Walter Won't "Come" Suddenly

My corgi, Walter, is at the 4 month mark. He is our first corgi but I have owned several dogs over my life. We have been training him in basic commands (sit, lay down, stay) and he has been doing great - learning them extremely fast. He even learned how to fetch after a few repetitions - he loves it.

However, I am noticing that over the last week or two, he does not want to listen to my husband when he is asked to "come". When I ask him, he almost always obeys. I have tried having my husband call him back and forth with me, giving him a piece of treat and/or praise each time he obeys. Then we start to cut back on the treats and just give him praise so that he doesn't think that every time he comes, he gets a treat.

We have never struck him or have given him any reason to fear us. When he does not come, he is not acting fearfully, but more or less staring at us like "I don't feel like coming."

I guess my question is this: Do corgis go through a "teenager" phase where they try to rebel (in a sense) and see what they can get away with? We have not had any trouble with him prior to this - it seems to be a sudden thing.

Do any of you have suggestions on training and obedience? I have been working on teaching him hand signals for the various commands so maybe he is just not understanding my command for come? Any help would be great!!

Christy

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Permalink Reply by GPN on July 31, 2012 at 12:48pm

Dogs get bored with training. I think that over time the recall will be good. A treat is always helpful. My dog enthusiastic to play "fetch" (7 mos) but will stop after three or four throws with just praise rewards and maybe 8 or 9 throws with food rewards (alternating). He loves the rewards but there's a limit to his interest.

Last night we were on a two mile walk and I was practicing "stop" and "sit" commands with him. I realized when we got back to the car that he was extremely tired--he couldn't jump into the car which he usually does with enthusiasm.

I do better with my training when I think of the dog as a one or two year old baby rather than an adult dog totally focused on his owner. Dipper is very responsive and house trained and doing well on all dimensions. The key is not to have expectations too high relative to the age. I would start thinking of your dog as a teen ager at about the 1 year mark. I know they mature sexually before that, but I don't think they do these transformations exactly as we do.

I will say that my dog had a rebellion against his leash at about 3 mos. But I turned it around very quickly: instead of feeding him at meal time a regular meal in a regular spot, I put food around the house and in order to get it he had to walk around on the leash from place to place. He has accepted the leash ever since, and I've gone back to normal feeding. If this were my problem I would follow the advice I read (who's that foxy dog lady?): make the dog work for his food. So at meal times don't give him any food in the bowl, just make him come to this place and that to have his meal at the places you designate. I'm thinking, for example, of five or six bowls scattered here and there, you and your husband could alternate calling him to one or the other till the food is done.

Coupled with occasional treats (and no treats plus praise) for coming at other times, you should get him back on track.

Just my 2c, I'm not expert.

Greg N

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on July 31, 2012 at 2:24pm

All dogs go through varying degrees of the "teenage" phase where they tend to challenge things they previously did. Just continue positive reinforcement and it will pass.