Selective Hearing?

[Digby]

Our boxer Digby is now 18 weeks old. She is a very good listener, when she wants to be. But there are times when you call, or tell her to stop (terrorizing our other dog), or down (from people or furniture) that you would think she can't hear you at all.

Physical punishment is definately out, and I hate to place her in her crate when she misbehaves, because she is finally getting used to it during the day and I don't want her to think she is always being punished.

Are there any suggestions?

 

[kassa]

18 weeks is still very young, and it's typical that a pup in full excitement mode just can't hear you. It's not exactly disobedience, just that like a human child in full candy-induced or sleep deprivation-induced brattiness, they're running on adrenaline and the rational portion of the brain is on stand by.

One thing you might try is leashing her and holding her close to you in a down/stay. She's old enough to learn to settle on command, and that kind of exercise will keep her out "in company" and teach her that sometimes she needs to learn to settle herself. You'll have to keep the loose dog from pestering her, but if that's a problem you can leash that one too.

Sometimes they just need to be physically restrained to collect their composure. Holding the leash down with your foot (or the leg of the sofa) frees up your hands so you don't have to actively restrain the dog or banish it from the room.

And, as always, the more exercise the better. A tired dog is nearly always a very well behaved dog!

 

[brwneyesk8]

yeah your pup is young...but selective hearing is NOT going to improve with age or training!!! Sometimes they just chose to not hear you but you're right. something does have to be done about it.
Porter is pretty well trained but not the best. At the park if he's running with other dogs and I call him he'll veer in my direction and make eye contact with me and come towards me. BUT if a ball flys by.....or a dog barks somewhere else....it's like he just automatically heads towards the distraction! LOL It's funny to watch them go in zigzag patterns depending on what's most distractive at that second. Eventually he ends up back at me. hehe

If he is chewing something in the house or is doing something he's not allowed to....a firm, loud enough for him to hear well, he should at least stop the behavior momentarily. If not I'm not sure what to tell you other then keep trying and remember he's young. Keeping them busy helps lots. Good Luck!!

 

[brwneyesk8]

Eventually I'd like him to be like other boxers I've seen that do not get quite as distracted......so perhaps your dogs behavior will stop with training. Hope he's not as distractable (is that a word ) as Porter.

Just had to throw that clarification in there since i know that there ARE boxers that are VERY well trained.

 

[curb_pks]

Gracie is deaf sometimes, like right now.... she is running window to window to see a dog outside. She must have dust in her ears at the moment because she isn't listening. Little does she know the trainer comes at 4:00 to teach us how to get the dust out

 

[shannonmac]

kneesaa figures if she doesn't make eye contact with you, you'll think she can't hear you.
you're right it doesn't get better with age! she's almost 3!
I do use timeout... and if she's terrorizing her brother and I tell her to knock it off.. she won't hear you, but if you say "you wanna go in timeout!" she miraculously takes the fuzz out of her ears.

 

[Digby]

Thanks.

Thanks for the input. I agree with the I can hear you if I don't look at you theory... Sometimes we just get so discouraged that our training is not effective. We're going to keep working at it, maybe a little more firm.

 

[lexintitus]

Lexi does that and sometimes it's downright embarassing, especially when she's in the back yard. I'll call her to come in, she'll look at me, and then look away into the distance pretending something else is so much more important. We had to do a lot of treat training with her. Every single time she comes in when called,she gets a treat. Took awhile, but finally worked.