Well after several recent training sessions, it was pointed out by a training partner that I was not consistently enforcing my obedience commands. I would tell Ryder to “sit”, he would quickly comply. I would walk away expecting him to remain in the sitting position, but after about 30 seconds, he was walking up to the heel position. I did not reinforce the command and take him back to the spot where the infraction occurred. He did this on a couple of occasions and I did not enforce. This will start this dog down a path of disregarding my commands because I have let him have what is known as “command creep”. With Ryder being 4 years old, he knows all the rules but I have not maintained the command discipline to demand compliance at all times. With Ryder it only takes about 15 minutes and consistent discipline to get him back in line. As a trainer, I know better than to relinquish the alpha role with a young dog who is just learning the rules, but I need to maintain the discipline and alpha role with the older dogs as well.
Working with a dog named Sullivan, my expectation is a lot tougher because he needs to know that he cannot get away with creep. I enforce every command to the letter with plenty of praise because he will learn better when is confidence is the highest. He will constantly try to get away with not immediately obeying because he is still an 8 month old puppy who is learning his place in the pack.
In these two dogs there are two different issues, Ryder does not have a problem with the command itself and Sullivan does have a problem with the command. Ryder will give instant command compliance, but Sullivan will not. Ryder needs to maintain the command for the duration and Sullivan needs to complete the initial command. So how do we accomplish this, by consistently enforcing the training aspect that is required for the dog. With Sullivan, I must make sure compliance occurs instantly. With Ryder, I must make sure that he complies with the command until released. Praise and enforcement will tighten up both of these training issues.
Remember that consistency will help your dog become the best they can be
For the past three months, I have been training a two-year old Labrador Retriever named Goose. Goose has been kenneled for most of his life, and his owner has not had much time to spend with him. Thus, Goose had no manners and thought the world revolved around him. When I first met Goose and started training him, we would have a session where everything went great, and then another session where he was constantly trying to dominate me by peeing on my leg. Since he had been left alone for so long, he thought he was the alpha dog and that everything was subordinate to him. He tried the leg pee once too often and wound up on his back with me breathing down his neck. I only had to do this one more time and he was cured of trying to pee anywhere except where I gave him explicit permission. This trait and the fact that this dog did not seem happy made the initial obedience training difficult, and I thought this dog might be a lost cause. I couldn’t get any reaction that he was happy about working.