When did your pup learn his/her name?

[Stephanie]

Brody still isn't recognizing his name. We thought there for a few days he was figuring it out, but over the past 4 or 5 days he's not even looking at us when we say his name. We've tried not using it in "everyday conversation" and just using it when we're specifically calling him. I don't know what else to do? He is 11 wks today, is this normal for his age? Or is he moving a little slow in this area?

[Adina P]

How did you initially TEACH him to recognize his name.
Remember dogs don't have NAMES in nature and don't think of NAMES like we do.
Teaching a dog his name is essentially teaching a dog to look at you when you say his name...he doesn't think of "Brody" as WHO he is--he'll only learn to respond in the way he is trained.

I would use treats and sit in a room with him that is small like a bathroom. Start treating him for looking at you. Then say his name and give him a treat for looking at you...repeat in short sessions through the day. Then on leash around the house...until he starts to automatically look toward you when you say BRODY.

[2hl9mp3c2fuam]

It took a while for Mocha....I would say probably 2 weeks. My second believe it or not only took days and I thought it would be really hard since we had two dogs...I thought for sure he would think his name was Mocha!! I guess I never really tried a strategy...sounds like Adina has a good plan for you though. Good luck!!

[Stephanie]

Brody is extremely food motivated as well! If I have a treat in my hand I can get him to do anything...and he will repeat the behavior throughout the session as long as I keep treating him. Right now we're working on "Down" (as in lie down) and he does well if I have treats...if he's not treated he doesn't perform near as well.

[Margo]

Hi Stephanie, I'm still not sure sometimes if Lily knows her name. She knows it when it suits her. Just in the past few days she doesn't sit as consistently either... especially when we get to the end of the driveway, before we step into the street... it's like she's deaf! I was very interested to hear Adina's explanation. I hadn't thought of that before ... that they don't think of their names as being who they are. I think I will try the training with the treats in a small room too, and I'll let you know how it goes. I remember reading somewhere to perhaps only use their names when giving a command and to use nicknames for everything else, which fits with the idea that you want them to look at you every time you say their name.

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

I have 2 dogs also, but we did the same as Amanda, I would say he knew his name in about 2 days and had the recall down pat as well. It is amazing how repeating something and giving a treat will work.

[Sue & Willy Babe]

We used treats with Willson I think by the time he was 12 weeks he started to recognize his name, we kept saying Willson follow, Willson your a good puppy, we just kept using his name I even had his leash on him, straighted it out had him sit and say Willson come and he did, it just takes a lot of saying his name