[jfinner1]

So far, training has been going pretty well, but I swear one of my three pups is ADD... With the other two, when we're working they pay attention (though I'm not sure if they're paying attention to me or the treats, lol). But the one... She sits and lays down when I tell her, and some other basics, but we tend to have a kind of pattern going that I'm not sure how to break. Here's what happens:

Me: Sit *hand signal*
Blaze: *sits*
Me: Good Girl! *treat*
Blaze: *grab treat, walk away, eat it*
Me: Blaze, come here...
Blaze: *comes*
(repeat)

Also, if I pause for any reason after calling her over before I give her another command, she'll walk away again. I don't know what it is, but it's making any sort of 'long' command very difficult... Stay and leave it are looking darn near impossible right now. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with her, especially since I don't have this problem with the other two pups. Angel is the quickest to pick up on commands, and seems to have the most fun with it, And Ry-ry is a bit slower on the uptake, but at least he stay focused, and once he gets something, he has it. Blaze just doesn't seem to care, and I don't know how to keep her interested. Any ideas?

BTW They're all 4.5 month old Toy Poodles.

 

[Elana55]

Sounds EXACTLY like Atka. I leashed her for awhile... and that helped. A short leash like 2-4 feet and I did not allow her to put her head down and sniff (leash too short). I now use the sniffing as a reward, but at first I stopped that.

Here is what you need to do. Just click and reward for hanging out. Yes. Just stand there and every time she looks at you click and reward. Do not work on any other things.. Just on focus.. and do it every where. It will take time.

A very wise dog trainer suggested I get some Spam and randomly spit the food at the dog. The dog will VERY quickly learn to look at your face in anticipation of food. Couple this with NEVER giving the dog a reward without her looking at your face and in your eyes.

As you work at reward for looking at your face, start to increase the length of time she looks at you. At first it will be very short.. 1/2 second.. but increase the length of time before you click and reward.

Another thing I have found that really works is rapid delivery of treats. When you click and reward, the dog will often walk away.. but if the dog starts to realize that you will IMMEDIATELY deliver a second, third, fourth treat, looking or walking away becomes less attrctive.

Last but not least use very small treats. 1/2 dime size or less. It is not the quantity of treats that counts but the QUALITY. I use Spam, string cheese, hot dogs, steak, chicken, cold cuts, and tiny bits of dog treats. I up the quality as the distractions increase.

PS: If the dogs are not real food motivated, you can also use a game of tug and play as a reward.

 

[aero4ever]

Last but not least use very small treats. 1/2 dime size or less. It is not the quantity of treats that counts but the QUALITY. I use Spam, string cheese, hot dogs, steak, chicken, cold cuts, and tiny bits of dog treats. I up the quality as the distractions increase.

I also cook up liver for mine. It's inexpensive and they seem to love it. Put it in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Remove the liver and put on the counter, cut into bite sized pieces, then bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. They love it.

 

[hulkamaniac]

Last but not least use very small treats. 1/2 dime size or less. It is not the quantity of treats that counts but the QUALITY. I use Spam, string cheese, hot dogs, steak, chicken, cold cuts, and tiny bits of dog treats. I up the quality as the distractions increase.

This was going to be my suggestion. I learned this the hard way after using Milkbone dog biscuits. The dog loved 'em, but would take them, walk off and eat them and then come back. By then he'd lost the focus on what we were learning (or trying to learn as the case may be). I use hot dogs that I've cut into slices and then cut the slices into quarters. The dogs love it, but they're small enough that they're not particularly fattening and can be consumed rapidly enough that the dog doesn't lose focus.

 

[jesterjigger]

Something that helped my puppy get over the hump at that age was to work on her just sitty or laying next to me while I stood. I would ask her to sit or lay down next to me and watch her for a few seconds and then give her a treat, then have her sit next to me for a little bit and then give her the treat. Eventually she got to the point where she'd stay next to me after I gave her the treat and even sit or lay down on her own in anticipation.