Mandy asks…

Puppy won’t listen when called, follows our other dog?

We have a 5 month old Golden Retriever/Irish Setter mix.
He is very smart, almost potty trained from the time we brought him home at 6 weeks old!

We do not have a fenced backyard, but our dogs know the boundaries.
BUT, our little guy won’t come when he is called. He waits for the older dog (5 yr old Pit/Lab female) to come and follows her.
I understand he wants to do everything she does, but he needs to learn to come when he is called, not just when she does.

Is he just too young?

How can we make him come to us without her having to come first? He comes when called just fine when he is outside by himself.

Anna Walker answers:

Give him treat every time and reward him every time

Nancy asks…

how to train a dog to stop when he’s chasing another dog?

i have a border collie X australian shepherd and he always comes when i call him except for when there’s other dogs around. no matter what i do he just chases after them. usually i have time to get him on the leash before he sees them but today he just bolted after an overgrown rat (i think it was a chiuaua lol) and it was really embarrassing. he is only 6 months old and he’s very difficult to train because he gets really silly and doesnt concerntrate
yeah i really agree that he needs to go to obedience class but my dad is a complete control freak and he wont let me send him becuase he thinks its unnecessary

Anna Walker answers:

Your dog only comes on his terms & not yours.

When there is something interesting like another dog, you are boring in comparison & the dog chooses to ignore you.

The behavior of a dog must always be under the control of the person who is holding the lead, & as your young dog hasn’t got a solid recall regardless of what environmental distractions are thrown in his path, for his safety & to prevent his behavior being a nuisance to other dog walkers & their dogs, keep him on a long lead.

Explain to your dad that you want to walk your dog off lead, but need a professional dog trainer to teach you how to train your dog to *reliably* recall on command.

Daniel asks…

how do i train my dog?

My dog is 13 months old. She jumps on people like a mexican jumping ben. She doesn’t listen to me when i call her. The only thing she listens to is sit. The one thing i want is for her to come to me when i call and to train her not to jump on people when they walk outside. Training classes are not an option right now what else can i do? Shes a pure bread golden retriever and i want to bread her but she needs to be trained first.

Anna Walker answers:

You could try techniques from the internet or maybe a book. I recently had a problem with my little dog being very aggressive about food. I actually fixed that problem with something I saw on the dog whisperer! So maybe you could pick up a few tips from shows like that.

Mark asks…

How can i train my dog to listen to me?

I havent really tried but whenever i let him out of his leash he thinks were playing a game and wont come to me when i call him, he runs down the block and as soon as i get close to him he runs farther away.

Anna Walker answers:

First off you need to teach him that you are the person in charge. Several reasons on how to do this is to first make him sit before he gets his food, reward him to good behavior by giving him attention and when he is acting bad pay no attention to him (dogs hate when they get no attention).

Try teaching him stay…start off with treats in the house, use a stern voice, but do not yell that is very important! (Sometimes it helps if you point a finger at him when you are doing this). Also teach him leave it that helps alot. As he gradually gets better that take him outside, also be calm because dogs can feel your emotion, that means if you are nervice than they will act weird, when you are happy they are happy, etc. But for the first week or soo keep a leash on him outside. As he gets better try posing distractions and make sure he stays(helps alot, so if somebody walks down the road your dog wont go crazy).

When you think that he is ready take off his leash and stay CALM, he might try to act up but get him to sit. It might be a little harder than it was in the traning but you cant help that and once you get him to sit make sure that he stays too. Do NOT reward him too soon then he’ll think that he only has to so the comand for a few seconds. Once he does this propely then reward him, do not always use treats, they will start taking advantage of you, try giving him attention (get them happy that they are doing the right thing). Never let a mistake slide it is important that you address everyone to your dog!!!

He should listen to you and stay near after this!!! Never give up!!! Every dog is trainable!!! Also make sure that your dog know its name that can be very helpful so that the dog knows you are speaking to him. To know that call his name and see if he looks at you or comes

George asks…

How to train a dog to stop stealing food from others?

My lab mix is trainned not to snatch food from the hands of others. She known this from an early age. However earier this year she interupted a birthday party a few months ago, and they wouldn’t stop feeding her treats.

Now she trying to snatch food on walks.

She just stole a little boy icypole on the walk-The mother was patting her, my pooch was being as good as gold, then gentle decided to steal the little boys icypole. She wasn’t rough or anything, but still I don’t want it to happen and i’m surprised to she did that because other have fed her treats before and she never ever done this before.

She has been acting weird lately though-Trying to eat stuff she wouldn’t normally even think of eating, yesterday i called her-she wouldn’t come-which is actually quite normal for her, selective deafness-as mum used to call her and smack her for being naughty such as chewing towels and stuff, after the act. So mum taught her not to come when called. My stepdad taught her to fear brooms, and used to push the broom in her face to scare her. I manage to retrain her not to be afraid of brooms

I saw her chewing something, i thought it was a root off a plant, so i grapped it, and said NO, on closer inspection, it was a dead baby bird. Indian Minor to be exact-had it feather but still quite small. This is not something she would be eating, it just not in her nature to be consuming birds or even stealing things.

For a retriever as long as i’ve know her since 8week old she has actually been a stubburn ox to train.

Anyway to fix these sudden behavioural issues that are NOT typically charactistic of my dog.
She walked regularily, she fed twice a day-Depending on the day I feed her 1/2 cup twice a day or 1cup twice a day., she plays fetch just about daily with my little sister, and my little sister grabs the ball out of her mouth.

So she not hungry even though she appear to be like all retriever. a Garbage bin on four legs.

Anna Walker answers:

You need to take her to the vets and have him check her metabolism she may be hyper and she need some training to stop stealing food, she most likely thinks that it is acceptable.

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