Cocker Specific Discussion > Behaviour & Training

Unreliable off lead

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Barry Sharpe:
Hi Gilly

At this training school we use they use toys only never treats. When we first started we had the same problem in that he would only take to the toy at his leisure. The way we got around this was firstly to use a toy that fits in pocket. Secoundly only ever let him have the toy for a couple of minutes generate intersets in the toy by playing with him then when he is at his most feverish take the toy away. keep doing this and you should find that he firstly associates the toy with certain things such as at training sessions and when you play with him. This should then allow you to use the toy as a training aid ibstead of treats. This has worked for us we now have george on a chewy toy which he only sees during his training times and at certain paly times.

HTH


--- Quote from: Gilly on July 24, 2002, 10:32:57 AM ---I also have this problem to some extent with Fudge (8 months) as Jane S says it must be an adolescent thing.
I bought a frisbee about 2 weeks ago, and it interests him for a while, then he gets bored ???I think I may have made a mistake, but I use his dried food to entice him back, I started by rewarding him everytime he came back, I would make him sit in front of me, if he did this he would get a small piece of food. now when I call him if he comes back straight away (probably because he's a greedy oinker ;D, although I don't give him something all the time just give him loads of praise, as I'm trying to cut the treats out, only problem now is how do I get him off the treats altogether ::)

--- End quote ---
                   

Gilly:
Thanks for the advice Barry, I'll try and substitute the treats for a toy, and hope this works better. I've recently been teaching him Sit/Stay, which he mastered really well. :)
He's actually very clever (not that I'm biased ;D) but I still feel he only wants to do things when it benefits him, and not just because I ask him too >:(This is really frustrating as I still don't feel like the top dog at times. See Excessive barking & stealing :(I suppose theres never a quick solution and these things take time added with the fact that he seems to be in his teenage rebellion stage.
Cheers
Gilly & Fudge ;D                    

Mike:
Do all cockers go through a 'teenage rebellion' stage? Daisy is currently 4.5 months old, and pretty well behaved. She's excellent off the lead, and toilet training is progressing much more quickly than it did with my springer - still the odd accident now and then, but on the whole she's clean inside. Question is, is Daisy still likely to go through a phase of bad behaviour on top of this good start? If so, what is the general age that this might happen (if there is a general age).

I was hoping that I lucked out and she was just a naturally obedient, well-behaved youngster (just like I was as a kid  ;D)                    

Jane S:
I can't say all Cockers go through a "Kevin The Teenager" phase but have seen it happen enough to think it's fairly common  :) It's generally around the 7-8 month mark (probably coinciding with hormonal changes) when puppies of both sexes may go through a phase of ignoring their owners, going deaf to commands they had previously responded to etc  We have a 6 month puppy now & I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen in a month or so - at the moment she comes instantly when called but I have a feeling this won't last  :)                    

Mike:
okay, well, it's good to know that there might be a change in behaviour, and that it doesn't necessarily mean my dog has become demonic or anything  :D My springer is quite a calm and passive dog, so I'm hoping that influence will rub off. Wishful thinking quite possibly, time will tell  :-                    

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