How obedient is your dog

[lelepond]

I have a highly intelligent GSD who will respond to approximately 70% of all commands. This percentage increases to 100% if I have a treat in my hand (if he's about to get a new toy he will complete the command before I've even finished giving it). I was just curious how obedient your dogs are. We are working on this, luckily he's very sweet natured but obviously we don't want to take any risks.

[missbattenburg]

This percentage increases to 100% if I have a treat in my hand

Set up scenarios where he never knows if you have a treat or not - then gets lots of nice surprise when he does the behaviour and gets a pleasant surprise treat!

That should dissuade him only working when he can see the food...

[shapeshifter88]

mine has to be able to see the treat ..so he knows I'm not fibbing .
generally he is around 80% but has periods where this goes to 0 and hes just having a naughty day.

[Thebluedog]

Mine are utterly crap... will sit for a treat and are house trained . That’s about it really

[Winchester89]

What kind of commands are we talking?
Our dog will sit for a treat, or if he thinks you have food or something. Probs only doesn't it 50% if he knows for sure there's nothing in it for him. However, if you tell him no, he listens. Eg. if one of the kids drops something on the floor and he moves for it, if we give a firm no, he will stop every time, even if its food.

[Hoppinggreen]

About 95% ( eager to please GR)
If there is another dog or a person he likes the look of it’s about 50/50, used to be zero though so it’s progress and at least he will come back now after he’s checked out the interesting dog/person

[FairfaxAikman]

99% - she occasionally has to be asked twice. She's only like that with me though - it drops to about 85% for anyone else.

[TheFaerieQueene]

Mine is pretty good. We live in the country and walk twice a day in the woods, off lead for the most part. She is older now and doesn’t like to be too far from me. If I call out treat she is by my side in a flash. When she was younger she wasn’t so reliable but we worked on it. Luckily we hardly ever see anyone on our walks except friends with their dogs!

[adaline]

Mine is 100% when there's food around. Without food? Eh, 50% at best, but he's a beagle and has very selective hearing!

There has to be something in it for him - if you ask him to do something without a treat, you can see him trying to figure out whether it's worth it or not.

[Aprilshowersnowastorm]

We have 4ddogs. All have different % of attitude!!
I would say 3 are well behaved about 90% of the time - excluding the time dhusky ate the lino.
And the other ddog about 80% of the time - excluding ddog who has taken a liking to tuna /mayo wraps ds leaves on the table.
Overall about equal to the younger 4 dc's behaviour!

[SleightOfMind]

Mine are good with recall (ex-racers so important), leaving things, sit, wait and paw.

They’re both rubbish at not jumping on me, DH or DS1 when we first come in the house.

Sleighthound2 sometimes bounces up noisily to dogs she thinks are playful and scares their owners.
She also rolls in foxshit.
barks at people who come to the house and gets into the DCs beds with them whenever she can.
She is only 2yrs old though and had a horrible start to life. I think we’ve gone a bit soft with her

[BiteyShark]

Mine will do anything, totally 100% if I have a ball in my hand which he thinks I might throw.

He is around 80% for treats, depending on what other distractions we have.

I see it as all a work in progress and probably will be for the rest of his life.

[missbattenburg]

In answer to your question , Battendog will reliably do his known commands 95% of the time (100% if I ask twice) if there are no distractions - the reward for doing it varies between play, toys, treats and enthusiastic praise. He is less food motivated so I get the sharpest response when he thinks a new toy (or dirty sock) might be on offer.

If there are distractions (other playful dogs, hares etc) then his % goes down to 50% or less. Slowly working in more distracting environments is where our focus currently is.

[Feellikeimthemaid]

I have a Golden Retriever. We took her to obedience classes from the time she was allowed out after her jabs and she went on to pass her Good Citizen Award at bronze level. She's very good off lead at the park and she'll respond to commands well. It's good to socialise your puppy with other dogs from a young age and I would recommend that people teach their dog the very basics - sit, stay, walk to heel, no - if they're going to have a happy relationship.

[lelepond]

Feellikeimthemaid

I don't wish to be rude but I find that post quite patronising. We have done everything you've mentioned (and then some). My dog has been very well socialised and was top of the class at puppy classes. He also gets complimented regularly for his impeccable manners- he often gets barked/lunged at and does not respond at all. The cheeky bugger just has a stubborn streak which we need to work on.

[missbattenburg]

I would recommend that people teach their dog the very basics - sit, stay, walk to heel, no - if they're going to have a happy relationship.

I once had a very insightful conversation with a canine behaviour lecturer and someone who had competed at a pretty high level in a number of the obedience type of competition. She was asking who felt 'loose lead walking' was important, cue lots of people raising their hands. She did not raise her hand.

Why not, she explained... she lived on a large open farm and so her dogs very rarely needed to walk outside her own land. She was confident enough she COULD teach it if it was ever needed but had not bothered because she never needed it.

Her point being, you teach what you need for you, your dog and anyone else you come into contact with to live a safe and happy life.

For many that does mean "sit", "stay" etc. But it is worth considering what it is you really want rather than just following suit.

For example, I have never bothered teaching battendog 'No'. I think it is a vague and pointless command that is unlikely to mean much to him. If you find it useful then more power to you. It's just not for me.

There was a bit of a debate on another thread about someone who never taught "leave" because they fundamentally didn't like the command and preferred to use a different method to interrupt a dog who might be able to eat something nasty.

[SleightOfMind]

For balance, dear departed Sleighthounds 1 & 2 had good recall - when no other dogs were playing chase games and there were no squirrels, or any leaves in the distance that inadvertently fluttered like a squirrel, or someone said something that sounded like, ‘squirrel’ etc.

DDSleighthound 2 was incapable of leaving unattended foodstuffs.

He would also ignore any command to try and wedge all 45Kgs of him onto the lap of anyone he decided he liked.

I always give treats randomly for commands so they get the slot machine effect.

[Fatjilly]

My old boy will do literally anything that’s asked of him at home. Once outside I cease to exist. I could be wearing Lady Gagas infamous meat dress and the little git would still bugger off, returning only when he feels like it! Still love him though

[NotUmbongoUnchained]

Ours is 100%. With an eye roll.

[Daytimetvsucks]

One of my dogs is incredibly well behaved, he is 4 and pretty easy to teach. The other is just turned 1. He is....a challenge. He is half pug half beagle (a private rescue before anyone flames me!) and while he does seem to want to please he just mainly wants to please himself. I dare not let him off the leash as he will only come back if there is no other dogs etc in sight to play with. He is a lovely dog just a little bit of a bull in a china shop! I'm hoping we can slowly improve his recall. I am yet to find a treat that he is more interested in than other dogs or people 🙈

[ifoundthebread]

My dog varies, if he has his 3 walks a day he is one of the best behaved dogs I have ever encountered. I taught him all sorts of 'tricks / commands' when I was pregnant as I had a lot of spare time on my hands, he can close doors, speak, roll over - all rather pointless 😂 about 95% of the time will do everything when asked once. If he goes a day with less than his 3 walks he sort of takes a fuck you attitude and that drops to about 80% for a day 😂

[Squirrel26]

If I've got his attention? Pretty much 100%. If he doesn't understand what I'm asking him he'll run through all the tricks he knows. Getting his attention is a work in process. I once left him in a (securely fenced) park and drove away round the corner. He didn't notice.

[Whereisthecoffee]

Mine are both rescues so not been trained by me since puppies , they do really well in the house following commands. The boxer is still working on not jumping when we get in though she just ignores me at the moment. Outside is a work in progress.