Obedience training some quesitions

[Justaguy]

Is it true that my puppy won't always listen yet cause he's young or is that something a trainer will tell you so you don't say they didn't do a good job? Jack only listens when he wants to. If I have a treat its a different story lol.

[Castlemaid]

I think your trainer (or you) are expecting too much. You can't expect your pup to be consistent until he is older, and too early yet to phase out the treats. If he won't work when you don't have a treat, then you are asking for too much obedience without a treat. He should still be rewarded a LOT, and just occasionally throw in a command with no reward, then move quickly to another command so that he does not get to think about not having received a treat for his sit or whatever for too long.

Also expecting too much for him to work off leash as of yet. If he disconnects and looses focus the minute you drop the leash, then you have to work on engagement. To keep your dog engaged, you have to be fun and active and reward him with praise, play and treats when he comes to you, when he pays attention to .

You can google engagement training, there are lots of videos. Training is a two way street - if you want your pup to be happy, engaged, focused, energetic in his obedience, you have to be the same. People get really self-conscious about it, but Jack is still a baby and learning has to be fun for him.

Just like little kids, they will get bored and tune out if it is dry and repetitive. You have to make it so that they want to pay attention and are challenged and stimulated by the work.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by Castlemaid

Also expecting too much for him to work off leash as of yet. If he disconnects and looses focus the minute you drop the leash, then you have to work on engagement. To keep your dog engaged, you have to be fun and active and reward him with praise, play and treats when he comes to you, when he pays attention to you.

You can google engagement training, there are lots of videos. Training is a two way street - if you want your pup to be happy, engaged, focused, energetic in his obedience, you have to be the same. People get really self-conscious about it, but Jack is still a baby and learning has to be fun for him.

Totally! I actually do most of my at home training off leash, so there isn't anything keeping them with me, except ME. Obviously, out in public I worked with them on a leash, for safety, but in classes I would often drop the leash. It would be close enough to step on if I needed to, but most of the time it wasn't an issue.