Secrets to Dog Training Weekly Newsletter
Slow response a puzzle: what’s going wrong?
Jenny writes: We have an 18-month old Pomeranian/Chihuahua named Mark we have been obedience training since 12 weeks old. He is very intelligent and catches on quickly. He knows Sit, Stay, Down, and Come. He also knows that my husband and I are the alpha leaders.
We live in an apartment and it only took a week to potty train him and after that it only took about 2 more weeks to teach him to bring his leash to us when he needed to go out.
He can perform tricks such as high fives and roll over and he knows all his toys by name and fetches the one we ask for. Mark knows his commands well and performs them frequently.
The mystery is – why does Mark occasionally hesitate on a command? It’s not that he is ignoring us because he is on a Sit with eye contact. We even had his hearing checked out just in case he had a hearing problem.
There are times when we give a command and he hesitates and just looks at us. Then it takes two or more commands before he acts excited like it suddenly sinks in. And in the middle of playing ‘fetch the ball’, which he loves, he will stop right in mid run and go look at something else and after that continue to go fetch the ball.
Why does he hesitate at times and why does he get so easily distracted? We want him to respond right away, especially for safety reasons.
Daniel Replies:
It is not uncommon for a dog’s mind to wander after a command, nor for him to become distracted. The short answer is - further obedience training with positive reinforcement whenever he is quick to respond.
It sounds as though Mark has been very well trained and he knows an abundance of commands. However, this in fact could be part of his problem. I believe that, at some point, a dog is going to have difficulty remembering MANY commands. Keeping it simple is definitely the way to go for obedience training; not that I’m recommending you change any of the brilliant work you have already done. What I mean is, perhaps Mark is at a stage where there are SO MANY commands jumbling round in his head, that it takes a while for those neurons to fire up the correct response.
He has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. It could just be that you are overwhelming him. You may be reaching Mark’s limit with regards to the number of new commands he can learn and respond to with confidence.
For these reasons I suggest you apply some special training Start with those commands you believe to be most important for him to respond to quickly, such as “Come, Sit, Down, and Stay” until he is following these commands quickly and appropriately.
Perhaps leave commands such as “Mark, fetch the (specific) toy” till later. Mark’s command catalogue just might be getting overloaded. He is after all only a youngster!
When training, give a BETTER reward for a QUICK response than for a slow one, or for one in which Mark becomes distracted. Maybe for a slow or distracted response, give him plenty of vocal praise but nothing else. If he is very quick and didn’t get distracted at all, give him a tasty tit-bit treat – something that he really enjoys - as well as the vocal praise.
By spending more time reinforcing these commands with plenty of rewards and praise you will notice a quick improvement – and his safety will be ensured.
All the best,
Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team
"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"
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