Dutch Shepherd Forum

That is so great !!! You just wait, yes, they are smart, very smart.

That is awesome! Congrats again on such a great dog. Do you plan to work her in anything?

Yeah she is wild. I'm still working on getting her to come to me every time I call her. So far she is being incredibly stubborn. She won't even come for treats or her favorite toys. Some times she does, other times she doesn't. Or she'll come half way to me, and then stop and wait for me to come half way. Anyone else ever seen anything like that? I've thought about attaching her to the 30' ft leash I have and calling her, and when she doesn't come, giving her light tugs until she finally comes to me and rewarding. Anyone have an opinion on that method....?

Yeah Benjamin, eventually I'd like to do Search and Rescue with her. She would be a natural for that I think. I put her in her crate, drag a treat across the floor, hide it where she can't see it, then let her out. She comes out, sniffs around to pick it up, and follows it to wherever I've hidden it. It's pretty wild. I've tried it with a couple of stuffed animals, one of my t-shirts I've worn, and a sock. And no matter where I hide it, she finds it almost right away. She crosses back and forth if she hits a tough spot or loses it, or back tracks, then comes right back to it and finds it. It's incredible.

Wow! That's incredible man. She sounds like a natural for SAR.

I always tell people with new dogs, even new adult dogs, to put them on a drag line. This way they can get used to your routine and like your pup, drag them over to you when they dong think they should come. Sadie was on a drag line. It helps for so many things, I would keep them on it until they are solid and you rarley have to tug it. Give their name/ command, no? , Tug, reward & happy dance. This helps with jumping on people, tables and any other behavior you want to modify/ teach.

What Lisa said, but please don't "meet" her halfway. That will send a message you don't want and produce the opposite behavior you do want.

When training to come, one thing I do is have them sit (on lead), stay, and I walk in front of them, holding the line taught. If they don't know the command yet or aren't sure, I give a little tug toward me and say "platform" (my word for "come"). They come, big party. I also use a hand command simultaneously, once they get the idea. Once they know the command but aren't hard-core conditioned to it, I'll tug only if they don't instantly leap toward me.

The "leave it" and "come" are so important that I would never have her off-lead in training--otherwise, she can blow you off and there's nothing you can do about it, which sends another message you don't want.

Raven wrote:What Lisa said, but please don't "meet" her halfway. That will send a message you don't want and produce the opposite behavior you do want.

Ditto.

Thank you guys/gals for the tips! She's doing so good, I want to keep it rolling along. Because for as smart as she is, I don't want her to learn bad habits then have to work breaking them. I'm sure she'll pick up something I'd rather she not, but no dog is perfect. Otherwise we wouldn't have to train them!

http://sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/page10/

Congratulations on your new puppy. She's very beautiful. If she's not coming all the time, she probably just doesn't understand yet. Above is a link to a great online positive training book by Sue Ailsby.

I remember when my guy would stare at me if I called him. Always had this "WTF" look. Keep on lead and figure out her highest value treats if she's particularly food motivated. Also, watch how you use "come" - if you're only using it to stop/end fun, she'll learn real fast what it really means. I had to start calling my guy very few minutes and treating/happy dance because he realized come = no more eating dirt.

A thing a trainer suggested and I can't really say for sure it helped because we were horrible at practicing, is "puppy popcorn". Have you played that? Where you hold the pup, your friend waves treats or toys, makes it really exciting, gives the "come" command and you release then rinse and repeat.