She was doing so well. We had default sits going all the time. She was checking in regularly and her recall was bang on. What happened? Why is she backing away when I try to recall her? Why wont she come anymore? Is there something wrong with my puppy?
Grab a glass of wine, we need to talk.
The problem, of course, is not the puppy. The problem is the people. Yep. We got lazy. When we first got the puppy, we were working with her multiple times a day. The husband had her out socializing at every pet store within a 10 mile radius and we worked the training over and over and over and then life happened. She was so good, we stopped training. She stopped getting rewarded for recall and so stopped leaving whatever fun thing she was doing to come to the human who was not going to let her go back to the fun thing shed been doing.
Public enemies 1 and 2.
Now, the only problem above that is mostly a deaf dog issue is the recall. Since she currently does not have a drop it or leave it command, we have resorted to recall to get her out of dangerous (as far as were concerned, fun as far as shes concerned) situations because she was so good at it so she started associating recall with that thing she does that ends whatever fun she was having. Cant say Id blame her for not coming. The fact that wed stopped using treat rewards, didnt help the situation either.
All is not lost, of course. We go back to the beginning, rewarding all those great behaviors and trying not to use recall to get her out of trouble unless we have something fun to reward her with when she does it. It doesnt have to be food. Ive used recall when she was trying to get on the bed to torment her big brother who was teasing her and then when she came, I picked her up and plopped her on the bed where she could annoy him to her hearts content.
Laugh it up, human. Your slippers are toast.
But all jokes aside, there is a lot of going back to the basics for us. We know better. We did this same thing with Steel when he was a puppy and we swore we werent going to do it with her. I guess old habits die harder than we thought.
We also came to the rather startling realization that she doesnt know how to go potty on leash. Weve never leashed her for potty because she was always in a fenced yard or the xpen in the garage. So now that were taking her on longer trips and shes bold enough that putting her down unleashed is not an option, weve realized that if shes on leash, she has no idea what shes supposed to be doing. Wow, total training fail. We should have followed more of Sofia Yins book.
The point of this is that whats happening with us isnt unusual and we dont suck because we got lazy. Especially with intelligent dogs, its easy to say, theyve got it so you dont have to work on it anymore. The solution is simple. Get back to basics and do what you started and dont stop before youre really done.
Rogue is over 16lbs now and all legs. She has never met a human she doesnt like and finally has good dog greeting manners. I was even able to take her with me to evaluate a dog for rescue. She was a champ.
She has a temper. You can always tell when she isnt getting something she wants because she has a very frustrated bark. She has a ton of unusual vocalizations because she cant hear the sounds other dogs are making to imitate them. She knows what making sound feels like even if she cant hear it and she knows that certain physiological activities get her specific results. She doesnt realize shes making a sound because she has no concept of what a sound is but she does know cause and effect. She has an adorable little croon we want to try to get a recording of.
Seriously, shes a giant puff ball of evil.
Still, she is a very sweet puppy and loves to snuggle. She has never met a human she didnt like and people are constantly stopping us to ask if they can pet her. I can let someone she doesnt know hold her with no real fear of her doing anything more than giving them a good licking and maybe a nibble on the nose. I guess well keep her.
