OK, this is 1 of those problems that is like a double edged sword.

I had the hardest time getting Wave to "stay" and wait for a command to "come". Wave would respond & come to me in an instant. That was 1 of his traits that everyone was jealous with..............coming to anyone that called on him. He had a time with laying/sitting & staying.

NOW he will stay,endlessly......probably for hours if I let him & does not respond to "come" or "here" when I call him. He will not move or flinch but does not budge. This is ON or OFF the lead. He is almost too smart for his own good He just takes the command a lil' too seriously?

Any suggestions on how to "un-do" this?

I would appreciate ANY input!!!!!!!!!!

I think this may be a common trait of 'adolescent' dogs, if you can categorize them as such. Wyatt has taken to a considerable amount of selective listening, esp. with come. Our puppy trainer made it quite clear that is extremely difficult to have a 100% recall with a puppy, she made it sound impossible. Unfortunately now, Wyatt will often ignore an initial command, unless there is a really good treat in hand, and I began asking him 'What did I say', instead of repeating the command. Well, as it turns out, now he generally will ignore the command, until I say this...I feel like I'm talking to a child...

Wyatt doesn't listen, he talks back, and he bites me when I don't give him whatever it is that he wants...
I thought this was supposed to be better than kids!
Oh well...

Barley has reached the dreaded adolescence. He use to sit, lay down, sit, and stay all with hand signals now I have a hard time getting him to listen to even a vocal command! And don't get me started on his recall. If I have to chase him to the end of the drive way one more time I might rip my hair out! Please someone tell me it will get better! Please let this be a phase!

I've tried that but it just doesn't work with him. He's much more interested in chasing birds into the street! What's worse is he's corrupted Beauty. They use to know where the boundaries were but in the pasted month or so Barley seems to think he can go where ever he feels like going. It's very stressful because now I can't take them both out at the same time without Barley being on the lead. Plus our neighbors dogs are always in our yard and who knows what would happen if they met?! I'm ranting...

[quote="Karen"]

louloulane wrote:

OK, this is 1 of those problems that is like a double edged sword. I had the hardest time getting Wave to "stay" and wait for a command to "come". Wave would respond & come to me in an instant. That was 1 of his traits that everyone was jealous with..............coming to anyone that called on him. He had a time with laying/sitting & staying. NOW he will stay,endlessly......probably for hours if I let him & does not respond to "come" or "here" when I call him. He will not move or flinch but does not budge. This is ON or OFF the lead. He is almost too smart for his own good He just takes the command a lil' too seriously? Any suggestions on how to "un-do" this? I would appreciate ANY input!!!!!!!!!!

This is something I picked up in my dog obedience clases.
Stay means Stay, If you walk away your dog should stay until you come back to the heel position and give another command.
If you want him to come to you after you place his somewhere use the command wait.
When I use stay, the dog will stay until I come back to the dog. If I use the command Wait. I can distance myself and then use the command (front) or (Heel) to retrieve the dog. You can also use treats or his favorite toy to draw him off wait while giving the next command.
I also use the command Release to let my dogs know that training is over and it is play time.
Not everyone trains the same way but this is what I use.
My biggest obsticle while training is recall off lead. So if anyone has suggestions on recall off lead, I will give them a try.

I dont let my dogs off the line until they have the recall 200% and only then they can run free when I know that they will def come back when called. I start teaching them the recall on a long lead. Walk with the dog on your lefthand side and let dog get in front to the end of the lead When dog is not expecting it call dog by name followed by 'come' jerk lead a little to bring dogs head around to face you and run backwards calling dogs name followed by come and bring dog with you as you run backwards (very effective but difficult to explain in writing) once dog is in front of you and you have run backwards a good distance then put dog in sit in front of you facing you. Praise and have a fun game. I never use a food reward! Games are what I always use perhaps using dogs favorite toy at the appropriate time during the game.

Repeat several times and then continue walk. Do this every 5 or 6 mins or so on your walk and then relax.

To go on from here I then use a 30 foot line. Go on your walk and let the dog get a good distance away from you on the line. When dog has found something interesting to smell or stare at repeat above calling dogs name sharply first followed by command come and jerk line to get dogs attention on you and haul in gently as above. It can be a little more difficult with a long line but dont try to fold up line but rather let it fall on the floor as you haul dog in. I dont mean haul literally but Im sure you know what I mean.

It is important to be firm and use a strong voice for the command of dogs name followed by 'come' BUT after when the dog is coming to you as you are hauling him in then keep the voice very happy and pleasing so he wants to come to you as you are going to play with him and perhaps use his fav' toy too.

As Karen stated earlier NEVER shout at dog or get mad at him if he dosnt respond as this will surely make him never want to come to you.

When you have results with the line then go on from that by letting line drop and let dog run around with line attached so that you can always catch the end of the line if necessary. Do this on open ground so dog never gets tangled in trees or such like. Also you can keep an eye open for other dog distractions that he may chase after and get the command COME in before he decides to run.

If you follow above you 'should' have a very effective recall every time. Of course there will be the very odd time where he wont respond of course. If you start to have problems again with the recall then go back to basics and start all over again. This training should start from when pup goes on lead and last for as long as is necessary. By training from the beginning what you want the dog to do then you dont have to go back and try to correct faults which is far more difficult.