[Paradokx]

Hey guys, long post ahead. I wanna start by telling you a little about my puppy. We are first time dog owners, besides growing up with dogs. I am 23, he is 29. Our puppys name is Sage and she will be 13 weeks old on Monday. We got her at 7 weeks and 5 days old and she had giardia, which was a roller coaster.
We have been crate training her and she is doing excellent. She hasn't had an accident in her crate in over a week. She holds it all night and throughout the day between my husbands lunch and me getting home from work. The last couple days she has been very good about going to the door when she has to pee/poo!! I'm so proud of her. The last time she peed on the carpet was Saturday and it was very much my own fault. (I opened the crate to clean it (ripped wet puppy pads from water splashing) and thought "oh i'l take her right after i'm done" Should of taken her first, turned around to a puddle. We don't even place puppy pads anymore!
Anyway, in the morning its a quick play and breakfast before I go to work, and my husband plays with her as well before he goes in to work. He comes home to feed/potty/play. As soon as i get home it's potty and play (fetch, tug of war, various toys) and then we do some basic obedience training. So far she can do sit, lay down, and shake. We are working on stay and come and she is having some trouble with those.. (any advice?) And then we go for a 20-30 minute walk before coming home to dinner and more play and some training here and there in the evening.
I find a problem that I am having is that she only listens when she wants to.. I'm wondering if this is due to age or because I am doing something wrong? If shes with me and were focused on training just in the house she does well, but today in front of my sister on her porch she would not even look when her name was called let alone sit or lay down, she was too interested in everything else, She also does this at home when i try to throw in a sit/lay down.
Yes I do understand she is a puppy and is exploring, I just want to make sure there isn't something more I should be doing. Also I am finding it hard to "treat" her as any kind of treat I try gives her the runny poos, (vet suggested her normal food) and her normal food just doesn't motivate her, and I don't blame her at all, I wouldn't be super happy with that either. Any suggestions on that?

Anyhow, I know this is a long post and thank you if you read it, I love her very much and want to make sure I'm doing everything I should be to help her and strengthen our bond or i would not be posting, so please don't comment anything rude, as i said I am a first time dog owner and am trying very hard to do right.

 

[LuvShepherds]

No criticisms here. She’s too young to be perfect on any tasks. She is still learning how to learn. Don’t worry so much about being perfect, focus on successes. So if you call her and she doesn’t come, go to her, make eye contact, and change the task to something she can do, like Sit. Recall takes a while and you don’t want her to learn she doesn’t have to respond. There are two ways to teach recall. One is to have her follow you everywhere off leash. Make it fun. Reward her every time she comes to you. The other is to attach her to a long line. Leave it loose. If she comes to you, reward. If she doesn’t, use a little pressure on the leash until she moves toward you, then reward with praise as long as she is moving toward you. Reward the movement, don’t wait until she is sitting in front of you because then you are rewarding the Sit, not the recall.

 

[Jchrest]

Totally typical puppy! My pup did great, had every command down, even with the distraction of our other 3 dogs. (Waiting for final series of vaccines) Then we took her in public. I never consider my dogs trained until they respond to commands just as easily outside with distractions as they do inside. We now take the two pups into big box stores as much as possible, and practice training in that environment, and as soon as it’s cool enough, we will do some training outside the dog park. They’ve finally accepted a mobilized chair, and it makes it much easier on me now. I can take them on short walks, cruise the box stores, and they do great with that distraction, so we are looking to up the distraction level sometime soon. The two pups I’m talking about are 6 months and 7 months. So don’t get discouraged, it’s completely normal at your pups age, she just needs more exposure to outside distractions. As long as she fully vaccinated.

Also, great advice from Luv for recall and not giving commands if they aren’t followed through on. Good luck!

 

[Pytheis]

What I did to teach my puppy recall was sit on the floor in my living room and toss a treat a few feet away. He would run to grab the treat, then I’d call him and show him the treat in my hand and he’d come running back for that. He quickly learned that coming back to me meant he’d get another treat. His recall is great now. He has yet to ever blow me off when I’ve called him, but I reward 100% of his recalls even still and I don’t call him if I think there’s a chance he won’t come.

 

[Sunflowers]

She is a baby! At this age, it’s thrilling that they listen at all. Maybe when she’s 6 months, expect her to listen, and even then, you still need to train a lot.
In my opinion, a 20-30 minute walk is too much at 4 months. Too much stress on their growing joints. At this age, let the puppy self-regulate. Take her places and let her explore.
To teach a reliable recall, have her on a leash or long line and make sure she comes when called, every time. If she realizes she can blow you off, it will be difficult.
What more should you be doing? Relaxing and enjoying. She will never be this little again.

 

[tim_s_adams]

First, CONGRATULATIONS on your new puppy! At 13 wks they are sponges, learning everything they can, about you and their environment.

If I were to offer advice I'd say shift your perspective a bit. Everything you do with your puppy is training! EVERYTHING! So don't get trapped into thinking it has to be a training "session". Virtually everything you do with her is shaping what she will do, or how she will perceive training in the future!

Instead think in terms of how she perceives the interaction. Think of what HER motivation is in any given scenario, and think about your own actions. Sometimes if there are distractions, or it's highly unlikely your puppy will listen due to some/many distractions, it's best not to give her a command. She's a baby!

Lead her everyday to do what you want to see in the future. Be insistent ALWAYS, but temper that with her age and temperment. Don't give in to repeating commands, and don't ever let her not comply!

At the same time, if she's excited or distracted, stop yourself from issuing a command. Just calmly walk to her, leash her up and get her attention, then help her comply with leash pressure. At this age it's all about motivation, consistency, and fun! Enjoy your puppy, and make sure she enjoys the learning...

 

[wolfmonte]

Hey guys, long post ahead. I wanna start by telling you a little about my puppy. We are first time dog owners, besides growing up with dogs. I am 23, he is 29. Our puppys name is Sage and she will be 13 weeks old on Monday. We got her at 7 weeks and 5 days old and she had giardia, which was a roller coaster.
We have been crate training her and she is doing excellent. She hasn't had an accident in her crate in over a week. She holds it all night and throughout the day between my husbands lunch and me getting home from work. The last couple days she has been very good about going to the door when she has to pee/poo!! I'm so proud of her. The last time she peed on the carpet was Saturday and it was very much my own fault. (I opened the crate to clean it (ripped wet puppy pads from water splashing) and thought "oh i'l take her right after i'm done" Should of taken her first, turned around to a puddle. We don't even place puppy pads anymore!
Anyway, in the morning its a quick play and breakfast before I go to work, and my husband plays with her as well before he goes in to work. He comes home to feed/potty/play. As soon as i get home it's potty and play (fetch, tug of war, various toys) and then we do some basic obedience training. So far she can do sit, lay down, and shake. We are working on stay and come and she is having some trouble with those.. (any advice?) And then we go for a 20-30 minute walk before coming home to dinner and more play and some training here and there in the evening.
I find a problem that I am having is that she only listens when she wants to.. I'm wondering if this is due to age or because I am doing something wrong? If shes with me and were focused on training just in the house she does well, but today in front of my sister on her porch she would not even look when her name was called let alone sit or lay down, she was too interested in everything else, She also does this at home when i try to throw in a sit/lay down.
Yes I do understand she is a puppy and is exploring, I just want to make sure there isn't something more I should be doing. Also I am finding it hard to "treat" her as any kind of treat I try gives her the runny poos, (vet suggested her normal food) and her normal food just doesn't motivate her, and I don't blame her at all, I wouldn't be super happy with that either. Any suggestions on that?

Anyhow, I know this is a long post and thank you if you read it, I love her very much and want to make sure I'm doing everything I should be to help her and strengthen our bond or i would not be posting, so please don't comment anything rude, as i said I am a first time dog owner and am trying very hard to do right.

She is very young. Shes like few years old for human child. Wait till she's 6 months and she will for sure respond better. My puppy is exactly the same. Sometimes he would just keep staring. He got all of the commands but he doesn't come each time. It's pretty normal.

 

[Paradokx]

No criticisms here. She’s too young to be perfect on any tasks. She is still learning how to learn. Don’t worry so much about being perfect, focus on successes. So if you call her and she doesn’t come, go to her, make eye contact, and change the task to something she can do, like Sit. Recall takes a while and you don’t want her to learn she doesn’t have to respond. There are two ways to teach recall. One is to have her follow you everywhere off leash. Make it fun. Reward her every time she comes to you. The other is to attach her to a long line. Leave it loose. If she comes to you, reward. If she doesn’t, use a little pressure on the leash until she moves toward you, then reward with praise as long as she is moving toward you. Reward the movement, don’t wait until she is sitting in front of you because then you are rewarding the Sit, not the recall.

Alright! Thats awesome advice thank you, I'll try it both ways and see how it goes.

Totally typical puppy! My pup did great, had every command down, even with the distraction of our other 3 dogs. (Waiting for final series of vaccines) Then we took her in public. I never consider my dogs trained until they respond to commands just as easily outside with distractions as they do inside. We now take the two pups into big box stores as much as possible, and practice training in that environment, and as soon as it’s cool enough, we will do some training outside the dog park. They’ve finally accepted a mobilized chair, and it makes it much easier on me now. I can take them on short walks, cruise the box stores, and they do great with that distraction, so we are looking to up the distraction level sometime soon. The two pups I’m talking about are 6 months and 7 months. So don’t get discouraged, it’s completely normal at your pups age, she just needs more exposure to outside distractions. As long as she fully vaccinated.

Also, great advice from Luv for recall and not giving commands if they aren’t followed through on. Good luck!

I'll definitely try dog friendly stores when shes all done with vaccinations! Hopefully that helps her focus during distractions. Plus her being older might help since yours are only 6 and 7 months!

What I did to teach my puppy recall was sit on the floor in my living room and toss a treat a few feet away. He would run to grab the treat, then I’d call him and show him the treat in my hand and he’d come running back for that. He quickly learned that coming back to me meant he’d get another treat. His recall is great now. He has yet to ever blow me off when I’ve called him, but I reward 100% of his recalls even still and I don’t call him if I think there’s a chance he won’t come.

Wow thats a great idea! I'll try this too! What kind of treats did you use?

She is a baby! At this age, it’s thrilling that they listen at all. Maybe when she’s 6 months, expect her to listen, and even then, you still need to train a lot.
In my opinion, a 20-30 minute walk is too much at 4 months. Too much stress on their growing joints. At this age, let the puppy self-regulate. Take her places and let her explore.
To teach a reliable recall, have her on a leash or long line and make sure she comes when called, every time. If she realizes she can blow you off, it will be difficult.
What more should you be doing? Relaxing and enjoying. She will never be this little again.

Alright i'll give it some time! I'm a major worrier haha. Will also walk less! It's mostly just up the road to my dad's and back, nothing super intensive! When we got her she was 9 lbs and shes up to almost 26! Growing like a weed

First, CONGRATULATIONS on your new puppy! At 13 wks they are sponges, learning everything they can, about you and their environment.

If I were to offer advice I'd say shift your perspective a bit. Everything you do with your puppy is training! EVERYTHING! So don't get trapped into thinking it has to be a training "session". Virtually everything you do with her is shaping what she will do, or how she will perceive training in the future!

Instead think in terms of how she perceives the interaction. Think of what HER motivation is in any given scenario, and think about your own actions. Sometimes if there are distractions, or it's highly unlikely your puppy will listen due to some/many distractions, it's best not to give her a command. She's a baby!

Lead her everyday to do what you want to see in the future. Be insistent ALWAYS, but temper that with her age and temperment. Don't give in to repeating commands, and don't ever let her not comply!

At the same time, if she's excited or distracted, stop yourself from issuing a command. Just calmly walk to her, leash her up and get her attention, then help her comply with leash pressure. At this age it's all about motivation, consistency, and fun! Enjoy your puppy, and make sure she enjoys the learning...

Ah! Thank you! We love her so much. This is great advice thank you so much! Defintly going to pay attention to whether or not she may comply before issuing the command, and if she doesn't follow through we won't sit there repeated it which we're guilty of!

She is very young. Shes like few years old for human child. Wait till she's 6 months and she will for sure respond better. My puppy is exactly the same. Sometimes he would just keep staring. He got all of the commands but he doesn't come each time. It's pretty normal.

Oh good to hear, I thought it was just me!