How Long Do 'Phases' Last?

Hi,
Floob's 19 months old now and going through a 'did I hear something? Was that my name? I'll just carry on and she'll shout me again if she wants me' phase.

He goes through them quite regulally. Sometimes it's a couple of days, sometimes a month. When he's not being a tyrant he's so good. I don't even get to the 'come' bit before he's stopped dead in his tracks and bolting back to me to sit right in front of me. But on a bad day I just can't trust him to ignore anything.

He started this one last tuesday, then had a bad accident on wednesday which is making it impossible to distract him to me when we're out.
He landed on a stick and punctured under his tongue. The vet could get his whole finger down the hole. He's got stitches, painkillers and MORE antibiotics. It's been hard not to spoil him and be as firm with him as I'd usually be when he's in a 'phase'.

Back to the 'phase' thing...
We all know they go through them every now and again, where you have to go back to basics and treat them like the 4 month old they're acting like... but for how long? Is he still going to be this erratic when he's 5? Some days I just feel so worn down by enforcing rules time after time. He catches on really quick and I don't get lazy with him and 'let him off' with anything, so to be repeating it all again a month later is just disheartening.

 

I think what you might need is a solid 4-5 weeks training course once his wounds are healed. Obviously you've done some training with him and Im not going to go into everything on the board as it would take too long, as you said, go back to basics, on leash only, full obedience, heel, sit, down and stay, when you take him for a walk you have to be consistant, when he's off the leash at home, in the yard dont give him any 'commands' that you cant re-enforce immediately if he chooses to 'not hear you' it only takes one time of getting away with it to set you back again.
I dont use food at all for obedience but I do for the 'here' initially.
What you can do off leash in an 'enclosed' area is enforce the 'here' command with very small pieces of food, I usually do this as a game after a training session, I say the dogs name and 'here' and as soon as they come to me they get the 'tiny' treat (chicken works great as long as theres no allegies or sensitivity to it, and when I say tiny I mean no bigger than your little finger-nail), if he doesnt come straight away do whatever it takes to get him to come to you, make some happy puppy noises, get on the floor, its really important that he comes to you, once he is coming to you every single time continue for another day or two then only give the treat every other time, and gradually decrease the treats, by the end of 3 weeks he should be coming back every time without them, the obedience will make this easier and your consistency in not letting him get away with anything is vital.
Its important not to use his name if your upset or angry at him, it'll confuse him....one minute you say his name and give him a treat the next you say his name and reprimand him.
If its done consistently for the main training period you shouldnt have to keep going back to the basics.
Wel...so much for keeping this short.

 

poor floob, no suggestions on his new antics,

but do be careful with sticks. I was watching emergency vets recently and this woman was playing fetch with her golden retriever with a stick, she said the stick dippeared, it wasnt near the dog, she was dumbfounded, the stick had vanished, the was acting fine, but her intuition told her that stick should be close by, and it wasnt. she took her dog to the vet, they looked down the mouth and couldnt see anything, they thought she was crazy, she urged them do an xray, and there it was - a 10" long stick lodged down the dogs throat, it was so lucky it didnt tear anything and they had to cut he dogs throat to get it out.

 

Do you maintain a level of obedience in between these stages? Like, you ALWAYS ask for a command before Floob eats, goes outside, plays, etc? This might help a lot. Then when he hits a phase you can toughen up even more. But I have noticed with Nala that if I get lax, she will start to take advantage. So she ALWAYS has to sit before she eats and cannot eat until I release her. She sits to go outside (although I have been slacking off on that lately - BAD mom!). And I have become more motivated lately to start working with the dogs again. I find I get overwhelmed if I try too much at once, so I pick one thing and start teaching it. Once they seem to understand the concept, I work on it daily for just a couple of minutes once or twice a day. I think the tiny training sessions, even if it is just for some silly trick or something, helps remind them that obeying me has rewards.

Lately I have been working on agility stuff with Nala, but just think - if you teach Floob a new little trick every week or two, he can amaze and impress your friends!

Oh, and don't forget Floob is a border collie. He will probably always be getting into something or finding new ways to test you. Darn smart dogs...

 

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies.

About sticks... I ALWAYS said he wouldn't have them. I said all the time about the dangers and vowed never to let him play with them. Then I got desperate. He started being less and less interested in toys I'd take out to play with. It got to where he wouldn't bother to chase anything. Then he picked a stick up, and that was it. He never left my side, was totally hanging on my every move, just like he used to be with his toys. He got so much exercise and pleasure from them that it's just been a way of life for the last 2 months now. I always threw them so he'd never catch them, but this one time he landed on it as it bounced up. Needless to say, that's the end of sticks, but along with that goes the total control I had on him whilst we were out walking.

I do make him work for everything. He has to sit and wait to be released for everything, food, balls, treats, curbs at the road (he sits to cross every road without fail). Everyday I do basic training with him. Then we do games, either hiding (treats around the house while he's in a 'down/stay' then I release him to find them. Some days we do this one on the park or in the woods. I've taught him a few tricks and he does them first time, sometimes a little too eagerly if I have a real tasty treat :mrgreen: I always wait till he's done exactly what I've asked before praising him though.

I always have peices of chicken or pork in my pocket when we're out. He gets one every time he comes back to the 'Floob come' call. I always call it in a happy/silly/excitable/stern kind of way and he's never been punished for anything after it. I know at some point I have to start missing some to wean him off them. I just don't feel like he'd come back if he thought there wasn't a treat waiting. He's not stupid, if there's nothing in it for him then he won't do it.

I dunno. I'm just feeling like I'm failing at the moment I guess. And soo guilty that he's in pain from my stupidity, and I've taken away his favourite game so he's miserable.

 

Try not to feel guilty, I was trying to teach one of my dogs to chase a ball, sticks etc outside, he would just never play when he went out (a rescue) so there I was getting him all excited with a stick, I went to throw, he jumped and I hit him in the head with it...I felt sooo bad, needless to say he didnt want to play outside anymore.