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Puppy wont come!

19 10:30:23

Question
Capone & Rascal
Capone & Rascal  
QUESTION: Help!  My seven week old male boxer, Capone, seems to have little instinct to come to people.  He's friendly and likes to be in the same room with us and play.  I've even taught him to sit, laydown, and then sit-up again in only one week.  The problem is that he doesn't come when called.  Ever.  We make kissy noises, bend down, clap, raise the pitch of our voices, use treats.  He's just very unresponsive.  He just sits feet away and stares at us as if to say, "You can keep making a fool out of yourself; I'm never going to come."  What can I do?  Should I be concerned?  Is this normal for a seven week old boxer?  Is this going to complicate his trainging?  All dogs I've ever had have had a strong intinct to come to people no matter what.  I've never had a boxer though.  Thank you so much!

ANSWER: Hi, Promise. I wonder if maybe he did not have a lot of positive human contact at his breeder's. Most puppies are thrilled to follow you around, be underfoot, and so forth. When did you actually >>get<< him? If you were allowed to bring him home when he was just 6 weeks of age,  SHAME on his breeder! He should not have been taken from his brothers and sisters until at least 7, preferably 8 or 9, weeks of age. It is during this time that puppies learn proper social interaction skills from one another, and responsible breeders will not send puppies home so young. Sure, they may be weaned, but they are not ready, mentally, to leave the nest.

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about teaching him to come when called just yet. He needs some time to bond with you and feel comfortable being with you first. At his age, you aren't going to have him out where coming when called will be an issue, anyway, so for a while, I would just play with him and love on him, and don't focus so much on teaching him anything until he's happy to be with you!


PS - is that a Maine Coon kitty in the picture? I volunteer for Maine Coon Rescue (http://www.mainecoonrescue.net), and I just love MC's! They're so full of personality! More like a dog than a cat

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: First, thank you so much for your response!  It was very helpful and set my mind at ease.  However, now I'm very concerned about Capone's development because we actually brought him home at 5 and half weeks.  What can I do to make sure that his development isn't stunted any further?  I let him spend lots of time with our other dogs and our cats.  He loves them all.  (He loves people too.  He always wants to curl up in our laps when he gets tired.   He's just not the type to follow you around or be under your feet.)


The breeder and her family spent alot of time with the puppies but wouldn't let us or other people who came to the house handle them until they got their first shots.  So I'm not really sure about how much positive human contact he recieved.  


Also, I was worried that it was something about him as an individual because when we went to pick him out, I chose him because he seemed to be the most calm of the litter.  The other puppies were jumping all over each other to get to us and barking and whining.  He was just chilling, sitting back, and taking everything in.  There's nothing wrong with him is there?


I'm not sure if Rascal is an MC but I have my suspicions.  As a kitten, he just showed up on our doorstep and never left so we had him neutered and got his shots.  He's still a kitten and is twice as big as our largest adult cat.  He has "pantaloons" on his back paws, tufts of hair between his toes and on his ears, a lion mane, very high-pitched mews, trills when he's happy, and he fetches balls.  He and Capone are best friends.  They play incessantly!  Rascal has such a great personality.  If he is indeed an MC, I can see why you love them so much!  

Answer
Generally, I caution people not to fall for the shy, reserved puppy when they go to pick out a puppy from a litter. Often, there IS something 'wrong' with that puppy and it may have behavioral problems later on in regards to interaction and relations with other dogs and/or people. However, I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with >>your<< puppy simply because he's not very outgoing. I could never make that judgment over the internet!

Again, my advice to you is not to worry so much about him coming when called or whatever, right now. He's still very much a baby. His personality may open up later; I rescued a Lab puppy a little over a year ago that had been dumped (with two of her siblings) on the side of the Interstate (!!!). She was about 4 months old when I found her (still had all of her baby teeth), and I kept her for about a month and a half before placing her out - with my in-laws. They wanted her housetrained and some basic obedience before they took her, so that's what I did. She was a happy puppy when she was with me, and if I had kept her, I wanted to teach her to do drug detection work, but she never really came out of her shell until after I placed her with my in-laws. Now she is a retrieving fiend and gets absolutely stupid silly around new people. Before, she was a bit reserved and looked at you like, 'what's that?' if you tried to get her to play with a toy. It could simply be that your boy is going to be a 'late bloomer,' too.

For now, do not call him or ask him to come to you, because he isn't going to, and you never want to call a dog if you are not certain he is going to listen. Every time a dog gets away with ignoring a command, that command becomes less and less effective. For now, only call him after he's started coming towards you himself, and praise praise praise in a happy voice as he is coming towards you and when he reaches you. Make coming to you the most exciting, happy thing he could ever do.

And let him be a puppy!