Bob gets SO excited when we go to puppy training classes... the reason????? PUPPY TRAINER! The lady dishes out all sorts of lovely treats - mainly liver cake. Bob adores it, and therefore adores her. More than me! We did a recall today and I was up the other end of the arena and the trainer held Bob for me to call him. Did he come?! By eck no... he literally went nuts jumping all over her and refused to come to me. Eventually she had to walk him back to me... he walked off lead on a perfect heel all the way over to me. Embarrassing! I've upped the value of my treats so that I can get through to him during training without him being totally love struck at the trainer all the time. I take dried sprats with me now.. I don't really want him to have liver cake, it was a bit rich on his tummy when he was younger. Is this normal? Or does it mean I have to give him liver cake too now so that I am on equal footing with the trainer? Or do I ask her not to use liver cake next time she works with him and to take a handful of my treats? Lou x
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! I wouldn't worry about it, at all! Some dogs are friendly, outgoing souls, happy to be around people - and new, exciting people with liver cake especially! The trainer is a massive distraction to Bob obeying your recall. And in these situations, you should have the best treats you can use. But it's not a war of treats, it's about training Bob to come away from distractions (new exciting person with Liver cake) - even when you don't have a treat. It's early days, you'll get there...
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! Perfectly normal! Your trainer is a professional, highly skilled at getting puppies to love her plus she's a rarity only seen once a week. you he gets all the time It doesn't mean Bob doesn't love you Julie's right it's all about training and proofing in the face of distractions. You'll get there!
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! Bless Bob!! When I took Hattie to puppy classes she loved Ray our trainer so much that every week when she saw him she would wee infront of him with excitement, run around him like a nutter but she settled and became one of the most well behaved puppies in our class and went onto another year or so of higher level obedience training which was still with Ray and she was a star We found sausage helped!! x
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! Our trainers don't do any of the actual exercises they coach owners to do it. Our trainer would never really call a dog. If there was something someone was very stuck on they might demonstrate but usually use another dog and owner who can do it well. Our classes are more about training the owner and not the dog. Just a different approach I guess but it does mean Meg is tuned into me and not someone else.
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! Don't feel bad - my dog loves our postman more than us Parcel deliveries are the highlight of his life. And the postman doesn't even have any treats... It's just the excitement and novelty value. If try to find something he likes better than liver cake. Or just try liver cake yourself - his tummy might be able to handle it now. Worth a try? What about a squeaky toy that he only gets at class? I hope that your trainer is ignoring Bob when you call him so she is not reinforcing him for ignoring you
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! "Other people's" treats are always SO much better than yours! - didn't you know that!!
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! That is so true about other people's treats being better than yours! ;D Molly really loves my Mum and my mum uses liver cake with her dog out on walks. So I thought I'd try it too just to give her something different and because she seemed to like it. Initially Molly was really motivated by it but she soon lost her fascination with it- she is very fickle with treats and toys so I have to take a variety out with me to find what motivates her on a particular day. I didn't really mind as I wasn't using liver cake to tempt her away from my mum but I guess the message is that it's really the novelty factor of a particular person that is the attraction rather than the treats they're using. It's probably just a phase- like people have said- your dog will probably settle down with time and be less focused on your trainer. In the meantime I'd just try to smile through it and make sure you try and keep up beat while doing recall exercises at classes.
Re: Is it normal for puppy to love the trainer more than me?! Elsie loves the vet more than me even when he is doing something uncomfortable to her she loves him. No liver cake or treats involved she just plain adores him. Now that's real embarrassment
