What is the best way to train our new 7 mo. old puppy to come?

[chris.umland]

What is the best way to train our new 7 mo. old puppy to come?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Chris umpland,

Welcome to the forums,

At 7 months, your pup is entering doggy adolescence and therefore, things can get a tad bit more challenging because at this stage dogs tend to be more distracted as they are undergoing several physical and mental changes. You can read more about this stage here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

 

The best way to teach a recall is to make the dog's name music for his/her ears, in other words, make great things happen when your dog comes when called. These great experiences have to leave a strong impact on the dog to build a strong recall. Start in low distraction areas and then gradually move on to more distracting areas. Be generous: for enthusiastic recalls, I often reward with several treats fed in a row while happy talking.

 

You can also create special set-ups to practice great recalls, for instance, in the morning, when you know your pup is extra hungry, keep him/her in the yard as you prepare your dog's meal and then call him/her inside while keeping the food bowl behind your back. Once your dog reaches you (at full speed!) praise him/her and then put the food bowl down. Once your dog responds well to this, you can ask your dog to politely sit before you put the food bowl down.

 

The course covers recalls here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/

 

Happy training!

[JMFS]

From a non-trainer perspective: I'm going to emphasize a pitfall to avoid because dang near everyone I know (myself included x 100) does this at some point (or continues to . . .). Never scold your pooch for coming. Even if they just did something to make your blood boil (like when Momo killed a squirrel), or scared the heck out of you by running into traffic. It's tough to do the opposite, but Always reward for coming when called. If they're scolded for coming then there's very little incentive to come to you and a darn good reason to increase the distance instead. If they always get a great greeting they're going to be more inclined to see what you want. You don't have to bust out into a celebratory dance, but a few treats and a happy voice go a long way to convincing them you're the better deal. Besides, it's easy to say, "who's the naughty puppy, you are!" in a happy voice. They won't know.

 

I had to Really work on myself for that one because I get easily frustrated with things I can't control (mostly inanimate objects like a printer acting up!) and I had to check myself when I started training Gertie and I slipped a couple times - I just had to try harder the next time. Her recall is getting better and better. I was able to stop her from following my daughter out of our gate a few days ago. This little monster was like, "open gate, what does this mean?!" and of course she ran over to investigate. I hollered, "Gertrude Marie, No!" Thank goodness we'd been working on recall because that got her to stop and then it was a breeze to get her to come running to me with a "good girl! Come on babies!" I swear, I speak so silly when I'm talking to the dogs. :D We work on it daily and other articles I've read which answer, "how long to teach recall," say the same thing, "always and forever." It gets easier as training goes by, but we're always going to have to reinforce it by practicing daily. I also use "Gertrude Marie" when I'm dead serious and there's a detrimental reason she needs to come. When I'm ready to go inside or just want her to be closer I use "Gertie." Her name used to be Hurdy Gurdy Gertrude, but I found as a mother a first and middle name works better for when I mean business because it comes naturally after 20 years of parenting. ;) Today I had to put Gertie on her 50 ft lead because the squirrels were absolutely wild, dashing about, teasing my poor pup. Always a work in progress.

 

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming. I had to throw that in there because I wish I'd had that explained to me 8 years ago when I first started with Momo. Oh, and we practiced a Lot inside first. Starting in the kitchen, increasing distance gradually until I was able to hide in the living room and eventually we turned it into a game using the whole house. Two birds, one stone - stay and come. :)

[chris.umland]

Thank you so much. We will give it a whirl ; )

 

Also he is very well crate trained but still having potty accidents inside.... is there any place in particuliar on your website I should look for help.. the breeder suggested the ringing bell thing but I really don't think he is getting that concept and we can't hear it throughout the house anyway.

 

Thanks for your advice... we are loving your content!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Jennifer pointed out a crucial piece of information there! Another tip that comes to mind is to never call your dog for things your dog doesn't seem to like e.g. don't call your dog for a bath if he hates water, don't call your dog to only have his paws trimmed if he dislikes that. Doing so will "poison the cue" which means it assumes negative connotations and the recall will weaken, meaning that your dog will be reluctant to come eventually.

 

When you need to do these things, you can do two things: set up the environment so that you can avoid calling your dog altogether, for example, go on a walk and then once back, while you have him on leash, bring him to the area and give him a bath, or as you are giving your dog a belly rub and he is calmly laying down next to you, do the nail trim. Another option is to call your dog, but rather than doing the unpleasant activity straight away, spend a few minutes playing with your dog, petting him, asking him to perform a few tricks, doing anything your dog likes, so to break the association between his name being called and the unpleasant activity. At the same time though, take steps to make those dreaded activities more pleasant, e.g. give treats and lots of praise every time a nail is clipped, sing silly songs and make bath time a super fun activity etc.

 

Potty accidents at this age can be due to several things: incomplete potty training, submissive/excitement urination (pup pees when feeling intimidated or excited), stress marking, separation anxiety peeing (it happens when the owner leaves the house) medical issues (urinary tract infections). Make sure you use enzyme-based cleaner to clean up messes. Also, feed on a schedule (same times each day) as this will cause your pup's BM's to become more predictable.

 

Do you have a pattern as to when these accidents happen? Is it pee or poop or both? Right after coming inside? How long is the puppy able to hold it? Where do these accidents exactly happen?

 

If you haven't visited the potty training corner, you can find it here, scroll down to puppies, and looked under potty training, and take a peak too in the inappropriate elimination section as it covers some other types of issues: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/

[JMFS]

I'm training Gertie on the bell. I have one in the office where we're usually at so I can hear it. First I trained "touch" to get her familiar with it. Once she was touching the bell consistently I started taking her outside when she'd ring the bell. We're still getting over that hump of associating it with signaling the need to go potty - she doesn't like loud sounds so we have an extra degree of difficulty. I also haven't been very consistent. Our Behaviorist suggested having Gertie ring the bell each time before I take her potty now that she'll ring it on command. She should begin to associate the two. She's done it successfully a couple times, but my inconsistency kind of faded it out. So . . . as long as you're consistent it should work and you can move the bell, or maybe even place several, where you'll hear them.

 

BTW, "touch" has become a powerful tool in my arsenal. I taught Momo how to open the door to the outdoor bathroom so he can get to his bed on cold days (it's insulated and there's a vent for heat) using "touch," and we implemented it into our resource guarding resolution "un"training. I also taught Gertie how to open the baby gate (when it's unlatched) for me when my hands are full. :D