//"
Even starving with good treats doesnt guarantee,
he will do things that I am positive he knows."//
This could be several things.
could be you having too long of a lesson. dogs new to tricks sometimes zone out after about 10 minutes of a lesson,
but, we can build up the length of the lesson, week by week. I have a relative who does this, she always tries to get her dog to pay attention for half an hour, but has NEVER ever worked her dog's attention span up to that,
and after about 10 minutes or so, her dog now is zoning out,
staring around, ignoring her....and she says, "See? my dog can't learn." but he CAN, but he needs to start with SHORTER lessons and sloooowwwwly
build up to half an hour or an hour. All dogs are unique, but not all dogs have long att'n spans.
could be your dog needs a break, just play with him for five minutes, and start again. Try hard to
not reward his zoning out, but instead, provide play session
after he does something, ANYTHING, right, then play with him for a break.
Get a clock, and time how long your dog does lessons well,
before he zones out. Might be a pattern there. If it's every ten minutes, your dog zones out? then have play time every 9 minutes, and slowly extend that nine minutes,
week by week,
to 10 minutes playtime!, 12 minutes--playtime!,
slowly building up his att'n span.
could be you have asked for same trick too many times in a row.
Some dogs zone out for nonstop repetition of exact same trick, over
and
over. (mine does)
could be your dog is growing bored of the lesson, but if you moved lesson to new area,
new room,
outdoors in your yard,
outdoors somewhere else,
might perk up your dog's interest.
could be your dog needs praise. MY dog quits working, no matter how great the treat is, if i shut up. My dog is conceited, though, and lives for praise.
could be your treats are not good enough. For some dogs, the type of treats you use matters a lot. There are tons of great treat recipes in the "Treats" area of forums.
could be your dog might find tuggie toy play a higher reward. some dogs do.
could be your dog might enjoy
a variety in his rewards. My dog much enjoys a change up in what i use to reward him, so he is never quite sure what prize is coming? A bit of chicken meat? a bit of cheese? a tuggie toy moment? a squeak toy? a homemade treat? My dog can't be sure, which makes his interest higher.
could be this is a NEW trick to the dog, and he doesn't quite have it nailed the way you *think* he does. There is a difference between when a dog "gets it"
and when a dog solidly knows it like a rock.<---THAT takes TIME, and lots of practice.
could be you are inadvertantly giving a body signal you are unaware of.
I almost always use hand cues AND verbal cues. I can use either one for most tricks.
BUT, *my* quirky dog, is highly sensitive to *my* body cues,
and if i ask for a known trick,
when i am in a chair, that could throw off my dog if i have not worked on
that trick, from
me being in a chair, if my dog is accustomed to that trick from me standing up.
or, If i have always used my left hand for the cue, but accidentally use my right hand, to *my* dog, THAT is a whole other cue....for *my* dog, my body position matters, especially for tricks NEW to him.
could be your dog is currently distracted by something, and you have not yet advanced that trick to be so so solid that dog CAN do the trick around distractions.
could be you faded rewards too abruptly, too soon.
could be your dog has learned, "i don't get treats for doing rollover anymore.."
could be your dog needs occasional rewards, to do his known tricks, now and then.
You could be right, but I just kinda wonder if your dog is really being "stubborn", i imagine it
could be something else????????
Most dogs are very eager to please us humans, IF they know what we are asking for, and IF they haven't zoned out from boredom, and lots of other IFs to factor in..
so that he is safer off leash in more places, where there are squirrels, bunnies, etc.
which he is good at...