DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - How to get my 6 month old apbt to listen inside and outside?? HELP!

**MarythePuppy6** · 08-08-2011, 07:37 PM

Do read the stickies - there are lots of good tips and tricks you can find!

It seems that your dog is good without distractions but as soon as you add them in he can't handle the added excitement. The first thing to do is to NEVER call him unless you are 100% sure he's going to come to you immediately. Everytime you call him and he ignores you it just reinforces that he doesn't have to listen if he doesn't want to do so.

Since you say he's great indoors and at home it sounds like it is time to slowly introduce distractions. Instead of working in the house or backyard, take him out front where there are mild distractions of cars, kids, etc. Work with him there, on leash, until he's rock solid. Once he's good with mild distractions start adding in more - kids running around, more cars, dogs walking by, etc. You can take him to a local human park (no dog parks, please, for all the other reasons stated on this site along with the fact that he's nowhere near ready for THAT amount of distraction yet) and work on his recall with a 10-20ft long line. If you notice him getting distracted and not listening, you've gone too fast and need to back up to where he was paying attention again. Keep doing this and you'll have a dog that will pay attention and listen to you in just about every case.

One thing that worked with my boy, along with having him drag a 20ft clothes line when we were outside in the yard, was to have a pocket full of yummy treats, things he didn't always get. I'd randomly call him every few minutes and he'd get from 1 to 5 treats every time. He started running back as fast as he could after a couple of "treat parties". You can then reduce how often he gets a treat until all you're doing is praising him for running back to you and that will be enough. It took about 2 months to get Jet reliable when I call him but now he's a a rocket when I want him to come!

08-08-2011, 07:37 PM	#3
MarythePuppy6 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 550 Senior Member	Do read the stickies - there are lots of good tips and tricks you can find! It seems that your dog is good without distractions but as soon as you add them in he can't handle the added excitement. The first thing to do is to NEVER call him unless you are 100% sure he's going to come to you immediately. Everytime you call him and he ignores you it just reinforces that he doesn't have to listen if he doesn't want to do so. Since you say he's great indoors and at home it sounds like it is time to slowly introduce distractions. Instead of working in the house or backyard, take him out front where there are mild distractions of cars, kids, etc. Work with him there, on leash, until he's rock solid. Once he's good with mild distractions start adding in more - kids running around, more cars, dogs walking by, etc. You can take him to a local human park (no dog parks, please, for all the other reasons stated on this site along with the fact that he's nowhere near ready for THAT amount of distraction yet) and work on his recall with a 10-20ft long line. If you notice him getting distracted and not listening, you've gone too fast and need to back up to where he was paying attention again. Keep doing this and you'll have a dog that will pay attention and listen to you in just about every case. One thing that worked with my boy, along with having him drag a 20ft clothes line when we were outside in the yard, was to have a pocket full of yummy treats, things he didn't always get. I'd randomly call him every few minutes and he'd get from 1 to 5 treats every time. He started running back as fast as he could after a couple of "treat parties". You can then reduce how often he gets a treat until all you're doing is praising him for running back to you and that will be enough. It took about 2 months to get Jet reliable when I call him but now he's a a rocket when I want him to come!
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