Granted, I have only had this sweetheart for 2 weeks and this is the first GSD that I've had in at least 25 years, but I'm a bit confused and concerned.
Three days after we got her, I started working with her. She would "come" every time I called her and we practice that one all day, inside and outside. As soon as I heard her get up or move around, I would say "come" and she came running. Outside, while she was doing her business, I would walk off, then when she was done I would say "come" and she ran to me. By the 3rd day of training, at 8.5 weeks old, she would come, sit, shake and down. At 9.5 weeks she could do all those plus stay (for a bit...not longer than 5 seconds before I would tell her to come bc I didn't want her to fail) and she has LOVED to play fetch since the day we got her and would "bring it" with the rope or ball that I threw, 100% of the time, in the house, in the yard, in the driveway and even at the park. She was AMAZING, all the things she could do.
That all came to a screeching halt, yesterday. I don't know why. Now, she will not come, even when I show her that I have a treat. She will not bring what I throw. Sometimes she brings it close, then drops it midway or sometimes she just runs, puts it in her mouth, drops it instantly and comes running on her own (not from me calling her back). She does still sit and shake every time but is 50/50 on the "down", right now (as of yesterday and today).
Right now, with all the "failures", Im afraid to work with her because I've never seen/experienced a dog who forgets everything (and it's not from lack of training since we did it 2-4x per day for 5 minutes each) and don't want training to become negative for her (she always had so much fun, before yesterday).
We start the Schutzhund socialization on 1/3/11 (they won't start working her until she is 12 weeks so said to just bring her for the socialization at first) so...
Three days after we got her, I started working with her. She would "come" every time I called her and we practice that one all day, inside and outside. As soon as I heard her get up or move around, I would say "come" and she came running. Outside, while she was doing her business, I would walk off, then when she was done I would say "come" and she ran to me. By the 3rd day of training, at 8.5 weeks old, she would come, sit, shake and down. At 9.5 weeks she could do all those plus stay (for a bit...not longer than 5 seconds before I would tell her to come bc I didn't want her to fail) and she has LOVED to play fetch since the day we got her and would "bring it" with the rope or ball that I threw, 100% of the time, in the house, in the yard, in the driveway and even at the park. She was AMAZING, all the things she could do.
That all came to a screeching halt, yesterday. I don't know why. Now, she will not come, even when I show her that I have a treat. She will not bring what I throw. Sometimes she brings it close, then drops it midway or sometimes she just runs, puts it in her mouth, drops it instantly and comes running on her own (not from me calling her back). She does still sit and shake every time but is 50/50 on the "down", right now (as of yesterday and today).
Right now, with all the "failures", Im afraid to work with her because I've never seen/experienced a dog who forgets everything (and it's not from lack of training since we did it 2-4x per day for 5 minutes each) and don't want training to become negative for her (she always had so much fun, before yesterday).
We start the Schutzhund socialization on 1/3/11 (they won't start working her until she is 12 weeks so said to just bring her for the socialization at first) so...
- do I stop all together and just let them help me or do we keep working at home?
- Is it normal for a 10-week-old to stop doing all the things she was doing every day for 2 weeks solid?
- We currently have guests in the house that arrived yesterday. Is that the reason? I haven't tried working with her while they are around, because I don't want to overwhelm her, so we only do this while they are sleeping or in/out of the house, away from us. That's the only change, though. No other envronmental/food/habit changes in the home.