SWOSUMike

I'm no genious but I've been training a hunting dog now for a while...he is 8 months old. I didn't put a collar on him until he was about 6 or 7 months old. They are just babies before this, and though they may know some commands, you can't expect perfection. I only used the collar for the "come" command becuase he obeyed everything else...sharp as a tack. So I made sure he knew what come meant by using treats and enforcing every command with a check cord. That way I knew when he disobeyed at 6 or 7 months old that he was deliberately disobeying and not simply uneducated. Then I borrowed a collar and showed him what disobeying meant. Now when he came he got nice pieces of fried bacon! He came on a dime. I gave the collar back and just recently at 8 months old he is drifting back, so I need to borrow the collar again. In the mean time, I shouldn't tell him to come unless I can immediately reinforce it with a lead or check cord. That way he doesn't get the chance to disobey until I can get the collar back on him for a reinforcement lesson. I think one or two more sessions and perhaps another correction a few months down the road should put the lesson in him pretty good. Good luck to you on training your dog. Just be patient with it and you'll love it. I heard a good tip a while back: Don't be too stern in handling your dog becuase then when you really need to be stern, you'll have to be that much more rough on the pup. Make them love you and win that pup's heart. Then correction will come easier because it won't be used to being scolded.