Is this normal at his age?

[stephanie.jackson]

Midas is 9 months old and he's pretty smart and we train all the time. In public, he can listen with no issues (except we're working on his leash reactivity, but even when he's acting like a lunatic when sees another dog, he still listens if I put him in a sit/down). But if we're in the home, and I tell him to sit randomly for no reason, sometimes he will but usually he just looks away as if I was talking to someone else. Maybe he just listens better when he's on a leash, IDK. But in the house if I have a treat, he does everything I say the first time.
Just wondering if maybe this is age related since I know he's entering that adolescent stage, or am I not doing something right? He makes eye contact on his own all the time, so it's not like he isn't focused on me. He just chooses not to listen so much without treats. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[tami97]

Shasta is the same way. She will be a year next week. Its the teen age state. Grin and bear it and just keep training.

[LoveEcho]

Echo did the same thing at that age... I always thought of it as him testing me. He knows that if he doesn't do it without a treat, then you'll probably go get one... with Echo it was recall for getting him inside. He'd just sit there with the "oh yeah? Make me" look... we trained with an e-collar once he got to that age, and he knew when he didn't have the collar on. Make it so it's not an option, he does it without the treat, no matter what....even if that means keeping him on leash around the house so that you can manually make him sit/down/etc. Wean him off treats in exchange for praise and pets, that may take care of the issue because they're not thinking about what they have to do to get a treat, they're thinking about what they have to do to please you.

[Cassidy's Mom]

I think it would be more normal at ANY age for him to obey better at home without a lot of distraction than he would in more distracting environments. Maybe he recognizes your public training sessions as "training", with its own set of rules, and around the house is "not training", so he really doesn't HAVE to obey? By now you shouldn't have to always be rewarding him for simple behaviors like sits, have you tried making him sit for everything, so he gets real life rewards instead? And then when he doesn't sit right away, "oops, you blew it!" and then go sit down and ignore him for a few minutes before trying again?

My dogs know if they want anything and I just stand there and do nothing (at the back door to go out, at the park for the ball to be thrown, by the leashes before a walk,if I'm holding their food bowls....) they have to sit and make eye contact or nothing happens.

[stephanie.jackson]

Cassidy's Mom, yes I make him sit before he gets anything. And in public, on walks, or with treats he listens great. It's just without treats and we're just in the house and I tell him to sit (I randomly start asking behaviors for no reason lol my other dog listens every time and is very happy to do so) and he's just like whatever. Or I will have to repeat myself once or twice and he doesn't look too pleased to be doing it.

But that makes sense about the whole "we are actually training" thing in public and just being nonchalant about it in the house. He used to be praise motivated, then he turned to treats.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Did you go from lots of treats (high level of reinforcement) to no treats, or to a variable reinforcement schedule first? It's possible that food in your hand or on your person has become a secondary cue.

[doggiedad]

keep training. when you ask your dog to do
something make sure he does it. i think you
should be able to say something to your
dog once and he responses. reacting to dogs,
do you train around other dogs? do you socialize
around other dogs?

[stephanie.jackson]

Cassidy's Mom, that is a possibility. Between knowing we're "training" when around and about in public, and not having treats, therefore he probably assumes we're not training, could result in not listening. I spontaneously reward for behaviors he definitely knows (sit, down, ect) and always reward for newer behaviors or behaviors he is in the process of learning.

DoggieDad, I do make him do it if he ignores me, because I don't want him getting in the habit of thinking ignoring me is okay. If I have treats, he does whatever I say, within 3 seconds, the first time I ask (that is my standard that I expect from him). As for his reactivity, I would take him to Petsmart all the time and enforce his training there. The parks around here don't usually have many dogs at all. He is about to start his intermediate class on the 21st of this month. He's met several hundred dogs in his lifetime. However, when he was 12 weeks old and I worked at a vet, I left him in the back to play with my coworker's dog, and while i was in the lobby talking to a client, the other dog attacked him and he had a couple wounds on his face. My coworkers were back there with them and stopped the fight but it was unfortunately at a bad time (fear period) and I think it's having a lasting effect. I plan on taking him out more once this class starts.

[stephanie.jackson]

I contacted a behaviorist last night and had a phone consultation with her this afternoon, to discuss my GSD's leash reactivity/possible aggression, and she said it's not hard to correct but with her methods (she's usually a positive reinforcement type trainer) she requires an E-Collar.

I was just wondering what yall think about that? I am a little worried that using an E collar for possible aggression may make it worse? Thank you again guys ...