Dogs Turning Into Deaf Distractable La-la's At 9 Months

[tez]

Both my dogs have been ok to train until they hit the 9 month old mark. With Jane, it was like the switch turned off and did'nt get turned on again until she was about 11 months old. In those 2 months she turned into a deaf dog who was highly distracted by anything except the trainor that was at the end of her leash. During this time, I seriously wondered why we were even going to training (except for the socialisation) and it was quite dishartening to watch all the other dogs move forwards while Jane stagnated and even went backwards. Then one day a few months later, WHAM! The lights came back on and she was tuned in completely and its been fun and progressive ever since!

Now Gus has turned the magic age of 9 months and he seems to have switched off as well! I'm assuming that it might be a few months before we see the light at the end of the tunnel with him.

Just wondering if others have noticed this in their dogs and if so, do you persist with the training during this brain-freeze time or do you give it a rest for a while? Are there other tactics you use that work better while your dogs brain matured?

My plan is to persist with training with Gus but not to beat myself up about his lack of progress...at least not for a few months

anyway!

ETA spelling is not my friend!

Edited November 14, 2010 by tez

[bullyfan]

Ohhh thank goodness I'm not the only one!! I still train mine through this but don't push too much and TRY not to get too frustrated. (I worry that they will forget everything or turn into obnoxious adults!)

[whiskedaway]

Akira is almost nine months old and I've noticed her switching off at obedience too. Luckily next Sunday (the day she is actually nine months old) is our last day of training for the year until February next year, so hopefully we'll miss those two months you're talking about.

[Kelpie Kisses]

It's called being a teenager.....and like human teenagers, most of them will grow up eventually !!!!

[tez]

Oh...thanks for the reminder, Whiskedaway! We finish up training in early December so hopefully not too many embarressing training sessions until he turns normal!

ARGH! Today he was all over the place and was leading with his neck most of the time while his head tried to turn left, right, up, down and backwards but never never straight ahead! He was one of the taller ones there today too so it was hard to melt into the background! He didn't even know his own name today and when I gave him a gentle nudge with my knee in a vain attempt to get his attention, he'd spin around in the OTHER wrong direction with confused look on his happy little face!

[wuffles]

With my girl, I found that at around 9 months she actually grew a brain. That doesn't mean she became easier to train, it meant that I had to step up my game and make things more fun and exciting for her, or she was going to make her own fun Some people recommended that I back off training at this time which I would have been willing to do if she didn't need the stimulation (she is a working breed). I found that she learned things very quickly around this age so I introduced a lot of new commands and games rather than trying to finesse old ones.

She's now 11.5 months and is a delight

[Primedogs]

Looks like my dog is a little slow, He wasn't great after puppy class but enough to move foward and pass classes, it started to go fast down hill at 13 months when he had his brain freeze/feral spats. During training mostly after a feral spat I just wanted to go home and forget about training, but I stayed and we failed the class but I tried again the next term and while his feral spats reduced he introduced crazy ones but overall his brain was more focused then the previous term and we stole a pass. If he hadn't had passed that class I might have given him a term/christmas holiday break and tried again next year but as he did we moved on and now this term at 18 months he really has his brain back. So I persisted through the troubled time more so that I could learn so that I could work at home where he was more focused

[huski]

In those situations I'd take a few steps back and go back to basics. A full obedience class can ask a lot of dogs even experienced well trained ones, I would never work my dog for the length most obedience classes go, and she's got pretty good focus. Ask him for simpler things and smaller bursts of focus. Relax things and make it more of a game. Set him up to win even if it means you only ask for a few seconds of focus.

[tez]

Sound advice guys, Thanks!

I know when Jane finally came good it was so sudden! Weeks and weeks of me smacking myself around the head and then all of a sudden she was so 'turned on' I had to check her name tag to make sure someone had'nt swapped dogs with me! The best thing was that it was great to feel her connection with me all of a sudden. I went from being that annoying thing on the other end of her lead to her team-mate! I was so relieved to have her 'mentally' back that I was on a high for the rest of the week!

[Niques]

James turned off at 8 months. We were literally going backwards in obedience classes - achieving absolutely nothing and, I suspect, even cementing some of his brattiness. We've decided to ditch formal training until the New Year, at least.

Fingers crossed he does actually turn back on at some point He's 10 1/2 months now and there have been recent moments of clarity where he's attentive and actually quite eager to please - very reassuring!

In regards to the more "formal" aspects of obedience, we've been doing a lot more practice on our own, out and about, just to keep his mind going.

[tlc]

In those situations I'd take a few steps back and go back to basics. A full obedience class can ask a lot of dogs even experienced well trained ones, I would never work my dog for the length most obedience classes go, and she's got pretty good focus. Ask him for simpler things and smaller bursts of focus. Relax things and make it more of a game. Set him up to win even if it means you only ask for a few seconds of focus.

Hey Tez, Huski makes a really good point here, has it just been today you noticed it or has he been a bit switched off for a little while? I did think todays class was a little over the top especially towards the end and all that circle stuff that we did, even Lacy was dragging the chain by the end of it, it was pretty full on. Hey I was a bit weary by the end of it too.

I found with my lot that about the 10 months stage was when they hit their rebelious stage, Lacy was the only one who didn't really go through it, and Bron is still going through it, DOn't think he will ever change though!!

Another thing I found too is with having 4 they are all different with training, ideally I would love all of them to be as focused as Lacy but they just aren't and I am willing to let them go at thier own pace, I love to do it for fun more than anything else. I used to push them a lot harder when they were younger but now I just go with the flow. Definatley must do some work with Bron next week!!

I reckon Gus is more of a smoocher than an obedience man!!

[tez]

Tlc...You're right about Gus, he does enjoy a cuddle more than anything else in the world! Sweet little man that he is but at 27kg and still growing, he does need to have some training He's never going to match Jane in Obedience mostly because he dosen't have the drive she does (which is great as I would go insane with 2 Janes!). He is a very relaxed lugger-head of a pup but I'm sure he has some hidden talents in the brain department we will see as he matures.

Unlike Jane who was very rebellious, Gus was more scatter-brained and distracted today. He did do an excellent recall though

BTW...you guys did a great job today...thanks!

[tez]

James turned off at 8 months. We were literally going backwards in obedience classes - achieving absolutely nothing and, I suspect, even cementing some of his brattiness. We've decided to ditch formal training until the New Year, at least.

Fingers crossed he does actually turn back on at some point He's 10 1/2 months now and there have been recent moments of clarity where he's attentive and actually quite eager to please - very reassuring!

In regards to the more "formal" aspects of obedience, we've been doing a lot more practice on our own, out and about, just to keep his mind going.

Oh Niques, This happened with Jane (Black lab x ) and its quite soul destroying isn't it! I'm sure James will turn around. With Jane, because she was a very smart girl but really really bratty, I switched to shaping with clicker training and she loved it! Really got her mind working!

[Elsha_UK_AU]

Porthos is switched off and D'Artagnan probably wasn't switched on to begin with He's a lovely Dog but there's not much happening upstairs... I love him dearly!

[tez]

Porthos is switched off and D'Artagnan probably wasn't switched on to begin with He's a lovely Dog but there's not much happening upstairs... I love him dearly! :D

I reckon smart dogs are harder to live with then er....um...not so smart dogs!