Oakley will be 16 weeks Sunday. He has been in training since he was about 9 weeks. I know he's in the early stages and I will probably run this by our trainer as well but when we were teaching the down command he did great, he still doesn't know lay down on saying it we still have to lure, click and treat for it but he is definitely getting better. I can't get him to "stay" though in a down, he was for awhile, for a few seconds but he wont now, as soon as he is in his down he goes right back to a sit. Am I doing something wrong maybe? clicking and treating at wrong time? Also one other thing is he does really good with stay (in a sit) and focus's on me UNTIL we get outside, he wont "wait" he just moves, am I pushing too fast?
Hi there, learning to stay when there are distractions around is a big step up. Your puppy probably isn't quite ready for that yet. Focus on getting great responses in undemanding situations first. When you first try to increase the duration of a position, its important not to add other levels of complexity. So make sure you keep still, and remain next to your puppy, rather than being in a hurry to put distance between you.n To avoid your puppy bobbing up and down when you want to achieve a longer 'down' try feeding a string of tiny treats in the down position. You can gradually increase the gaps between them as your puppy is able to concentrate for longer At 16 weeks he is still very much a baby and it sounds as though you are doing great. You'll find some great videos on teaching the stay on the Kikopup youtube channel
Great thank you so much! I think I understand what you are saying about a string of treats in the down. I have one other question that has really become an issue and we haven't learned this yet in training but our puppy is a leash chewer, I don't know how to get him to stop and what harness would be best for him.
We have a couple of articles on choosing a harness that might be of interest - This one is by a professional positive reinforcement trainer where she picks her favourite three: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/top-three-harnesses-for-labrador-retrievers/ This one is focussed on puppies, but just gives a few options rather than reviews: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/puppy-collars/
