# He doesn't want to train anymore?



## Veronica1 (Jun 22, 2010)

During our first basic obedience class last week, 5 month old Panzer did great! Our practice sessions at home since haven't been going so well. He's pretty much refusing to train - we're working on sit/stay. He shuts down. He lays down and/or tries to back out of his collar. 

We had been using a prong, but now are thinking maybe this is too much correction for him; however, we're not having success with the choke either. Even hotdogs aren't motivating him.

I would be more than happy to shower him with praise, but am having trouble finding something (training related) to praise him for. What do you suggest? How can I get him motivated when we start the training? And do you have suggestions for a different type of collar?

Thanks in advance.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I would not have a 5 month old on a prong. If you have a fenced in area, just go with no collar, leash and use food for motivation, mix it up with some toys. If he isn't food motivated don't feed him unless you are training. When he comes to you, praise the heck out of him with a party. Make it all fun! Keep a couple of his very favorite toys for training only and put them away when you aren't working with him. 
If my pup focuses on a certain toy, I'll use it in a training session(cuzballs at the moment) Keep your sessions short and stop before the pup checks out, end it on a happy note.


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## Keka (Jul 28, 2010)

At this age maybe more play and less training. Maybe try some research on reward training. You find their favorite toy/treat and work with that. I talked with a professional trainer years ago that was taught to catch the animal (she was required to train a chicken!) doing some natural behavior and reward it. 

The latest trick I'm teaching Keka is speak. Rather than "working" on it, I play with her. She gets in a focused state where she REALLY wants what I've got (toy/treat). That's when I work on commands. If she wants the toy/treat she has to "Speak". As soon as she speaks she gets the toy/treat. After awhile she'll do it without the toy/treat. 

GSDs are very smart if you have the patience.


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## H15A5H1 (Dec 14, 2009)

I agree with the above that he is too young for a prong collar. We didn't introduce the prong to Otto until he was over 1yr. I think not having such a strong correctional tool introduced later on helped a lot more. Or else, when they are older they may feel a little desensitized to it.

When my dog was around that age, he did try to avoid training as well. I usually tire him out by chasing him, playing, first. Then when he is hungry or more attentive I use treats to get him to do commands. Try introducing NILF (nothing in life is free) to him. I always find ways to do training with my dog. Even if its something as simple as giving him water. I'll review a simple command like sit or stay from far away, then release him to drink the water.


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## skylark (Jul 22, 2010)

One think is that Panzer must to be really, really hungry in order to be motivated by the food. I do not feed my dog at the training day at all (i.e. before the training). Ussually he gets his breakfest portion during the training at the midday.


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## EchoGSD (Mar 12, 2010)

All good suggestions posted here. You might want to consider stopping "formal" training for a few days and just play. Then ease back into the training with very short sessions interspersed with playtime. What is his favorite toy? Use that to motivate him and keep him interested. You might also want to check that he isn't experiencing any pain: sounds strange but too many "sits" may be giving him some muscle soreness in his knees/hips. I also agree, at 5 months I would be hesitant to use a prong. For his "resting period" I would go to a flat buckle collar and avoid corrections, then when it's time to phase back in more serious session time, I'd go with a chain or nylon correction collar. The goal here is not to demand perfection, but to teach him to enjoy minding you.


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## Veronica1 (Jun 22, 2010)

EchoGSD said:


> The goal here is not to demand perfection, but to teach him to enjoy minding you.


I like this. We'll discontinue the prong and see if that improves the training attempts. We play throughout the day and are just shooting for short training sessions, usually in the evening when we're both able to work with him. 

Thank you all for the suggestions! I think I'm going to see how a nylon slip collar (Martingale?) works for him. I really don't like the metal choke, but the standard flat collar doesn't seem to do anything either. Will also try bringing some toys along to use after a couple of sit/stays to keep him engaged.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Same here- I didn't start using a prong until 7 mos and primarily for walking in public places. Before that I used a nylon choker. Have you tried using a clicker? Ours really responded to it at about Panzer's age and we had already been through puppy and obedience class.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

I use a flat collar (or no collar if we are in my yard) and lots of treats for training. And we play during training. It's more like: play, play, sit, play, play, play, play, sit, down, play play play sit. For Play, my dogs like to play tug, fetch is good, too. 

I'm suspecting that your dog trainer is not using positive training methods. With positive training methods your dog thinks he's playing.


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## crisp (Jun 23, 2010)

BlackPuppy hit the nail on the head. Training should always begin with play. Always make the activity a game. As the dog gets excited and wants to play more, he will be more focused on you and more eager to please to keep the game going. Having him sit once or twice during a fun game will go further than you correcting him into a sit. You can get into corrections and more serious training later. Right now focus on both of you having fun, and throw a little training in throughout. This will help with your bond and the respect you have for eachother.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Veronica said:


> And do you have suggestions for a different type of collar?


At 5 months old I'd ditch the training collars entirely. There's plenty of time to add corrections later, right now I'd be doing lots of motivational training with food and toys. That should help his attitude towards training a lot, making it fun and keeping him engaged. Are you currently using any rewards other than praise? If not, that would certainly contribute to his lack of interest in working with you. At his age I was doing most of my training off leash around the house, we only used a leash in classes, and even then not all the time. I often dropped the leash on the floor while I worked with Halo, stepping on it if necessary to keep her from wandering off. 

A flat collar should be all you need, or a martingale if you're worried that he'll back out of his flat collar. If he's pulling badly on leash, you might try a front hook harness, such as the Sense-ation or Easy Walk. Whatever you use, you'll need to teach him how to walk nicely by marking and rewarding correct postion. Correcting him over and over again for pulling isn't really teaching him what you DO want him to do, just what you DON'T want him to do.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I had the exact same problem when my GSD was your pups age. He totally shut down when training, and I couldn't get him excited at all - it didn't matter what I used. 

I realized that I was trying far too hard to have the perfect pup in the class. I was placing far too much stress on my pup (and me!). So what I did was go back to the beginnnig. I made everything a game to him, lots of playing on the ground. My object was to get him to do what I asked, as a game. Like playing tug, play..play...play...then at a point when he released the tug, using the same playful voice I'd say 'sit!' and he would because it was part of the game. Then I'd give him the tug all the while praising him "Good puppy!".

While in class - I upped the anti by using boiled chicken. While we were in class I'd sneak in a quiet squeak or two with his favorite squeaky toy, just to wake him up!

Listen to your trainer - let him/her know of your concerns and where you need help at.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

I always started out by playing and getting a little excitement going then said something like 'let's get to work' in a happy way- and stopped training sessions when they had done a really good job- just so it ended on a positive side.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

Training should be FUN for you and your puppy. While you don't always get to have fun in class because time there is limited and the trainer is going to want to show everyone specific things to do and work on at home, training at home should be fun.

Establishing a good start/end of a training session routine is a great place to start. When I am getting ready to train with my dogs, I get out the treat bag and clicker and tell them, "LET'S TRAIN!" That's their cue that we're about to go train.

I always start with something very easy AND end the session with something that's easy and they know well - like sit or down. Sit-click-treat (and praise). Then we move on to other things we've been working on more recently - like stand/stay, down out of motion, going out and touching a target, etc. 

When we're done, I finish off with something they know, then show them both my hands and say "DONE!" and they get to run around and play or come inside and lay on their pillows in the living room.

Besides having a clear start/end to your training sessions, you can also train throughout the day. Have him SIT or DOWN before putting his food bowl down. Or before going outside for a walk. Or before he gets to play tug with a toy. (I call those "life rewards" since the dog gets something other than a treat or toy for doing what he's supposed to.)


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