in need of patience. . .

[mydogroxy]

roxy is now five months old and driving me insane! lol. i've been working with her to start on her basic obedience and i'm having some problems. she seems to choose when she's going to perform and when she's not! sometimes, we'll work and she will sit every single time i tell her. she even responds to hand gestures. other times she will just look at me, as if to say "umm, no." the same goes with stay. she's not as good at staying but getting better. it's just that it seems as though she refuses to do things. any ideas on what i'm doing wrong?

[DogPaddle]

May take more time, she's still a puppy.
Does she perform better when no one else is there - could be problem with distractions.
You never reward her unless she does what she's supposed to right?
It may be she doesn't see you as dominant enough to obey all the time - if that's what you think it is there are a number of things you can try to correct it.

[mouseatthebusstop]

TO HAVE THE 5 MONTH OLD PUPPY
-IS A SPECIAL TIME -
TO LOOK BACK ON WHEN THEY ARE FULLY GROWN
ENJOY IT :D

[iceyshiver21]

I find that some pups will have a great level of wanting to listen, when there alittle older. It can be frustrating not knowing when to start. I started Annie when she was 9 months.

[mydogroxy]

so then maybe i've started too much, too soon. we got her at 3 months and i started her a short time after.

i'm happy to report though, that this morning she listened to every word i said!

[iceyshiver21]

Thats good, I really think you started at the right time, but just went alittle too fast. But I think also that if you get keep it nice and slow you'll have more days like today where she listens.

[Guest Anonymous]

I was always taught that you teach a dog playfuly with and type of corrections until they are aobut 6 months, and then you start to train for real. by that i mean the sloppy heel or the crooked sit is now not good enough you start to push more for proper position and timing where before it was great just to see them sit... wherever it happened. My Dobie and Rottie were both trained on those lines and it worked great it made it really easy when we went to the trainers too as they already had most of the commands down.