knucklehead dog

[Ross IV]

good afternoon everyone.
my pup has reached a milestone in his life. now he is 12 weeks, so i do not have BIG concerns but small.
he knows come and he knows it well. i know he is a puppy, but this morning i called him in (he was close, 10 feet). he looked at me, and i swear to you, he gave me the bird and ran away.
should i have acted quickly? i just let it go. i did it again and after he felt it was time, he came to me. i know he heard me, like i said he flipped me off!
honestly i called his name, he looked at me, i told him "come" and he considered and went the other way.

[Yawallac]

It's a lot easier teaching a 12 week old pup that "come" means "come" than it is a 12 month old pup. Believe me!

[Hotpepper]

I really do not like to put pressure on a very young dog. Walking with a lead and just keeping cntrol is where I would be at this point.

I do earnestly believe that giving commands should come as they grow up and I try not to give commands that I do not enforce.

Pepper

[Don]

Boy, I saw that "bird" mentioned and that got me going. Re-read it a couple time's and realized what you really ment was it gave you the finger. Heh, heh! That's why God invented checkcords! A 12 wk old pup doesn't have any business running loose unless your out where it can wear itself out and get easy to catch. Even then, let it drag a good stiff check cord with no knot in the end. It's a lot easier to catch a pup with an extra 20' of arm.

[Goosehunterdog]

I was going to suggest the checkcord as well.

[smilinicon]

your dog told you it was the boss and you had nothing to say about it. Go pick him up and carry him to where you called.

[bondoron]

Never give a command that you can not or will not enforce. I don't care how young they are. I am not saying get rough, but either have the pup on a CC or grab the pup and walk it to where you were when you gave the command.

[Ross IV]

i think i know what happened, other than him running off. i had been slack over the last few days, and had not paid attention like i should have.
you know there is almost nothing this dog has done wrong that i am not responsible for.
this weekend i simply started all over again. it took one day and now we are back to where we were. he was at fault but i let him get there.

[TrueBlu Shorthairs]

I would tend to tell you to seldom run the pup with a checkcord at this age. If you call him, turn and walk the opposite direction and call him a few more times, he should com towrard you. Seems they all like to do the opposite of what we think they should do!! Keep walking the opposite way, call him, and when he comes toward you, then turn around. If he runs off, walk the opposite way again and keep at it, a FEW times.

In the house, work on the HERE command. When he is coming toward you, tell him HERE and good boy. Love him up when he actually comes to you. He'll soon get it.

Another option is to let him run 'til he's tired, NOT worn out, but tired. He'll be a lot more excited about you walking right up to him and/or coming to you when he's tired.

To me, a checkcord on a pup this young when free running is only good for shortening one up.

[topher40]

Never give a command that you can not or will not enforce. I don't care how young they are.

Bondoron Hit the nail on the head here! I dont care what you are telling a dog to do or how old they are, you better enforce what you are telling the dog! Otherwise your just asking the dog to come.

[rnbiii]

Regardless of age, if you've decided to teach any command and the dog ignores or does the opposite.... you have to: 1) show him he was wrong 2) show him what the right thing to do is 3) show him you are the boss 4) don't lose patience.

If you're not careful it can be 1 step forward, 2 steps back.