Selective Hearing

[splatty]

hi anyone got any ideas, i have a 16month old jrtxwestie, he is a lovely little dog, has the waggiest tail, loves everybody and everything and thats the problem. At home and whilst he is on the lead he is very obedient, but off the lead he then only hears what he wants to hear, we have tried all sorts but he just goes off and if he sees another dog or person he just has to go and say hello with no thoughts to us, am sure he wouldnt care if we disappeared even when we walked him with our friends girl spaniel who he adores he still buggered off and left her to go and talk to some other doggies. I might be answering myself here do you think it would help if we had him castrated, we are planning too but been so busy this summer we havnt got round to it yet.

 

[filly190]

I seem to remember a similar posters problem and I think the advise they were given was to keep the dog on a long line until recalls were second nature. It is so very difficult when they sling a deaf one and frustrating, hopefully folks will come up with some answers for you. Good luck

 

[CAYLA]

I have a few boarders in with this selective hearing problem too....

U definatley need to work on his re-call and restrict his off lead exercise to somewhere secluded where there is no other doggy distractions.
Neutering certainly wont harm the training process, esp if it hormone related, and he is reaching sexual maturity.....I think he is finding....well...everything else more interesting than u

U could try the long leash as suggested....allow him to wonder to the end and call him back in your most delightfull voice

, if he blanks u walk in another direction and slowly shorten the line until he ends up back with u anyway

and have a very juicy treat and praise ready for him when he comes to u...use a command>>>i.e his name and COME...at first just praise and treat and let him wonder back off to th end of the line.....after a few sessions try to in corporate a SIT.
You could also try introducing a clicker....so u can click and treat....allowing him to assosiate the click with the treat.
Try the same exercise when u are in the house/garden....just a few 10 minute sessions at at time....and use a delicious treat that he would never normally get...i.e chicken, bit of cheese.
Try not to let him off in distracting areas for his free exercise during your training..esp until u see some results.....or it will be back to square one.

I would also think about enrolling him in training classes so he can get used to responding to commands in a doggi distracting environment.

 

[suzyseymour]

I have a jack russel with selective hearing as well, we got him from a rescue at 6 months, picked up as a stray and he was very poorly for the first couple of months or so, so he missed out on the important age for training.

I kept him on a long lead until he was more relaible and started letting him off at the end of a walk when he was more tired so less likely to bog off, and he goes to training sessions ever week which we both enjoy. He does have his moments still, but he is much better. He must have a very strange deafness, because it always seems to clear up with tinned hot dog sausages!!

 

[fmay]

At one point we thought that our border terrier was deaf until we realised that she only pricked her ears for the word 'biscuit'

 

[celia]

My guy was exactly the same as this when he was younger. He was fabulous on his own but as soon as there was another dog or an interesting smell about he would completely ignore you no matter what you tried. I don't think it was naughtiness as such, he was just finding everything really exciting and interesting! Thankfully as he's grown older and matured he seems to have grown out of this! He's now three and much better behaved - he now comes when called about 95% of the time although he's still distracted on occasion! (Rabbits being the main problem here!) Hopefully your dog is just going through a similar stage. We used to just be careful about where we let him off and would always have a treat available for when he did come when called. We also did loads of practice with him in quiet places which seemed to help. Otherwise, as suggested using a long lead which you can then reel him in with may help! Unfortunately my lad was far too smart for this and was beautifully behaved on the lead but once 'free' would be off again as soon as he spotted something interesting. Hope this has been some help and good luck with whatever you try!