Finn is 4 months old (18 and a half weeks) and he is beginning to only selectively listen to certain commands. We taught Finn the command “go to your bed” at around 10 weeks. Before then, we were picking him up and basically shoving him in his crate. That method worked fine with a small puppy but one day I had a flash forward to us trying to manually maneuver a head-strong, 30 pound adolescent puppy into his crate. Having gotten over the horror of that vision, I started to work with him on the new command right away.
First, we held a treat in front of his nose and led him to his crate while saying, “go to your bed.” Then we moved up to tossing a treat in his crate and then giving him the verbal command. It didn’t take long after that for him to obey only the verbal command. He knew the payoff was coming because, after going into his crate on verbal command only, we always gave him a treat through the crate bars while saying, “good boy, good go to your bed.”
He got really, really good at this command. He would bounce across the room, fling himself into his crate and eagerly await his reward. He was a rock star at the “go to your bed” command. He had “go to your bed” groupies. There was even a dance.
And then one day, not so much anymore.
When we gave him the command, he would turn away from us, look forlornly toward the exit and hold his ground. If we went over to him and picked up his leash, he would walk on his own toward and into his crate but he would no longer go only on our command.
Today I realized that he would actually still go to his crate on my command but he has to have time to pout about it first. Basically, I have to say the command, and nothing else, repeatedly. I also have to give lots of pause in between each repetition of the command. Finn is an Australian Shepherd, which means he’s bold, confident and stubborn by nature. In between each command I could see him weighing his options. He was quietly deciding whether he wanted to obey me.
Although it’s annoying to have to patiently guide him to make the right decision, I have a feeling this practice is building our bond. The fact that he is giving in and doing something he doesn’t want to do proves to me that he respects me. I’m not forcing him or being pushy, I’m just calmly and evenly persisting.
Still, I hope he grows out of this phase quickly because I am a human and by nature not the most patient creature.
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