Teaching 1st Doodle that his name is not the 2nd Doodle

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Hey guys,

 

So we've had Grumman for about a month now.  Thanks for the advice on my other posts!  We now have a much more sane household.

 

One thing that drives me bonkers and I don't know how to teach is that whenever I give Grumman a command, Bentley does it.  I'm not worried about when I say sit or come here, but when I give Grumman a firm no or when Bentely is on his couch and Grumman is trying to get on it, I tell him Down.  Bentley always gives me his sad puppy dog eyes when I say this and I feel bad because he thinks he's getting scolded for something he didn't do.  I make sure to say Grumman before I give the command and I always lookg at Grumman when I say it, but I assume Bentley doesn't comprehend that it's not him.

 

Any tricks to work on this?

 

Thanks!

[Deborah Brown]

I don't really have a solution but you gave me a big smile!  My dogs will get that worried face when another dog gets in trouble.  I think they can't help responding to the firm tone of voice but seem to know I am not talking to them.  I think my older dogs are secretly smug about Penny getting into trouble.  LOL!

I will sometimes give the other dog a pat or look at him and say "Charlie, you're OK" as a bit of reassurance.

Looking forward to other advice.

[Kathy, Atticus, and Kylie]

I recently got a second doodle puppy and enrolled her in a puppy training class. The trainer suggested using a different negative word for each dog when they are doing something you don't want them to do. Since I use the word No with my older doodle and was automatically saying No Ma'am to my puppy, I dropped the No when correcting her and just say Ma'am when I want her to stop doing something. That works and the word Ma'am doesn't trigger any reaction from my other doodle!

[Marie and Hoka]

Since Moxie (non-doodle) never actually does anything wrong , it's easy here!!! LOL