Training for a 3 year old who has a very short attention span.. Where to start!

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mikebdub

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My Cali is 3 years old (on the 3rd of this month.. She is getting old! :D) and knows some basic commands but I am really having a hard time with her short attention span. I don't have a problem with her as far as being a bad dog or anything, but she just would rather run around then learn. We tried the clicker training and she started to get what was going on, but she lost interest fast and decided she would just go get her toys instead. I have tried wearing her down before training, being in a quite room with nothing other then her and I and she just gets bored so fast! She knows basic things like sit, stay, find ______ (insert toy name).. She knows "in" means get in her crate, food is food, up is up (getting up into the car, upstairs, etc..). "Trash" means go to the dumpster and wait for me, "Tucker" or "Max" are my Mom's dogs and Cali's boyfriends and she will run to the door and wait for them. She will even walk off leash without issue (its against the law here in MD so we don't get to practice much in public places). She will keep a reasonable distance to me when she is off-leash and if she gets a bit too far ahead a simple "wait" makes her stop, sit down and wait for me to catch up. She will fetch a frisbee or ball until she is ready to pass out. "Get em!" is universal for her to chase birds or the barn cats from the neighbors that have for some reason made it to my property. She knows how far she is allowed and I have never had issue with her going any further.

She is a great dog so I am not looking to break bad habits or anything just to learn a few more commands. I know she has the ability to do it, but I just am not sure hot to implement it anymore! I am really looking for a "down" "stay" "paw" and anything else she might like really. She is ready to please and she seems soo much happier when she is doing something for my GF and I. We all know herders need a job and are crazy to do them! I really want to be able to throw her ball and have her stay until released on command. I can get her to sit, stay but no matter what I do as soon as the object has left my hand she is gone! I have tried the clicker training, but if she does not understand the command and does not get a treat relatively quick, she just wanders off.

Really sorry for the long post, but I would really appreciate any help or tips that you can offer! Thank you!
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Have you "charged" the clicker? What I would probably do in your situation is to start with really simple things (like getting the dog to touch your hand with its nose) and make it really easy for the dog to get treats, just to get her interested and wanting to work. Lower expectations and make it super easy to get treats. A high level of success = a dog wanting to do it more. If you constantly failed at something you'll give up too! If the dog is unable to do a behaviour, then break it down into little steps and reward when the dog can do each step. Eg. if you want to teach your dog to go lie down on a mat, click and treat for looking at the mat, moving towards it, one foot on, 2 feet, etc.

If the dog gets bored and wanders off the treats/rewards are probably not that great to her, and I would use something she doesn't normally get which she LOVES, maybe cheese or liver or sausage. Or reward with a toss of the frisbee/ball or being allowed to chase birds. I would use as a reward what the DOG really loves, not what I think the dog might like! We pat dogs on the head thinking they love it, but most really don't!! That's not much of a reward to them! :lol:

I would also keep the sessions VERY short. 5 mins tops probably. Then lotsa play! Doing 12 sessions lasting 5 mins over the span of a day is much better for a distracted dog than 1 hr long session once a day.

Hope that helps! You can slowly teach your dog to leave things alone until released but you must do it sloooowllly and in tiny increments to teach your dog control. Start without anything being thrown coz that builds excitement and a dog too aroused who doesn't have control will not be able to stop. Build it up slowly!

Hope that helps :smile2:
 
If she gets bored quickly then try and make the session more fun, have really nice treats or if she is toy motivated use that as a reward. Keep sessions short (10 mins is long enough) but do them 2 or 3 times a day.

Always vary stuff so she doesn't just do the same exercise over and over. I work through about 5-6 things in a session.

Praise with your voice (even when using a clicker) and remember to take small steps to achieve your results.

I find a little practice everyday is a great way of focusing a dog on training, especially if there is play or food involved. As soon as Cadbury sees me getting some treats or setting up equipment he is at my side and eager to get going - but this wasn't always so!
 
Thanks for the tips all!

I went today and picked up a few "new" treats for her to use for training so she see's then as being special. I got her one of the "meat rolls" as my gf usually calls them and her very first bully stick (which are very expensive btw!). She really likes the new "meat roll" lol but she was almost knocking stuff off of the table trying to get to the bully stick! I let her chew on it for a bit and then took it so she will not get bored with it and now every time I get up she walks over to were I put it to see if I am going to give it back to her! Only thing I don't like about it is that it smells really bad after its been chewed on! :eek2: Oh well. Thanks again for all the ideas!
 
For some reason I thought I had already posted - must have pushed the wrong button.

Sounds like Cali doesnt think training is fun. I dont hold with the 5mins of learning for all dogs (unless you are teaching something boring), sheepdogs are bred for keeping up sustained activities for a period of time. If what you are doing is fun they will want to keep going. There's no reason why training time cant also be playtime - dogs really dont know the difference between play and training, just boring and fun!

I do find clickers are a little too boring - I only use them when we are transitioning from treats to no praise. I prefer to give cheers when we are training (they love being cheered). As for treats, Tully the little speed demon gets a ball thrown as a reward and even Deska prefers an 'active' reward. I took Tully through all her obedience classes with a ball rather than treats - and let me tell you between the cheers and the ball I had other people's dogs sitting and dropping when I was teaching Tully!

We have a special training and agility toy (an Air Donut) that we used only when training or at trials (I recently found out the top agility person in my state also uses the Air Donut as a special training/agility toy for his BC). Tully adores her donut so when I get it out she thinks - fun time, not training time! Perhaps find a special training ball or toy for Cali and use that as your reward.
 
I do find clickers are a little too boring - I only use them when we are transitioning from treats to no praise. I prefer to give cheers when we are training (they love being cheered). As for treats, Tully the little speed demon gets a ball thrown as a reward and even Deska prefers an 'active' reward. I took Tully through all her obedience classes with a ball rather than treats - and let me tell you between the cheers and the ball I had other people's dogs sitting and dropping when I was teaching Tully!
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You know Caro I am coming to the same conclusion with the clicker - mainly because I lost mine somewhere so I've been having to train Cadbury just using my voice and praise, and do you know we are actually making faster progress! I'm not against the clicker at all, but I'm now realising I don't need it to teach Cadders things.

And yes, I am the same when I have a toy and praise Cadbury, like for off lead work. Last time I did that I ended up with three chocolate labs all sitting around me!:lol:
 
labgirl said:
And yes, I am the same when I have a toy and praise Cadbury, like for off lead work. Last time I did that I ended up with three chocolate labs all sitting around me!:lol:
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Funny you should say that, because it was usually the labs in our classes that would do anything for whatever I had!
 
Your dog sounds very ball driven, a plus, and a curse. :smile2:

My dog has to earn the ball being thrown. Spin in a circle, lay down, sit, or something. As soon as the dog has done what I asked, I throw the ball as a reward.

I think you mentioned you would like to have a stay, until you release your dog to retrieve.

If your dog is leaving you to retrieve as soon as the ball leaves your hand, then try just setting the ball down a few feet away. With your dog on leash, work up close with your stay or wait command, then release your dog to the ball as reward for staying.

If you can take an obedience class, you would get lots of 'hands on' help!
 
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