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Help BC Focus, Stop folling strangers & not lick or eat everything


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Hiii again! While I am still looking for potty training help, (post is separate) ive noticed a two other major things Id love some tips on.

The biggest thing is I cant get Koda to focus. Hes about 4 months old, so still a puppy! So i have seen little bouts of hyper focus, and then haha lalalalalala im all over the place. So example:

Fetch. I get him interested in the ball and he will go for it! He will bring it back once or twice. So then I get to maybe the second third or fourth time, I throw it, Then he grabs it, comes half way, drops it then runs around. Sometimes, he pretend he is going to go for it then run off. I feel like its because he gets bored and wants to play with a new toy. As he gets older, and such, how can I get his focus to a task? Whether it be fetch, frisbee, commands, one day agility, etc. I guess i need more foundation for certain things? Im in between what i can do.

Aside from that, his bigger issue is everything is dog treat to him. He eats woodchips, dirt, sand, grass, rocks, random garbage thats on our walks, etc. If its small enough for him to eat, its in his mouth and swallowed. I'm worried he is going to get sick. He knows drop it, and leave it, but I am constantly telling him this. I dont always catch him either. 

And my last big issue is that he will follow everyone. Hes got an okay call back, but it still very bad. He will greet everyone he sees, and stay with them. If they turn to leave he will follow them home or into their cars unless I call him. Which he will come back sometimes. Once hes going and involved, though, he is with that other person. 

What are some ideas? 

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:lol:

He sounds exactly like our boy was at four months! He's now nearly eleven months.

1) Our fetch was very much like that. I read things about border collies getting obsessed over playing fetch and didn't think it would apply to us. Now the ball is hidden and only comes out when I want to play. Put the ball away once he's brought it back once or twice. The focus will come good and strong as he gets older, enjoy not having it while he's a puppy.

2) Yep! Cat poo was our boys favourite, one time all his poo had red and green glitter in it and he bit the heads of some little plastic figures! Make sure he has access to lots of things he's aloud to mouth, toys with different textures etc and if you see him snuffling up something he shouldn't pass him something he is allowed. A wobble Kong is quite good, you fill it with kibble and then knock it around and eat up the kibble as it falls out.

3) OMG Yes! It was embarrassing. I remember running after people saying "Can you wait a minute please, my dog wants to come and live with you". Now, I have to send him to say hello to people and he certainly wouldn't go with them even if they tried.

Think of your puppy like a 3 year old child. No focus on any activity for more than a few minutes before switching to another one, will forgot what he was supposed to be doing, wants to put absolutely everything in his mouth as he explores the world and finds other people far more interesting than us.

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All your points raised could have been written about our puppy Harry who is now 9 months old. From day one, he has chewed everything, either in the house or garden, which looks a right state at the moment. Every flower, bush or shrub has been either destroyed or pulled up. We have put barriers up and hope to take them down soon to see if he has improved. We also have several holes which he has dug out. I am going to get a childs sand pit to hide objects in to see if this will stop his digging. Also on walks he does pick up anything and is now actually dropping the items when In tell him, this has taken practice and treats when he does.

Fetch is a work in progress, in the house he will fetch really well, but in the park, he is happy to fetch and run around with the ball in his mouth. So we take 2 balls and he usually rounds them up rather than fetching them back. Harry also gets obsessed with other dogs and their owners, he seems to think they all want to meet and greet him. But again this is improving as he is getter older and he now knows not all dogs and people want to say hello.

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Yep! That is my Koda man. He is a little rascal i swear! What did you guys do to improve these issues, though? I feel like sitting and waiting for them to pass because he is a puppy is allowing the behavior. Which usually ends up being a bigger problem when hes older. I like the kongs, I need more of them. Ha! Hes got a good toy box full of dog toys, but I always get him something new every week to keep him from getting bored of them. Hes got bully sticks, pig ears, pull toys, balls, squishy things, soft things, you name it. He even has a little pillow that im debating taking away because it is his hump toy >.> He doesnt hump anything else but....<.<

The following strangers I feel is the worst one. He could have been mauled because her dog was not a dog friendly dog. I had him on one of those 16 foot leashes and by time i got out, "is your dog friendly" he was right there in their space and oohhhh thank god for that lady. I now have since shortened his leash until I can improve this. 

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10 minutes ago, Samwiches said:

What did you guys do to improve these issues, though? I feel like sitting and waiting for them to pass because he is a puppy is allowing the behavior. Which usually ends up being a bigger problem when hes older.

The following strangers I feel is the worst one. He could have been mauled because her dog was not a dog friendly dog. I had him on one of those 16 foot leashes and by time i got out, "is your dog friendly" he was right there in their space and oohhhh thank god for that lady. I now have since shortened his leash until I can improve this. 

Just keep reinforcing the behaviours you want and try to avoid situations which cause the behaviours you don't want. Keep better control over him so he can't run up to people and dogs or follow them, sounds easier than it is. It was something I worried about, now he's amazingly good at having a quick hello and then coming away with his people.

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All of this is very typical behavior for a puppy of that age, so don't worry. Let him play the way he wants to. there is no need, now or in the future either, to make him focus on one form of play. He may decide to focus on one and that will become his favorite, but if he doesn't, who cares? It is just play.

Keep him confined, or under you constant attention at all times. I do mean constant. If I have a puppy in my house I don't go to the bathroom without putting the puppy into a crate or safe X-pen. I don't read, nothing. I just watch the pup. Or else the pup is confined.

Don't let your puppy off leash outdoors; too young for that. This way he will not follow strangers, and you can redirect him from eating dirt and so on. Tighten up your control of him, while giving him lots of  supervised play time, and you won't have these issues. It is the same as your potty issue. You need to supervise him more. Think of him as a human toddler. You don't leave them alone for a minute.

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Re the cushion, yes we had that so took them away, along with blankets. This stopped him for a couple of months, but I’m afraid he found the cushions recently behind the sofa and not only humping them , he is chewing them, so they are going.

We only have a short lead, my husband is not keen on the longer leads. I take Harry out with a harness that has a handle, so when someone approaches I can hold him by this, to stop him jumping up. He is also getting stronger.

Harrys interaction with other dogs is limited to the dog park, as last month whilst off lead in a dog park, which is not completely secure, something spoked him and he ran off. He ran home. Fortunately a friend was walking past our house when she saw him outside. 

One thing I have noticed this last month is that Harry seems a lot more settled. He is not continually following me around. He plays for a while then sleeps and when I am in the kitchen he just sits and watches me. 

The new problem we currently have is that despite Harry being an excellent sleeper at night, he has recently taken to barking in the night. I am now trying to limit his time sleeping in the day and playing with him more in the evenings so he doesn’t wake up and bark at some silly hour.

oh the joys of having a puppy!

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I really do want to emphasize the fact my dog does not leave my sight. He is always confined to an area of the house that has me in it. However, I do love your recommendations with the leash and such. We learned the bad way to have him not on a leash. Thank God it didnt end badly. 

Mandy, Ive read your post! Me and you are very similar with our puppies haha! 

Are there any commands or habits we can do to teach? Ive used the clicker training method and so far, he has responded very well to that. When I tried to teach him to sit and such, it wasnt happening. But once I introduced the clicker, boom, he was into training. So any ideas to get him to stay at my side, and not eat everything thatll fit in his mouth is much appreciated. Also, what is a good, "recall" method?

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There is literally no end to what you can train your dog. So...........train him to do whatever you want.  You can search Google for many methods using the click/reward method to train a recall.

If I had a dog who would pick up anything on the street and eat it I would train a "leave it" command, and also I would never take my eyes off the dog and the ground while walking, so that I could see something on the ground and keep the dog from eating it. When I am training a young dog, I never take my attention off the dog while walking. Only a glance now and then so I don't run into a tree, but literally all the rest of the time I am watching the dog. If your guy gets stuff off the ground that you don't see him get, you might try paying closer attention.

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What the other have said. This was our guy at this age and now at ten months it’s like night and day! 

But I have trained him consistently and it got better day by day. Also at about 8/9 months he just seemed to get more focus and better attitude all round. 

Re the licking - if he had played and been exercised I found he started licking when he was tired and couldn’t switch off which was when I would pop him in the crate for a nap. If it was outside I would set up little treat hunts to divert him or again, if he got tired he would literally shovel up mouthfuls of road gravel!

 

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That’s good to know, Shelley. I figured his attention would progress as times go. There’s all little subtle things he will focus on, he definitely gets bored. I was training with one type of treat and after about 20 min he was drifting I switched treats and he was back it for the rest of the hour. I know he will get the training stuff for sure. 

I feel like the hardest part is the strangers and listening with recall. He hears me but is not wanting to come when I say unless he feels like it ha!

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Wow that’s a really long training time! Even at ten months I keep my guy’s training to 10 mins but ongoing sits and lie downs at different times during the day to supplement his sessions. 

He does a couple of sessions a day. 

At four months training would have been just a few minutes at a time. 

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An hour's a really long time to train a dog, especially a puppy. I think you'll find things go much better when you break things up into much shorter and more frequent sessions. You always want to stop while he's still engaged and wanting more. Boredom and frustration will lead to a disengaged and quite possibly disobedient dog.

 

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Will do! I think I confused a video or two. I think it was an adult dog that got an hour a day of training oops! Haha

but I think I’m going to hire a trainer. He does not want to listen to me at all. You can tell he is not interested. And even on a short leash, having him trying to take off to see a person who is literally telling me they’re terrified of dogs is not good. I had to walk in an entire different direction because he started fighting to see this person. 

And having him even after a perfect leave it and drop it at home to outside eating rocks and poop and everything he passes to the point of not even going potty is very worrisome to me. He even tried to eat cactus! I’ve sat with him outside and practiced things and he’s good for like seconds then acts like he didn’t learn anything. We go on a walk, and There is nothing we pass that he won’t put in his mouth. Even the tiniest of dirt and rocks. I can’t keep pulling him every second (and that’s not an exaggeration its every second. Every rock is a swallow item and I live in Arizona so there are lots of rocks) is making me worry. 

I know it may seem like I’m rushing things, but he is not safe and his safety is my top priority. These are basic commands and for him to nitpick when he wants to respond to a recall, even at the tiniest of distances is problematic. I have to be doing something wrong somewhere when teaching him these things. It’s not him it’s me! 

Also, cute photos are cute hehe

473FC870-39FB-457C-8DB2-36FF2AB88DFD.jpeg

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The only thing you may be doing wrong is expecting too much of him and you! 

You have to make yourself super interesting with dried liver or cheese haha! 

Certainly you can take private lessons with a good trainer but don’t pass a dog to someone else to train and return or you miss out on the pleasure of bonding and succeeding yourself. 

Also, interest in what’s around is not doggy disobedience. It’s distraction. It’s normal. You make things safe by keeping them on leash or a training line and my ten month old is still on the end of one! 

Good luck :) 

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I'm not an expert at all, but I understand your worry because I felt the same thing when our boy was a similar age. I had to make some choices about places to avoid because of other people and distractions. Our lead walking was a disaster at four months, it's better now but still not perfect. Someone (here I think) advised me to love the dog that I've got but train for the dog I want. I remember thinking when he was five months that things were improving, and they've kept on improving. There is no quick fix. There's no magic you can perform to make him suddenly the way you need him to be, it's going to take time.

9 hours ago, Samwiches said:

 I had to walk in an entire different direction because he started fighting to see this person. 

We often change the direction of our walk in order to avoid a person or a distraction rather than fight each other. We also train to ignore people but if I don't feel like I have control over the situation then I'll avoid it rather than set him up for failure.

9 hours ago, Samwiches said:

And having him even after a perfect leave it and drop it at home to outside eating rocks and poop and everything he passes to the point of not even going potty is very worrisome to me. He even tried to eat cactus! I’ve sat with him outside and practiced things and he’s good for like seconds then acts like he didn’t learn anything. We go on a walk, and There is nothing we pass that he won’t put in his mouth. Even the tiniest of dirt and rocks. I can’t keep pulling him every second (and that’s not an exaggeration its every second. Every rock is a swallow item and I live in Arizona so there are lots of rocks) is making me worry. 

I trained our boy to accept a basket muzzle when he was a similar age which prevented him from picking things up and eating them. He also tended to be quite mouthy when greeting people so it prevented any unwanted nips. He didn't like it much but it was useful to use while he was still learning to leave yukky things alone. We don't use it anymore, he's much less interested in picking up things he's not meant to have and much more likely to listen to me.

9 hours ago, Samwiches said:

I know it may seem like I’m rushing things, but he is not safe and his safety is my top priority. These are basic commands and for him to nitpick when he wants to respond to a recall, even at the tiniest of distances is problematic. I have to be doing something wrong somewhere when teaching him these things. It’s not him it’s me! 

It's not you, it's him!

He's a baby and he's not safe. In the same way a human baby isn't safe or trustworthy. It's your job to keep him safe until he is 100% trustworthy, if that ever happens. Recall is so important and it was/is the thing that I most want to be perfect from the beginning. I think our boy was pretty good at four months old, if there were absolutely no distractions. I learnt a few lessons the hard (heart stopping!) way. We practice recall every single day, at home and on every outing.

I think what really helped me to manage my expectations was reading an article on how Guide Dogs are trained. I know they are a different breed but I hadn't realised that they don't start their formal training until they're over a year old. Up until then the focus is learning basic commands like recall, walking on the lead, sit, wait, potty etc. That put it in perspective for me as I realised that the first year is really about learning the basics, because it takes that long to get the foundations good and proper.

Adjust your expectations otherwise you'll both be unhappy.

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I really appreciate everyone who has commented so far! You are all really helping giving me a better idea of what to expect and not to. I keep thinking he’s a border so he’s gotta be smart enough and it’s creating a bit of impatience. But reading here is helping me realize its not so black and white lol

I was thinking of hiring a private trainer. The ones where they come to your house or you take them somewheee and we both work on him directly. That way I can see what I’m doing wrong and what works best for him to learn and keep his attention.

rushing aside, I feel like He’s being a bit stubborn lol there can be zero distractions just a wall and me and if I say come Koda! He looks at me and starts scratching the wall but he knows come. He was playing with a neighbor and when I said come, that time he broke free and cane. So he picks and chooses when he wants to listen. I want to find a way to get him to listen regardless. I feel that’s my toughest bet. Once I can get him to listen 100 teaching certain things will come by better. 

I love my pup though. He is such a lovebug

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At 4 months old, he's got the attention span of a gnat. And he's not learned that 'come' means Every Single Time. So, don't cue 'Come' unless you can enforce it. That might mean working with him on a long line, for a couple minutes at a time.3- 4 repetitions at a time, MAXIMUM. Always end on a good note. If that means 2 reps, then that's what you do. 

Good luck~

Ruth & Gibbs

 

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56 minutes ago, Samwiches said:

Thanks for the advice, Shlley and Ruth! I think that’s simple enough to get. If not now, when would be a good time to start making the connection that come means come no if’s ands or doggie butts about it? Like around 8months to a year or...? 

Right now is when you start. DO NOT USE YOUR CUE UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU CAN ENFORCE THE CUE. So, have him drag a line. Or only cue him when you can walk him down. Cuing him to 'come' and having him be able to blow it off is working against what you want. Every time that happens, you weaken the response until the word is meaningless.

If your word is 'come' you can change it to something like 'Here'. If you get 100% compliance, (even if you have to 'remind' him by tugging the leash gently) a couple times, and do maybe 3-4  very brief sessions a day, you'll see good progress.

Since he's still a baby, he's gonna ignore you from time to time, if he can. Make sure he can't. 

Ruth & Gibbs

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1 hour ago, ShellyF said:

I agree with above. Also, pick a time to say ‘come’ when he’s heading your way anyway so that he associates recall with wanting to come towards you. 

One of the best tips I ever had was to add words to what you see them doing naturally and build from there :)

Absolutely! I don't know your feelings about using treats, Samwiches. If you use them, pick out something he really, really, REALLY loves. He gets a tiny bit of the caviar or the salmon soufflé, (just kidding) ONLY when he comes to your cue. Use bits of kibble or something of lesser value when working on something else. Gibbs loves Cheerios, so he gets those as training treats regularly. He also loves fruit, so I share an apple with him from time to time, using bits of it as reinforcement for silly tricks.

If you don't use treats, do whatever he melts for. A couple of my dogs have really, really liked having their heads scratched, or their ears rubbed.

Ruth & Gibbs

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2 hours ago, urge to herd said:

...Cuing him to 'come' and having him be able to blow it off is working against what you want. Every time that happens, you weaken the response until the word is meaningless...

This is called poisoning the cue. The best way to retrain is as Ruth says and use a completely different cue that doesn't carry the expectation in the dog that he can decide whether or not to comply.

Another thing you want to avoid during training is calling the dog to you for something unpleasant. If he's running free and having fun, don't call him to you and then clip the leash on to go home. That's not positive reinforcement and if you do it a few times he'll figure out that coming when called means the fun ends. Don't call him to you to put him in the crate for a time out, etc., etc, etc. Every time he comes to you, whether you've asked him to or he does it on his own by choice should result in a big party of play and/or treats for him. For the time being, if you have to end the fun or restrict him in some way, you go to the dog rather than call him to you or entice him with treats but in a way that's different from your recall so it doesn't garner any negative connotations. Eventually you'll be able to call him to come to you for end of play, but not until it's well proofed and even then it should be the exception rather than the rule.

Another thing that can help is to practice lots of recalls where you reward profusely and then let him go back to whatever he was doing --  catch and release reinforces the positive aspect of complying with a recall.

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We also use 'down' when I'm not sure a recall will work. Down always means go down and don't get up until you hear the release command. We practice this all the time at home and out, he goes down and stays there knowing when I get to him he'll get a treat and then I 'catch' him for a few seconds before giving him the release command. We started with just the down when he was a small puppy at home, then we'd ask for a down while inching away from him then rushing back to give him a reward. It didn't take long before we could ask him to stay down and he would wait while we stepped briefly out of sight. It's become useful for all sorts of things at home.

It has also improved recall so much because I use a down when it's time to catch him to go home, recall now only ever means treats or a fun game. When practicing our down sometimes the lead goes on and we walk a few steps together and then he is released again. Sometimes it means a food treat. Sometimes it means the ball is coming out. Sometimes it means it's time to rest. And sometimes it means it's home time.

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These are great ideas! The other day I gave him some deli turkey treats and he was all over it!

We went to a park today and his recall was pretty great with the leash. He came back 90% of the time without a pull from us. 

I definitely practiced the happy recall then let off to continue playing. We were only calling him to come back and do nothing. So it does help. We also changed our cue from come boy, to Here boy, and that has changed his mood drastically. 

I can try the lay  down! He sits very freggin damn well haha 

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