picking up quick

[weekir]

im so suprised to find how quickly badger is able to pick up commands...at only 13 weeks and he's only been with me for 3 weeks. And remembers where his home is. is it a cocker thing? my parents border terrier took ages to train.

[Miadanu]

I can't remember where the article is, but there was something about cockers being one of the more intelligent breeds somewhere in relation to how quickly they pick things up - especially with clicker training.  Perhaps one of the other COLers knows the one I am thinking of?

[Beezzzkneez]

I was really surprised how quickly our pup picked up 'sit' and more importantly how quickly she realized that if she wants something and I ignore her for be behaviour, sitting quietly will get her attention. Bright as a button, Cockers are.

What I find a real challenge now is to get her calm enough to get her to listen to commands - it's impossible trying to teacher her to 'stay', and 'off' when theres something on the sofa table she wants is rather impossible. She is just too hyperactive. Ah well, puppy training class at the beginning of November - a bit late at 16 weeks but I couldn't get her into an earlier one.

[cangrejo]

They are certainly smart. We've gone from one extreme to the other our old dog was a Chow and they were 2nd from bottom in the intelligence league, and it showed - took years for him to learn sit. My cockers had sit almost straight away 

[Sarah1985]

What I find a real challenge now is to get her calm enough to get her to listen to commands - it's impossible trying to teacher her to 'stay', and 'off' when theres something on the sofa table she wants is rather impossible. She is just too hyperactive. Ah well, puppy training class at the beginning of November - a bit late at 16 weeks but I couldn't get her into an earlier one.

Yep, teaching them not to do something or to just calm down is when I hit problems. 

[EmmaF]

Ive found lulu will do anything for food.  we've been doing 10 mins clicker training for the past week and we've got sit, down, left, right (she gonna be an agility dogs  ) and touch of a lid. but that doesn't Inc other commands such as off and enough and in(to her cage as I feed her away from my other 2 dogs)
Now my other girl is a collie and lulu has picked up things so much faster it's shocking!

[praia]

What Cockers have that make them so trainable are high intelligence AND extreme biddibility. Terriers are a different sort of dog altogether.  My JRT is a smart enough dog and knows more commands and is proofed to extreme reliability in all of them compared to your average pet dog, but he certainly wasn't the easiest to train.   

Your dog knowing his home might come down more to a highly developed sense of smell.  My spaniel can pick out our car from a full parking lot and my terrier can't find the food you put right in front of his face if you cover his eyes.  Different breeds, different talents.

[Loudon]

Yep, cockers are greedy little sods so are very biddable for a treat. 

[JeffandAnnie]

It's amazing how easy they are to train when they are little  Then, at about 8-10 months old, they conveniently forget it all 

[lindseyp]

It's amazing how easy they are to train when they are little  Then, at about 8-10 months old, they conveniently forget it all