intronaut

Just last night I googled recall training fr hours because my donkey of a dog completely ignored me as we were about to head inside. Neighborhood dog was out and he was in a running frenzy back and forth on the gate, trying to get to the dog. Completely frustrated, I just let him run his course until he settled down because I didn't know what else to do. I came across this though... "When a puppy doesn’t come when called, you need to recognize that the puppy is not trained. An untrained dog won’t come when called. And your puppy isn’t an adult. It is impossible for a puppy to be reliably obedient. It is impossible to lay enough groundwork with a puppy to ever expect a reliable Come command. Coming when called is one of the most difficult commands to teach, because it requires good technique and an excellent relationship with your dog. Think on this. Dogs are not entered into obedience competition until they are at least 2 years old. And that is after many months of competition. Police dogs are at least 2 1/2 years old before they are used on the street. Same with guide dogs, competitive hunting dogs, and so forth. Obedience is a combination of a lot of good training in the real world, and a result of maturity. There is no 6 month old puppy excelling in any obedience event anywhere in the world. The older, better trained dogs, will always do better. That’s why ALL reputable dog trainers, and ALL reputable dog events require dogs to be at least 18 months to 2 years of age before they are allowed to show their skills. So, there is no way that a puppy will reliably come when called. It isn’t possible. Lighten up on your puppy. It is too soon to expect that kind of performance. And you are not being fair to your dog."

I second the "Control Unleashed" suggestion. It's so much more then "just a training book", it has various real life problem stories and explanations on why they started in the first place and how they were handled. It will probably help you understand your puppy a lot better.

Hey, Tezruh, congrats on your puppy Your puppy barks and lunges mainly because he is probably afraid and not sure what he should do. Since he's on the lead, he knows he can't run away or defend himself (not that he'll need too). You need to work on building his confidence. Are you using a clicker? I've found out that it works wonders with my puppy, he's the same age as yours. Are you playing with him to use up some of his energy before you go for walks? If not, start doing that. He will be more focused on you if he's not so amped up. Remember that being outside is engaging - there are a lot of smells and sight and sounds for him. Also take not that there is a fine line with him being tired and over tired. The latter will probably also result in him being jumpy. By now he probably knows how to sit, right? So, what I did with my pup is to take him outside, get some tasty treats (and a clicker if you're using it) and don't come too close to the street and the cars. Just stay somewhere where he can hear and see the cars, but he's not too close to them so they don't freak him out as much. If he's calm, click and reward. If he's not, ask him to sit. Click and reward the sit. You need to show him that being calm results in good things - treats. Next thing you want to do, when, or even before, the car passes by (Ren was freaked out by the sound), get his attention onto you. Click and reward. This will teach him that he doesn't need to react to the cars, but if he's unsure about something, he'll ask you for reassurance and instead of going bonkers, he'll get a treat for staying calm and ignoring the cars. Do this in steps, if he's comfortable being 20m away from the street, get him 5m closer. Then 5m even closer, to the point where he won't even notice the car wheezing by his head. As far as people go, I'd do the same thing. Invite some friends over so he can meet them at home, where his already calm and comfortable. Before he starts going crazy, ask him to sit. Click and reward. Invite a person over to him, but don't let him break the sit, try and keep his attention on you. Click and reward him for being calm and then let him sniff and say hi. It takes time and patience, so don't get discouraged. It took us a week to get over the cars, two weeks to get over jumping on new people. Just stay consistent and stay calm

Just calm down and don't freak out. It is scary to see your pup growl at you, I've been where you are now. As people already mentioned - trade it for something. That's how we got past the growling. Everytime he'd get a new bone - no way he was giving it up. I let him have it for a couple of minutes and then traded a piece of chicken for it. Gave it back. Trade for chicken again. Call her, get her attention on you, let her see that you have something else in your hand and let her come to you. Then grab the bone, give it back. Maybe you can try and give her the bone to chew, but still hold onto it? Then pet her and see if she'll growl. If not, praise her. That way she can connect that you having your hands on the bone is not a bad thing.

I'm throwing at you something that's been helping us a lot in the last few days, so maybe you could try that too. Just praise the hell out of her on walks when she's doing fine. It will keep her attention on you, plus she's getting treats. No way she won't enjoy that. Everytime you see that she's going to pull forward, call her back BEFORE she does and give her a treat when she comes back by your side. She'll start to understand that good things happen when she's around you and walking and not in front of you, pulling. Sometimes we forget that they don't know what they're supposed to do and we think that they got the point after only a few days. We're spending our walks now with me saying "good boy" every 30 seconds or so I'm actually not getting all that worked up when he tries to wonder off to sniff something or to greet random people that are passing us by, puppies are curious.

Gloria, thanks for the answer. It's amazing for me to see all the useful advice people have to offer on this forum, it really is a goldmine - not just for BCs, but for dogs in general.

What a cutie pie. Look at those eyes, just adorable! +1 on the zoomies advice. Mine just turned 3 months around 10 days ago. We go for walks around 2-3 times a day, 30-40 minutes in total. Sometimes the street is calmer, sometimes it's busier - the latter totally affects him. He's doing fine on leash when it's quieter, but If we pass along too many barking dogs/loud cars passing by, he'll get totally stressed out to the point that I can't control him on the leash and I have to carry him home sometimes. Then the zoomies start in the back yard when we get back home. I just closed him in with me and he was asleep in a matter of seconds. And yes, it's just a matter of learning how to take it slow and to watch out how the puppy reacts.

We're currently doing 40min tops with the walks. Most of the time goes by not actually walking because he's super sniffy and interested in absolutely everybody that we come across on the street. But I guess excitement wears him out too. We're changing routes and he seems to be doing pretty well, all things considering. I'll try to shorten the distance and see how that goes, thanks for the advice rwinner We met with a neighbor that has a 2yo Irish setter and her girl is still learning not to tug, so I'm actually kind of proud of my little guy - we have around 70% loose leash and 30% tugging at the moment. Everything else seems to be going well, he's very eager to learn. As soon as I get the training treats, it's like his mood shifts instantly - serious mode: on I was actually kind of scared of getting a BC because of the stories about how demanding and hyper they are, but as every day goes by - working with this pup and reading about the breed still, I'm starting to like them even more.

Thanks for the advice, it's actually kinda obvious now. We will try that. He is such a sweetheart so I was a bit startled with the growl to be honest!

Thanks for the answers. We've been hanging out lately a lot (sun, yay!) so I didn't get the time to sit down and scroll through the interwebs as much as I had the chance in my pre-pup era. Will frozen Kongs hurt him in any way if given in colder days? Don't want him to catch a cold. This is Ren - He has changed A LOT in the last two weeks since he's been with us, shaping up to be a good looking pup We started with leash walking a couple of days ago. He was terrified of the cars at first, we managed to overcome that with treats. Still working on not tugging, he's doing great when we go away, but he's super crazy on the way home - tugging and in a hurry. Any ideas why? Also started play dates with a couple of neighborhood puppies, working on call commands when he's distracted. I'm using a clicker and he's responding pretty well so far. Trying not to be too hard on him, 'cause he's still a baby. Potty training is pretty much settled, he's still sleeping through the night and waits for me to let him out in the morning. We're currently on our third accident free day, but I'm still keeping a close eye on him. We settled to a schedule where he dozes off for a couple of hours a day while I work or do chores around the house. So far he's been pretty good, but.. He growled at me today when I was trying to pet him while he was eating his puppy chew bone! Never did that before with food, or with toys. So I'm wondering how should I go about this? I've been giving him Kong treats since day one and I've been taking the Kong away (mainly to see if any food got stuck so that I can help him out) and giving it back - no problem. Same with toys, we started "leave it" a couple of days ago. So basically, it's a little chew bone with dry chicken around it. He'd been chewing on it and I was trying to pet him and he growled. I let him finish it and then later gave him another one, same thing. I offered other treats to distract him while I took away the chew bone and then gave it back. Would repeating this work in trying to show him that there's nothing to growl about?

Thanks for the answers. I love the Ikea modification for the crate and I think I'll definitely try something like that. I'm hoping for some sunnier weather so we can spend more time outside and that he can get a bit more tired. On the second day home he already got assigned to be our little bucket fetcher in the garden - so far I'm in love with his personality. I just stumbled upon the forum, so I didn't get the chance to sift through it in detail, but I will. We worked on the "wait" today, I find it useful for when I have to go grab a towel to wipe his muddy paws before entering the house. Also while he waits for food etc It's not that I mind him following me around, I just hate seeing him being disturbed from his naps by silly things as me getting up from my chair. I might be overthinking it at the moment, everything is still brand new for him so he's super curious. As far as the waking up from naps go, he's very quiet at the moment about asking to go out, especially for peeing. I was reading the Housebreaking Bible where "Overnight Scheduling" is explained in accordance to puppy's age and how long he can hold it in. But since he's not waking me up on his own, I'll take this night as a test night and take him out only right before we go to sleep - no potty trips unless he wakes up by himself. We'll see how it goes I actually am a light sleeper, so I should hear him fidgeting around. Gonna post some pictures soon

Hey, guys. I am a proud owner of a BC puppy called Ren. He's 11 weeks old, we got him four days ago. Never owned a BC before, and this is actually my first puppy, so everything is new and exciting for both me and the pup. So please take that into condsideration I do have a couple of questions for you guys and I'm hoping you could help me out. 1. Crate training - I wasn't planning on using it, but now I'm thinking of introducing a crate sometime soon. Main reason is that the pup is super interested in just about everything I do. He'll be dozing off next to me and the second I get off my chair and go to get a glass of water, he's up and following me. So is it a good idea to teach him some quiet time in the crate? I'm actually afraid that he'll be whining and barking when I close him in, he's doing that now if I leave him alone in the room. Not sure if that's 'cause he's new to the house or is it just his nature. I can't be spending my days by his side, I'll have to leave my house eventually. He's currently sleeping on his bed, but on a few ocasions I've found him on MY bed when I leave him alone. So he jumps up when left alone in the room. Not planning on allowing that at all, but the main problem is that I can't catch him in the act to say "no", and when I come into the room, he's all happy and tail wagging so I'm afraid that if I yell at him then, he'll think I'm mad because of his tail wagging. 2. "The off switch" - I read on some topics that some members recommend learning the dog to have a "off switch". How may I go about that? Is it working on puppies too or just older dogs that are grown up? 3. Activities indoors - we've been having a couple of rainy days and I've been kinda forced to work with him inside, but the tricks or tug of war/fetch don't seem to tire him down as much as running in the garden. He gets the zoomies in the afternoon and I can't calm him down with anything. Any suggestions of what my tire a young pup down? 4. Night time potty breaks - he's actually been pretty god at night, as soon as I pack in, he settles down and zonks out. I've been getting up every 3 hours to take him out. I need to wake him up because he's sleeping and not whining at all. I was thinking of prolonging that to 3.5 hours and then 4 hours but maybe he'd be able to go on with just one night trip? We go out before bed (around 11PM)