Getting 8 month old puppy to listen to me

[dal]

Hi Everyone,

We have come a long way with our Cooper and he is doing great.  He knows all his basic commands (sit, down, stay, wait, leave it, drop it, come) but he does not always want to listen to me and I'm just wondering what to do in certain situations.  He is 8 months old so I know this is a tough age but I just want to make sure I don't reinforce the not listening.

1) when he's outside and I want him to come in, I will stand at the back door and tell him to come.  If he wants to stay outside he refuses to come.  If the kids have him on a leash outside to take him potty, he will sometimes just lay down on the grass and refuse to budge.  I have resorted to yelling "come turkey" or "come cheese" so he knows it's a high reward treat if he comes but that isn't even always working right now.  The only thing that seems to consistently work is to get the bag of cheese out and show it to him but that seems sort of ridiculous at this point and I don't want to reinforce his not listening.  What should i do in these situations?

2) he is allowed on our couch but lately he has taken to digging in between the cushions.  We tell him no and off but that usually does not work and we have to take him by the collar and lead him off.  I will usually put him in the crate so he can simmer down for a few minutes.  Any suggestions on this issue?

3) before we leave the house for a walk, he has to sit and wait at each door.  he will always do this for a treat if he knows the treat in his my hand but will not always do it on just the verbal command or the hand motion for sit.  Is it fine for me to still have the treat in my hand at this age?

4) he never jumps on us (well very very rarely) which took a lot of training especially with my 6 year old son so we are thrilled with this.  However, he gets super excited when new people come to the house and he barks like crazy if I have him on a leash to prevent the jumping.  The other day my daughter had a friend over and the only that worked was putting him in the easy walk harness instead of regular leash and letting him be around her.  It took all of two minutes to work this out but that was because the girl was skiddish and wanted nothing to do with him.  If people engage him in any way, he takes a long time to settle.  He jumps, when the person tells him to sit he will sometimes but as soon as the person goes to pet him as a reward, he goes crazy again.  Any tips?

Thank you all so much for any feedback!  Oh and I am posting in the puppy madness group because he is only 8 months but should I post in training group instead?  I wasn't sure.

[dal]

Sounds so much like my Cooper.  Jumping and extreme excitability with guests.  I, too, dread guests.  I can avoid adult guests usually and just plan meet out etc.  But my kids want friends over and it turns into me attached to the dog on a leash the whole time.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I second the emergency re call! My recall word is Come and my emergency word is Now. I usually freeze a small spoonful (not even that much) of PB and use that as their emergency reward but to them there is nothing better than PB! I have only had to use it once with Loki but the whole point it that its life saving, there was a really bad dog fight at a dog park one time and he casually started to wander over but it's amazing how the thought of such a great high value treat pulls them out of whatever.

I personally see no problem with the easy walk being used to calm Cooper down. I only use easy walks when they are meeting and greeting or going out side even just to go potty because both my boys are large and I feel I have better control of them this way. Something I've been doing with Moose, 5 months, when people come over is putting him in a sit and telling him to wait and rewarding him with a treat and even if that means lots of treats, then I will say "ok" and he can go say hi. Not sure if it works but it seems to help curb some of the initial excitement of "oh oh oh someone is here!!!"

I make my boys sit before I open the door for walks as well. With Loki, who has never been in a hurry a day in his life and always a pretty good listener, he caught on right away. Moose on the other hand has had me standing at a door for close to five minutes waiting for him to sit. Maybe the times you are in a hurry and don't have all day to wait for Cooper to sit bring a small treat to make him sit and the days when you have extra time don't bring one and just give the command and immediately open the door so that is the reward. When I'm in a stand off with Moose I will re give the command if he starts looking around and has clearly forgotten why we are still standing there. Which happens frequently!

Side note: something to maybe re enforce listening that I do with Loki since he is leash reactive is bring a little bag of treats clipped to their leash belt and randomly for no reason I will tell him to sit and if he listens immediately he gets a small training treat. I should probably do this with moose as well. But especially with Loki since if he sees another dog off leash I need to have him in control. He started becoming leash reactive around one year I think.

Good luck! Cooper seems pretty normal for that age so as they say- this too shall pass!

Jess, Loki and Moose

[dal]

I make my boys sit before I open the door for walks as well. With Loki, who has never been in a hurry a day in his life and always a pretty good listener, he caught on right away. Moose on the other hand has had me standing at a door for close to five minutes waiting for him to sit. Maybe the times you are in a hurry and don't have all day to wait for Cooper to sit bring a small treat to make him sit and the days when you have extra time don't bring one and just give the command and immediately open the door so that is the reward. When I'm in a stand off with Moose I will re give the command if he starts looking around and has clearly forgotten why we are still standing there. Which happens frequently!

 

Okay, so I decided to go hard core with the training this weekend and not treat for every sit.  Well, it took us over 1/2 hour to leave the house on Saturday!  I was seriously starting to wonder if he couldn't hear or something.  For "sit" we usually hold the treat above his nose like you do when you teach them the command in the first place.  I thought he knew sit because when I tell him to sit when people come in or something, he will do so.  But he would NOT do it for a walk the other day.  Finally, I took off the leash, brought him back to the kitchen and retaught him the command with treats.  Then he did it for the walk.  But same thing later and same thing yesterday - acts like he has no idea what I'm talking about!  Last night, my daughter was able to do it by mimicking the treat over his nose but I think he thought she had a treat... Suggestions???  Today, I eventually got him out and he did it a few times during the walk but I still feel like he either doesn't know what sit means or he just has no interest and I can't figure out which one it is.  He's 9 months old... he should absolutely know sit by now!!! 

[Missy]

I followed the 'sit' command in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Puppy-Primer-Patricia-B-McConnell/dp/18917671...

Basically, the puppy is standing in front of you.  Your hands are down by your side.  Take one hand, make a fist, and bend your arm up to your chest (like you are curling a weight).  The author states this is a natural thing for the puppy to follow the 'fist' up and the butt goes down.  Obviously, the fist has a treat in it at first.

are you just holding the treat over his nose? maybe try the above move?  

I loved how the author in this book gave hand signals as well as proper placement of hands/treats for the commands.  This makes a huge difference even in a crowd, as I can give the hand signal without screaming and the dog responds. 

your pup is old enough to know sit. Maybe he is testing you.  They want to go thru a rebellious stage.  Be sure to stay strong and make him follow commands.  I think I remember our pup testing me and I think they finally reach a comfort zone of this is my place and I do what I want.  I made sure that I went thru 'training exercises every day-15 minutes.  It reminds them you are in charge and they love to have that brain worked anyway.

I would do all kinds of games with sit.  Sit on your bed while I ring the doorbell.  Sit by the door before you get to go out.  Sit when cars come by the yard.  And worked our way up to sit/stay with him being released to go find a hidden toy with a treat inside. 

sit is the easiest command for dogs to learn, but it's also the easiest for them to rebel on too!  Stay strong!!

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

We were taught to give the command first with just a hand signal and then introducing the word. Even though she "knew" sit before we went to training this trick really worked. Anyway, I don't think it matters what hand signal you give as long as you're consistent.

We were also told to say it one time and wait. As soon as they sit to treat (or click and treat). Now, I just ask for a sit and she does it. If she doesn't, I wait. I don't repeat the command. When she does it I say good and stay. If she breaks the stay, I wait for her to sit and stay. But, you have to work on these things at different times throughout the day - not just when you need them to do it. ;)

[Missy]

I agree, probably doesn't matter hand signal, but being consistent is KEY.

We also only say the word once and WAIT.  Our pup will look at me and do a heavy sigh sometimes before he sits. (battle of the minds) lol

I agree, the first year especially, 5-10 minute sessions thru out the day is were it gets solidified with them. And in different environments!!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I agree, to go with "sit" I hold up one finger. Now Loki now all of his commands non verbally as well as verbally which is an awesome "side effect" of this. Moose is slowly understanding the one finger. Sometimes when he starts to look around lost or confused I will hold up one finger without having to verbalized the command and he will sit. When I taught them this I would hold the treat in the palm of the hand that I held one finger up with that way for all they now there is a treat there. Hope this helps! If it makes you feel better, every walk today we stood and waited for 3-5mins at the door for Moose. They have good days and bad days just like us ;)