Easily Distracted!

[GeorgiPeorgi]

Hi there, I have a lovely 5 Month old border collie who is very bright and learns tricks very easy, the only thing is He is very easily distracted and sometimes decides he does not want to listen to us even with no distrations around him! Can anybody give me some tips on how to get him to focus and ignore distractions? Please help!

Georgi

 

[Anneke]

Hi, sounds like your dog is heading into puberty The first few months are usually a breeze, but now comes the hard part.
Keep your trainingsessions short and fun. Use something he likes very, very much as a reward. His hormones are having a party and it will often seem as if he has forgotten what the simplest commands are. Very normal for a dog at his age. Hang in there, maybe take a step back in training. Be consistent and patient(very, very hard)
I used lots of play in my training(still do, by the way) when my pup was that age. She loves the ball and tug games. So I used that as a reward. For instance: training a sit-stay. Give the command, wait untill she did it a few seconds, then take out the ball and throw it yippie, party!!!!
It did wonders for me.
If I couldn't get my dogs attention or if she ignored me, I stopped training and just ignored her. Then try again a few minutes later or even later that day.
Good luck!!

 

[ambara]

Rohan was like that at first, even a leaf falling would distract him and make him forget all about me So yeah, the same advice that's given above me, just keep the training sessions really fun and short so that he will learn it's more fun to play with you than it is to play by himself. And I wouldn't train him in places where there are many distractions because there's no point in making things difficult for them especially at that age. Set them up for success and all that

 

[GeorgiPeorgi]

Ah thanks! It makes much more sense now! I think over the interent there are some confusions about what age a dog starts puberty as some websites say different things! But I will try what you have told me and I will be patient! lol Thanks alot for you advice