Acting like a teenager already...

jb174

Hi all!

Tucker has been doing really well, and starting to come out of his ridiculously shy stage.

He had his second set of shots a couple weeks ago and he's very lonely being cooped up in the house and not being able to see other dogs.

Recently, he's been talking back to me.
If I tell him "Off" he will bark at me and not get off, even though I know he knows the command.

If I tell him to come, he'll bark at me, even though he knows come.

This doesn't happen all the time, but when it does I'm not sure what to do about it. It's like he's mad that I won't let him do what he wants to do so he mouths off at me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Criosphynx

well...there are two options here...

either, he doesn't really know what your asking (likely, since hes what, three months old?) OR you have not made it rewarding enough for him to do what you ask...so he has no incentive to obey you. Forget everything you've heard/read about dogs obeying simply to please their human...dogs are oportunistic and do what works...if ignoring you works, they will ignore you, if doing what you asks benefits them, and they understand what you are asking, they will do that instead.

I'd lower expectations and up the rewards and see where you end up. Despite what the popular media says, dogs to not defy intentionally or to be stubborn. They simply don't speak english, and humans expect too much too soon.

jb174

Good point! And yes I know he really isn't trying to be a pain, because he does try really hard.
I will try making a bigger fuss when he does listen and more or less ignore the bad behavior when he doesn't listen and just keep trying to teach him.
What do you guys do when your dogs don't listen? I know that for some dogs whether it's good or bad attention, it's still attention to them anyway and sometimes it's best to not make a big deal if they do something bad or don't listen.

kmes

If they don't listen I try and figure out why...

Are they too distracted by something else?
Is it a matter of them being too far away from me?
Did I push too hard or expected too much?
Or are they just confused?
Once you know why they didn't listen then you know what to work on.