[Wills Widow]

I have a four month old dog that I am teaching basic commands. He know sit, stay, and come well when he is on the leash. If he is not on the leash he will not obey me. What should I do to correct this. I fear if I do not correct this now he will learn that he can decide when and when not to listen.

[wvasko]

Originally Posted by Wills Widow

I have a four month old dog that I am teaching basic commands. He know sit, stay, and come well when he is on the leash. If he is not on the leash he will not obey me. What should I do to correct this. I fear if I do not correct this now he will learn that he can decide when and when not to listen.

He is a baby, just keep up what you are doing on lead, Obedience is a habit and your little pup is that a pup. You have not mentioned what type training positive/negative etc.

[Wills Widow]

Thanks for the reply. I have been using positive enforcement. I praise him up and pet him when he listens. Should I just continue to work him on the leash? Will the commands eventually become ingrained?

[Jen D]

Seeing he is so young are you making the training sessions short? You also can make come a fun thing when you are outside making it into a game.

[Curbside Prophet]

The problem could be that you started with the leash on. If you want the dog to learn with the leash off, start in a minimally distracting environment...like inside your home, and slowly increase the distractions as you continually reinforce the behaviors you want. I would also recommend that you use more than verbal or physical praise to reinforce behavior. Use your dog's daily ration of food to reward the off leash behaviors you're looking for. And if you really want him to learn quickly, us a food reward he would die for...especially for recall.

The best way to "correct" the behavior is to change how you're protecting you're cues. Don't put him in situations where you know he'll fail, and don't use a cue unless you know he will respond. If he's not responding, that means you're going faster than he's ready to learn. Change your criteria to better suit his learning, and that may mean doing a better job at controlling his environment (which includes you).