Is Bentley ignoring me?

[Sabrina and Bentley]

It's always fun to try and figure out what Bentley is thinking or feeling, but I'm stuck on this one and hopefully ya'll can give me some insight.

I work from home, so Bentley is with me all day.  Alot of times he'll hang with me by my desk but other times he'll go play with his toys.  I'll play with him throughout the day and take him for walks and sometimes I'll call him over and pet him and give him some love and attention.

Well, he has his couch in the office that my fiance cleaned off for him recently. It seems that in the past couple of weeks, when I tell him to "come here", he's ignoring me.  He knows the command and follows it all the time.  But when he's close by and I say it, he just stares at me.  I'll keep calling him and he'll either jump on the couch and lay down and stare at me.  Or he'll start backing up and barking  and whining at me, but all the while wagging his tail.  So, me saying come here is getting a reaction from him, but once he's done with that, he just lays on the couch and ignores.

Of course, this hurts my feelings because my puppy won't come to me so that I can love on him, but then there's that frustrating part that he won't listen to me either.

I don't think this is major problem or anything, but moreso just curious since I don't know how to read body language.  Is he bored?  Is he mad at me? 

 

Thanks!

[Rose Ann and Amante]

First things first he is an adorable puppy. He resembles my Amante!! I do not think he is ignoring you as much as he just wants your attention. Amante will do that sometime when he wants me to play or just be with him. I get frustrated too when I call him and he doesn't come or listen. He is still a puppy.  One day when we were at the beach, A llittle old lady told me that when ever you call him and he comes to you, even if he has done something bad, always praise him for coming to you so he want to come to you. If he knowhe will be scolded then he won't want to come to you.  I don't know if this is the best advise, but its my 2 cents!!  You will get great advise here!!

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Thanks for the sweet welcome from Amante!  He's a cutie pie!

[Lorraine Bromley]

Neely does this couch thing too! Although he is so much more dramatic than that. He will jump up on the opposite couch and flop down with a huge sigh laying his head down on the arm of the couch with his head tilted just away from you so that he can glance at you out of the corner of his eye while he sighs. Definitely he is bored or tired, and a dramma queen/king! It also happens at the end of our bed where he lays with his head on his pillow and wants us to come down there and rub his belly instead of scooching up to between us to get petted. This usually works and we go to him to love him up!

[Sally]

duncan used to do that too. he would be torn between being with me or going downstairs and sitting on the more comfy couch. He just doesn't like when i'm in my office working. he can't get comfortable there. So he stands at the top of the stairs with his tail down and gives me a sad face. If i get up from my desk and come downstairs to the living room he'll be happy and loving and tailwagging. but as soon as i go back to my office he gets that way. Perhaps Bentley feels the same.

Try to see if he ignores your come command when you are in other rooms or just your office.

[TrevorDoodle]

After calling Bentley and him not responding...do you go to him?  Maybe

he is training you! lol.   The backing away and barking is probably him

just wanting to play.  BTW...are you the Bentley that was at Dog-o-Ween

at Pet Supplies Plus?

[Sabrina and Bentley]

haha!  Yep, that's us. 

[TrevorDoodle]

LOL Trevor's costume is all wonky...but Bentley is so cute!!!  What dog won the contest?

Where are you taking him for training?

Remember to never use the words "come" or "Bentley" in anger.  To teach him come...have a high value treat(like chicken) in your hand...when he is on the couch and your at your desk....say in the happiest voice you can..."BENTLEY COME"...when he comes to you praise praise praise him by saying enthusiastically "your such a good boy"(or whatever), petting him, and then give the treat.  Do this until he is consistent in the house.  Then, you will need a long lead and practice outside until he is consistent with the command.  Remember, this is a very long process to reliably train "come".  Especially, when adding distractions outside.  You will learn the technique in your training class.

[Sabrina and Bentley]

The KFC Colonel won 1st place.  Not sure if you saw him but he had a big bucket of chicken on his back. lol!

I was looking at the Carolina Dog Club.  Know anything about it? We were going to bring him to PetSmart or Petco, but it was the same price for this place and I liked the environment better.  Unforunately they only do four classes per year, and I missed the last one in September, so we're going to try to get him in the January class.

 

By the way, do you know of any groomers around town who do the scissor cut.  I'm thinking Bentley is about ready for his first trim!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri does that - it's a GAME!  She's thinking "chase me mom, chase me". If I walk away, two seconds later I look down and guess who's by my side?  Little glue gun as I call her.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Bentley is a doll!!! I think he is probably bored and trying to engage you in play. However, what is happening here is that he is learning that he does not HAVE to come when you tell him to COME. He only has to do it when he wants to. This could come back to bite you down the road! LOL!  When Tara was at that stage I would give the command ONCE and if she didn't come I went after her and made her come. This is an extremely important command for them to learn for so many reasons. I would encourage you (no matter how cute it seems right now) not to let the behavior of ignoring you continue. Sometimes I would keep a short leash on Tara in the house so I would have some way to direct her when she needed to be instructed. Perhaps you could try that for a while with Bentley as a way to remind him what "come" means! :)

[Sabrina and Bentley]

Thanks!  I agree that I don't want him to think it's acceptable and I did take him by his collar and said come until we were sitting where I originally was.  I felt bad for doing this, so I didn't do it again.  Part of it is definitely a lack of training on my part.  He's not starting up formal training till January, so everything I've done with him so far I've learned from online.  It's just weird that it's this one scenario.  If we're outside and I say come, he comes.  If I'm in another part of the house, he comes when I command it.  It's just the past couple of weeks that he's started disobeying me in my office.  He also used to randomly come by and get on his hind legs and greet me while I was at my desk, but he doesn't do this anymore.  So I don't know if it is boredom, like, does he know that when mom sits there, she doesn't play with me alot?  Do you suggest more play time with him and then try the command when he's lounging?  I do admit that I don't play with him as much during the day as I used to, so maybe it's payback for ignoring him??  I can overanalyze this till I'm blue in the face.  It's what I do to my fiance as well.  lol!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I found with Tara that her behaviors changed as she matured and I think it is normal. Sometimes I would interpret the change as something "wrong" when it was just a puppy maturing into a dog. As far as the 'come' command goes you may find, as most of us have, that as the distraction levels increase the success with the command decreases! And then you start the training all over again in the high distraction environment.It can be a long process.

Tara has learned that when I am working at my desk we do not play. As long as they are getting the proper amount of play time it should be YOU that determines when the play starts and stops. This is just one aspect of you being the one in control or Top Dog!  LOL! Dogs CAN learn patience even though they do sometimes act like they are going to die if they can't do what they want to do RIGHT NOW!! :)