Not Responding to Command

[roxies_mom]

Ok...I'm having an issue with Roxie not coming when called. If we're outside and she see's a bird, she runs after it into the neighbors yard. If you go and get her she acts like your not there. She will start to slowly follow you then turn and go the other way. Or, you try to pick her up she jumps out of your reach. It makes me so mad. I even ask her if she wants a treat to see if she'll follow me, but no go at times. That only works sometimes! Please help if you can!

[Nancy1999]

Practicing the sit command is very important. You should do this through out the day. I use Joey's breakfast meal for training purposes because he was gaining too much weight with all the treats, but they will usually only perform if they want something. Sitting has to be firmly imbedding in their brain. If I were you, I would feed a small amount of the breakfast food, and put the rest in a little pouch, go to another room and call him, and ask him to sit, say, "YESSSS!" when he does, and reward with a piece of his food, keep doing this using the remaining food. Training has to be done regularly in order to be effective. Do this for several weeks and he should be coming regularly when you call. Always make him sit before any food is given. For bird chasing, penny's in a can makes a loud noise followed by a loud no. If no pennys are available clapping your hands together followed by a No, might work, but chasing a bird is instinctive and they probably can't catch it anyway, but I would not allow my dog to go to the neigbor's yard, could you put up a fense?

[AprilLove]

Good advice above. I would also practice the come command in the house, in the yard, go to a fenced in area
(softball fields are good for example) and practice practice practice!!! The come command is probably the most important one you will ever use with them and need to have down. IMHO
Here is a good method if you want to look into clicker training, highly effective

Karen Pryor Clickertraining | dog training and cat training info, books, videos, events

[roxies_mom]

Thank you for responding with the tips. She's usually pretty good outside and just follows me everywhere. It's mostly when my sons dog is outside (he's still a puppy and a big dog) and it just causes major distraction. I've tried the clapping and saying no but she ignores me. So this morning I tried a piece of hotdog. WOW, that did make a difference. She follows all other commands to a tee. She can sit, lay down, shake, roll over and fetch. She's really for the most part a well behaved dog. But every now and then she gets this wild hair up you know where and it can become frustrating. I think I'll try having a can of pennies in the garage to grab just in case. It might also work with the big dog!

[lisa08]

Nancy, that's a great idea using the breakfast food instead of all those treats. I'm definitely going to start doing that as well. Thanks for sharing!

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by lisa08

Nancy, that's a great idea using the breakfast food instead of all those treats. I'm definitely going to start doing that as well. Thanks for sharing!

Poor little Joey, the vet had to put him on a diet after our tricks training class, I would feed him his usual food and then he got extra fussy on the treats, always wanting more and more fattening ones before he'd pay attention, so after he graduated, I put him on a diet and now even his regular food seems like a "treat" to him. I use all his morning meal for training and about half his night time meal, but I really enjoy the training sessions, and I think he enjoys them as well.