Schools days for Laddie soon

corbinam said:
Will Laddie take treats from you when this is happening? I would take very high value treats and stand far enough away from the commotion to get his attention. Reward him for any attention at first--just looking at you.

It sounds like that type of situation is just too overwhelming for him now. So I would avoid being in the thick of it until you have more control over him when there are just a few people around.

I would also not want to walk him places where people/kids don't leave him alone. If he is uncomfortable or unruly in those situations than you shouldn't put him in those situations until he is more confident and in control.

I don't believe he necessarily has attention difficulty, he is just a young male dog that should be set up for success.
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Yes, Lad takes treats from me anytime. But the minute he eats it, he is back to acting up.

I don't think he is overwhelmed, to be honest, I think he wants to be in the middle, that is why he pulls and cries, it is me that does not like it, I feel he is getting disrupted and it irritates me. He loves folks around him, always has. When folks come to visit,he cries when they leave. He is definitely a "people" dog.
 
Sorry to hear of all the bad luck with the injuries.

I can understand the frustration, when my lab was young he spent most of his beginner course in the air and if I managed to stop him jumping, he was barking. He wasn't anxious, just got so over excited with all to see and smell. I ended up spending most of the session at the back of the class, sometimes on the other side of the paddock just playing games with him and working on a lot of focus drills and rewarding for having four feet on the ground. We had a nice instructor who gave us a lot of distance and helped us to integrate into the class slowly. By the next set of classes we could stay with the group for the majority of the time. there were bad weeks where I wouldn't have minded never going again but you have to think in little improvements.

You might have to step out of actively participating in class and just hover around the edges working on the basics and slowly building up the duration of his focus, working a lot on calm behaviors.
 
Laddie's Mom said:
He just turned 11 months. I plan on calling the vet this week .
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11 months- that is definitely in the teenage rebellious phase.......
lots of patience and lots of practice without distractions- at this point, just like a kid, the dog will try to get away with anything that it can.....................
 
That is what one of the trainers said.

This past week he was fine for the first 20 minutes, then after that, he would not listen or do anything correctly, I was very upset by the end of the class. All the other dogs were doing fine, but not us. I guess he gets bored after 20 minutes. Who knows.

Our last day is this coming Tuesday, I will be sort of glad, I will still work with him at home, and see how he does before I decide to continue with other classes in February, that is if I am even here, I might move back to the states, but that is another looooong story.

Anyway, he is getting there, and I have now taught him to "shake hands" he looks so cute when he does it.
 
Laddie's Mom said:
That is what one of the trainers said.

This past week he was fine for the first 20 minutes, then after that, he would not listen or do anything correctly, I was very upset by the end of the class. All the other dogs were doing fine, but not us. I guess he gets bored after 20 minutes. Who knows.

Our last day is this coming Tuesday, I will be sort of glad, I will still work with him at home, and see how he does before I decide to continue with other classes in February, that is if I am even here, I might move back to the states, but that is another looooong story.

Anyway, he is getting there, and I have now taught him to "shake hands" he looks so cute when he does it.
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an hour is a long time for a young dog to pay attention. Jocu (soon to be 1 yr) is in an obedience class and we break things up by doing some other tricks while the instructor works with the other dogs. basically, he's had some training already so we try to be the first ones to do the exercise and then we take a little play break so he doesn't have to be "on" the whole time.
I think we have 3 weeks left but we also have a small class- 6 dogs at most and the first class- only 2 dogs. since I have done the class with both the brown dogs, the instructor mostly asks what issues I want to work on with Jocu- which for us at this point are stays and recalls - although compared to Destin, Jocu has awesome recalls:winkgrin:
 
When Missy was 11 months old she hit that rebellious teenager stage too. We went right back to obedience class and with a lot of work and patience, she got her CGC and finally started listening again. Hang in there!
 
Clay made it through beginning and advanced obed. with MacGreggor but now MacGreggor is 19 months old and at times seems to have forgotten all of his training when he is outside. Forget the come command until you mention treat or cookie and then he comes running.

Sounds like you are making small tiny steps with Laddie. Don't get discouraged.
 
Gavin had puppy classes after he had all his shots..
I still remember the instructor being peeved because gavin pulled...and shelties do not pull! LOL...
I think he would act up just enough so the instructor would use him as an example and get her treats....
But he did get distracted by other dogs..still does, If I am being honest.
But he is generally well behaved and always responds to the emergency recall word (treat!). But it took a few years to get here :D
 
School days for Laddie soon

Do you have an area where you could walk Laddie that has very few distractions? Sometimes it works to take a step back and working on training in a quiet area...then when he responds without fail, graduate to an area with a slight graduation in distractions...and do the same thing. I know it may be difficult to find areas with gradually escalating distractions, but if you could it might help Laddie focus and make progress.

Is he responding well to commands when at home? If he is, then it really sounds like he may simply be getting overwhelmed by too much stimulation too soon to be able to concentrate in the places you have been walking.

Trini and my gang.
 
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