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Hello Daniel,

We have a Pomeranian/Chihuahua 1 1/2yrs old named Mark. My husband and I have been obedience training Mark since we first brought him home at 12 weeks old. I must say he is very intelligent and catches on quickly. He knows sit, stay, down and come. He knows we are the alpha leaders. We spend play time every day ending with a review of these commands.

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 retrieve his leash and place it in front of where ever we are when he needs to go out potty. He has learned how to perform tricks such as high fives and roll over. And he knows the names of all his toys and fetches the one we ask for. Mark knows his commands well and performs them frequently.

We are very clear on making sure commands are given so he understands what we are asking from him. So my husband and I are mystified to why Mark hesitates on a command occasionally. 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 incase he had a hearing problem.

The commands are given. E.g. we ask him to "Fetch leash". He has eye contact with us, in a sit position. He's looking at us and then he will even look at the leash hanging up and he knows to go get it especially because he knows it means he is going for a walk. This is something he has done successfully many times daily. But there are times when he just looks at us and hesitates. Then it takes two or more commands and then he acts excited like it sinks in... Oh yes! I bring leash and we go for a walk". Or in the middle of playing fetch the ball which he is ecstatic about doing he will stop right in mid run for the ball to go look at something and then continues to go fetch the ball. Why does he hesitate at times and why does he get so easily distracted?

We have used your techniques in the book for making sure he responds in seconds of a command but they don't appear to work with Mark. We have a great relationship with Mark otherwise, he really is a joy and appears happy doing anything for us just not all the time. We want him to respond right away especially for safety reasons. We appreciate your help in this and I know Mark will too.

Sincerely,

Jenny Brown

Secrets to Dog Training Reply:

Hi there Jenny,

Thanks for the detailed email regarding your dog Mark. It is definitely not uncommon for dogs’ minds to wander after giving them a command, nor is it for them to become distracted for a moment. In fact this happens to the best of us humans sometimes doesn’t it! In a very short answer to your question on response time, the key is in further obedience training with positive reinforcement whenever Mark is quick to respond.

It sounds as though Mark has been very well trained and he knows an abundance of commands. This is very impressive and it would be great to see Mark in action. However, this in fact could be part of his problem. I believe a dog can be trained to do anything for anyone – however I also 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; however I’m definitely not recommending you change any of the brilliant work you have already done. What I mean by this is that, perhaps Mark is at a stage where there are SO MANY commands jumbling round in his head, that quite often it takes a while for those neurons to fire up the correct response. If this was in fact the case, then you may be reaching Mark’s limit with regards to the number of other new commands he can learn without the problem of hesitance reoccurring.

For these reasons I think it is of definite benefit to reinstitute some training with Mark. Reinforce some of those commands over and over again like a drill sergeant (a FUN drill sergeant of course!) until he is following your commands quickly and appropriately. Be sure to start with those commands you believe to be most important for him to respond quickly to such as "NO, COME, SIT, DOWN & STAY" – and perhaps leave the commands such as "Mark, fetch the _______ toy" till the end. By spending more time reinforcing these commands over and over again with plenty of rewards and praise you should notice a very quick difference.

It is very important that you give a better reward for a QUICK response than for a slow one, or for one in which Mark becomes distracted. For example if Mark is slow or distracted in a 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 tid-bit treat – something that he really enjoys as well as the vocal praise.

Doing this with all of his commands should definitely help reinforce them and you should eventually see an increase in his response time.

We also usually recommend a Veterinary visit in these cases since, as you say, a decrease response time can also be caused by deafness, partial deafness, or a disease related process causing partial deafness. There are of course other causes of decrease response time related to health issues, however your Vet would probably pick these up on a routine clinical examination.

Good luck with Mark. With time, perseverance and plenty of praise and rewards, you will notice a distinct difference.

Kind regards,

Daniel Stevens and the Secrets to Dog Training Team

"Secrets to Dog Training - STOP Dog Behavior Problems!"

Jenny's Reply:

Hello Daniel.

Thank you very much for your response. We certainly do appreciate your advice and I know Mark would thank you also. Your advice was definitely a "light bulb moment" for me ~ you are so right! Mark was definitely overloaded. He is only 1 1/2 years old! 

We are going back to basics, because safety is more of a priority, we need to know that Mark will react to a command that could save his life without "hesitation." We need to put our emphasis on training Mark to Sit-Stay-down and definitely Come. I think even though we always make training fun for Mark we were a little over zealous. He has accomplished a lot in a short period of time. It is now obvious we are overwhelming him.

Our ultimate goal is for Mark to have a happy, safe life with responsible owners, especially considering how happy he makes us feel. We were definitely causing Mark's confusion. I am so glad that I wrote in when I did, Mark's life is going to get a little more simplistic.

Once again Daniel thank you for your response it is greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Jenny

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