to 5 reps of something then it's just like she forgets what it was we were doing and sits and stares at me with a puzzled look on her face. It's sweet (also a bit boring and slow, but still sweet).
It's said that dogs don't generalize. When you teach SIT at home in your own kitchen most dogs do not generalize that SIT means the same thing in your living room let alone out in your own yard or the great big world. You have to teach it again, usually it takes fewer lessons till they "learn" it applies in a new situation. This applies to leash manners which you may have taught at home or in a class where all the other dogs are leashed too, but you have to back up a few steps when you move to a new place, teach again, for a shorter period and so on. It's sort of like "proofing" in that you have added new distractions which require a bit of repeat work. Does this sound like it could be part of your recent experience? I think your own hypothesis is also very likely and in that case I like a vacation. A day, maybe a week, of no lessons, other than behaviour needed for safety, just some fun out with you.
You must realize that a dogs sense of smell is multiple times greater than that of a human. Get your pup outside and it's sensory overload time. When I want mine to stay at heel during our walk I stay in the middle of the path not at the edge where the grass, bushes, dog urine and poop lay. He's not overworked he's just being a dog.
Yeah thanks for all those responses guys I appreciate it. It must be complete sensory overload for him. It was a track we haven't been in before either. This morning at his obedience class he was a little champion tho. The trainer used him as a demonstration dog for some of the other more rambunctious dogs that were there. Really happy with how he went today.
labradors and the Chaos Theory it could a new book! If the butterfly in Rorys head flaps its wings it could result in a monsoon in the kitchen
