My dog has suddenly become scatter-brained

[evybear15]

We recently found a new trainer for Baxter. Things have been going fantastic for the most part! He is able to hold "place" for longer than before, he is learning new tricks, and is starting to respond faster to corrections in the car when he starts to go bonkers at people daring to walk on the sidewalk outside of his mobile home.

However...he has recently decided to be scatter-brained, and (it seems) intentionally dense. He used to have amazing focus and would pay close attention to us. Now it's all I can do to keep his attention, and then he acts like he doesn't know the commands we give him. We take him to the trainer...and he's 10x better than he is at home.

I want to make training sessions FUN for him. I want to incorporate training into his daily routine outside of our work sessions. Our trainer wants him to be leashed or crated at all times for right now so that he has no free-roam of the house until his obedience is outstanding. But it's hard to work with him when he refuses to focus. Any ideas on fun activities/games/training methods to get and KEEP his attention? I just feel like it is truly holding us back with him moving forward with training, because I have to spend several minutes just getting him to focus whereas before he was paying very close attention.

Anyway, any tips/advice/help would be appreciated!

[LoveEcho]

Not that I'm at all useful for this, but I'm wondering if part of the "why" is the age-- we've been having a similar issue with Echo, who's just a month older than your pup. He used to be almost obsessively focused, lately he's been what I would describe as ADHD-ish ("why do I have to? I'm bored... PLASTIC BAG....I don't feel like it...ok maybe...SQUIRREL"). They're teenagers... so I think you're definitely on the right track with making training more play-time oriented. If he starts being a pill, play time is over. We've been using a flirt pole and general rough-housing, then do some commands, then when he obeys satisfactorily we go back to playing for a little bit... We've also been doing "find it"s with his favorite toys, etc. When you go for a walk or hike, suddenly put him into a down, sit, etc...and keep doing this, it works wonders for keeping them on their toes. I hope some of this anecdotal stuff helps.

[evybear15]

That's actually a good point...I hadn't taken his age into consideration since he had always been so focused in the past.

I do think that we have thrown him a bit by turning his world upside down with making him be leashed or crated at all times in the house...but who knows. I'm guessing more than anything!

I'll try incorporating more play-time in the mix, change up his treats to see if something "new" will keep his attention more than what he's used to, etc. His trainer uses hotdogs, so apparently his beloved Zuke's are no longer as good.