# just LISTEN to me!



## burdock87 (Oct 17, 2013)

My husband trained his GSD from a pup, so naturally, he has a serious bond. But with work and everything else, the dog has fallen to the "lesser important" category of responsibilities. I have taken to training him (though as stated, he's trained basic obedience and will soon start narcotic detection) and playing with him. He's starting to develop a bond with me as well.

He has a super high play/chase drive, and will chase anything you throw (or barn cats, birds, squirrels, etc). Normally, I can get him to "heel" and "wait" while I throw a toy for him, and once he's maintained eye contact for however long I decide (normally, just a couple seconds to ensure he's paying attention), release him to get his toy before we just play fetch.

He has this habit of ignoring me when he's too into his high drive. I'm not sure how to get him out of it. He wants to chase one of my horses and refuses to recall until she stomps on him (then he whines until the owie goes away and tries to chase her again!). 

I need some help on curbing this high drive behavior. I don't want to discourage him from wanting to play and be the amazing boy he is; but I want him to listen to the commands so one day, daddy can take him back to work as a narcotic dog.

I am very consistent with the commands I give him. Basic obedience - sit/stay/heel/lie down/leave it, etc. He is rewarded when appropriate.

Any ideas on what works well for getting him to listen to a command the FIRST time it's spoken?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

How old is he? This is normal behaviour for a dog that 'locks in drive', and it is very difficult to get through a dog once they are in that mindset. If you otherwise have lots of reliable training on him, and this is one area that you are not making progress, time to get a prong collar and introduce corrections. 

Work with the prong on eye-contact obedience around those high-level distractions, like the horses or the cats. Start working on eye-contact focus for longer and longer periods while ignoring the distraction - the goal is to get him into obedience mode BEFORE he gets into the hyper-drive mode. It will take a lot of work and remember not expect too much and move forward in baby steps.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

_If this is going to be "daddy's" narcotic dog one day then this "_But with work and everything else, the dog has fallen to the "lesser important" category of responsibilities." is just plain wrong. Dog should be primo responsibility.

The drive and concentration should be intense and focused on his reward , in this case the ball . I wonder if he is easily distracted by moving things in the environment , giving up the search , to give a chase.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

has the dog worked in narcotics before? i think you need a trainer.
a dog is #1 priority (along with the other #1 priorities) all day,
everyday.



burdock87 said:


> My husband trained his GSD from a pup, so naturally, he has a serious bond. But with work and everything else,
> 
> >>>>> the dog has fallen to the "lesser important" category of responsibilities. <<<<<
> 
> ...


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## burdock87 (Oct 17, 2013)

Bullet is 4 years old. He has had consistent training from a pup until about last year when life got very hectic for hubby.

Bullet and I have been "working" together for about a year to reinforce basic obedience. I make him hold eye contact for a little longer each time, or until I believe he's truly focused. He wants to release himself to go get his toy on occasion, so I hold him until he's calm and paying attention to me. He does very well for the most part, but there are times he gets extremely excited and refuses to listen. We started out with him looking at me to get the release, and we're up to a few seconds of holding eye contact. He has finally figured out that if he looks away, he starts all over and it takes longer to get his toy.

I have never used a prong collar before, so I'll have to look into it and its proper use so I don't end up hurting my boy. 

Carmen, I agree with you, but I can't rearrange hubby's schedule to better suit his dog, so I've more or less "taken over" on training and playing with him to keep him properly stimulated and focused (and to keep him from eating things in the house out of frustration). He is an amazing dog and it kills me to know he isn't being worked. So I told hubby I was taking over. Bullet has truly blossomed under a new hand - he is learning quickly how to do simple things - jumping over a hitching post (with a small step), searching for his "hidden" toy, crawling. He is incredibly intelligent, and I'm trying to help him reach his potential.

When he's on a search (he obsesses over his toys), he doesn't let much distract him in finding it. He will often return to me and "ask" where the toy is, as if I didn't throw it. He'll go back out and circle until he finds the scent, and then will prance back with the toy in his mouth. So once he's focused, he's amazing.

Bullet has not worked narcotics before, but the officers do their own training with the approved methods (instructional dvds, etc) by the department. It won't be too hard to train him to find narcs, but it will require time and effort. I have the time, thus, I'm doing the training. If we progress to a point where I cannot properly do what needs to be done, I'm happy finding a reputable trainer to make sure Bullet gets the most out of the training. He's such a happy boy, I want to keep him that way.


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