Its A Silly Question But Is 4 Tricks Alright??

Chevy is 5months old and shes a joy to have and be around and a breeze to train but my grandpa (old time military man) he dont like me anyways but he said she should be smarter at 5months old.. She mostly potty trained shes a dream towalk on a lead and she knows how to

Sit

Lie Down

Stay

Crawl

i mean is she really learning slow??

Absolutely not! You teach her as much as you want to & as much as Chevy wants to learn. The whole idea of training different actions is for safety, to ensure that Chevy knows what she is & isn't allowed to do & most importantly to be fun, enjoyable & provide mental stimulation. If Chevy seems bored, destructive or has other issues that can be solved by training, then perhaps you could do some more. But if Chevy is enjoying life, has plenty of physical & mental stimulation appropriate to her age & physical state, then there's no reason that you have to train anymore.

Next time your grumpy granpa says that Chevy should be smarter, just tell him she is smart, smart enough that she's learnt to ignore the grumpy old man already

Some`people have dogs years and never teach them that much
and you are learning how to teach her and she is learning to learn. if you want to teach more tricks you will find over time she will pick them up faster as she gets more confident

Some tricks take longer than others, a good recal you are working on for life
Ben took 6 months to learn to give a paw - Mia one attempt
But Ben learnt to weave tru my legs in a couple of tries and Mia still hasnt got there yet

thats what ive tried telling the grumoy old man. but see his parents never allowed him to have a dog either when growing up.. but chevy she gets all excited when it comesto training time she absoloutly loves it


thats what im gonna have to tell him


so it is normal for some dogs to take longer to learn other tricks??

Yes, quite normal & it depends on lots of factors. If you think about it, children all learn at different rates too; some are really quick at maths, some have a good vocabulary at an early age, some are really good at practical things & using their hand & others excel at sports. It's no different for dogs.

It can depend a lot on their biological preparedness, i.e. the genetic, inherited predisposition to perform certain behaviours. So some dogs will have a high prey drive, some dogs will learn stalking & herding behaviours very quickly, others easily learn retrieving behaviours. Some just love to lie in the sun on the front porch for hours.

It can also depend on early learning experiences from litter mates, mother, the people that they come into contact with early on.

It can also depend on HOW we teach them ~ some dogs cotton on really quickly to clicker training, others need more help to learn, others may have a mental block about learning some things because of the other factors.

It's just up to us to have the time & patience to try ~ if one way isn't working, perhaps go back to basics & teach them another way, or maybe break down the final wanted behaviour into very small increments so that they can cope & learn at a pace they can cope with.

There's no one answer ~ what works for one dog, may not work for another dog.

My 10 month old doesn't know any 'tricks', just all the 'day to to day' commands; sit, down, stand, come, leave it, on your bed, off, etc., and some retrieving commands. I'd rather solidify these commands first before working on any tricks (which depending on how complex they are can be confusing for a young dog very lacking in focus!).