Forgotten everything

[Ben Curtis]

So this is a new one for me. My daughter and I usually train Enzo each about 3 times a day for about 5 to 10 minutes each. He has been learning everything so fast. We both vary the order we do things. He had mastered sit, down, play dead, shake, around, back, and both heel and stay were advancing quite well. All commands learned by voice or hand signal.
Last night he lost his mind. We'd say sit and he'd immediately lay down and then play dead. Stay would have very much the same result. It was like he was trying to predict what we wanted him to do next, but like I said we always vary our order of things.
I'm hoping he was just having a bad night. Our plan is to step back, take a few days off training, and try and start back from the basics.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? How would you handle it? Literally yesterday the breeder and I were talking about possible obedience competitions because he was doing so well. Now I'm hoping to be able to teach him sit again.

Ben

 

[Zeela]

So this is a new one for me. My daughter and I usually train Enzo each about 3 times a day for about 5 to 10 minutes each. He has been learning everything so fast. We both vary the order we do things. He had mastered sit, down, play dead, shake, around, back, and both heel and stay were advancing quite well. All commands learned by voice or hand signal.
Last night he lost his mind. We'd say sit and he'd immediately lay down and then play dead. Stay would have very much the same result. It was like he was trying to predict what we wanted him to do next, but like I said we always vary our order of things.
I'm hoping he was just having a bad night. Our plan is to step back, take a few days off training, and try and start back from the basics.
Have any of you experienced anything like this? How would you handle it? Literally yesterday the breeder and I were talking about possible obedience competitions because he was doing so well. Now I'm hoping to be able to teach him sit again.

Ben

no, i have not had this experience, however, maybe he is just a little overloaded & it is confusing him. try to focus on one command at a time & then the next & then we he has that perfected introduce another. Just my opinion....

 

[Boxergirl]

This can be very common with clicker trained dogs. One positive is that it means your dog is confident that doing the wrong thing isn't going to get him in trouble. Dogs trained with punishment often don't offer behaviors. See if anything in this article helps.

https://clickertraining.com/node/61

 

[Boxergirl]

Maybe something here too.
https://www.clickertraining.com/node/2077

 

[Nik]

I have had this happen... usually it is when the dogs are hungry (right before meal time) and they want the reward (their meal) so badly that they just stop listening and their brains turn off. It is like they rush to do different tricks just to get to the reward. I switched to doing only a couple of very simple tricks right before mealtimes since their brain isn't working great at that time of day. I save the complicated tricks for treats between meals. That seems to work.

 

[Ben Curtis]

I have had this happen... usually it is when the dogs are hungry (right before meal time) and they want the reward (their meal) so badly that they just stop listening and their brains turn off. It is like they rush to do different tricks just to get to the reward. I switched to doing only a couple of very simple tricks right before mealtimes since their brain isn't working great at that time of day. I save the complicated tricks for treats between meals. That seems to work.

Nikki,
You might be on to something. I've tried to get him to sit when I put out his food, and he also goes a bit wacky then too.

 

[Ben Curtis]

no, i have not had this experience, however, maybe he is just a little overloaded & it is confusing him. try to focus on one command at a time & then the next & then we he has that perfected introduce another. Just my opinion....

Zeela,
I would say he has all of them perfected. Stay and Heel are the only ones we are building on. I do agree he might be a little overloaded, but last night he wanted to please very much. It was more like we were just speaking two different languages all of a sudden.

 

[DennasMom]

Brain farts are real.

I agree with Nik - probably hungry and his brain switched off. It happens here occasionally, too... canines and humans.
At least he wasn't hangry!

 

[Jarena]

Lettie also does this with a treat that is too high value. Or if it’s something she wants to do really badly, like go on a walk. Similar to what Nik said about meal times. She just wants it so badly that she stops listening and starts guessing!

 

[Ben Curtis]

We took two days off from training all together. That seemed to do the trick. I had a brief conversation with my breeder and she said "puppy brains" laughed, and said it happens. At the end of the day I think that is the best explanation. A bit too much training. A bit to many commands. A bit too much wanting to please, all came together to cause this. Enzo just needed to re-boot. It's been good to go back to the basics. It's helped, and he's back to being the absolute star of his obedience class.