I think my dog should "ride the short bus"

J

Jakeismydog2

Member
Do not get me wrong I love Oxford, and he is a very good puppy. He Potty trained very easy, kennel trained without much hassle, and is not over active in the house or at the office. All that said he seems dumb.:eek: I have had Ox since Thanksgiving (he is 19 weeks old). He spends the whole day with me everyday, goes to work with me. So we have plenty of time interacting, it is not like he is at home in the kennel all day and only gets 15 minutes of training a day.

I have been told and read that setters are slow to mature, I sure hope that is all it is, but man is it slow...
This week is the first week where I feel he is figuring out any of his commands. He is about 50% on kennel, and come. It is funny, I will give him a command and can watch him think about what to do for 4-5 seconds before he remembers what he is supposed to do. I could go on with all those kind of things but I am sure you get the picture.

Anyway, have any of you had really "slow" dogs? Or have any good stories about your "slow" dog?
 
It can be that they are a little slow picking up commands, or it can be that they are testing you. Just doing things when they feel like it.

Ox seemed like a pretty confident pup, and I didn't see anything to make me think he is "slow" at all. He is still a baby, and everything is about fun for him.
 
I had a Rottweiler who seemed like a complete dunce until she was two years old.Turned out to be the best bodyguard you could ever hope for.Some dogs are very slow to mature.Just have patience.
 
He's still a baby. Give him some time to be a baby. Plenty of time for training on the more "advanced" things when he is older. Right now I would just concentrate on the house broke, kennel broke and walking on a leash without pulling you along. A trick with the "here" command is when they are coming to you anyway start saying "here". It's a win for you and the pup doesn't even know he is being trained. :D Later you can start formally training the "here" command but I'd bet that 90 percent of it will be done by that time.


But, at 19 weeks he is just a baby. I'm sure you didn't get a dunce dog. :thumbsup:
 
I don't know what you do for a living, but I wish I could bring my puppy to work with me.:thumbsup:

Good luck with Ox.
 
Toad said:
I don't know what you do for a living, but I wish I could bring my puppy to work with me.:thumbsup:

Good luck with Ox.
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This was a factor in my leaving the corporate world.Dogs in a kennel for twelve hours,leaving and arriving in the dark.The hell with that.These days they go where I go.
 
Jakeismydog2 said:
Do not get me wrong I love Oxford, and he is a very good puppy. He Potty trained very easy, kennel trained without much hassle, and is not over active in the house or at the office. All that said he seems dumb.:eek: I have had Ox since Thanksgiving (he is 19 weeks old). He spends the whole day with me everyday, goes to work with me. So we have plenty of time interacting, it is not like he is at home in the kennel all day and only gets 15 minutes of training a day.

I have been told and read that setters are slow to mature, I sure hope that is all it is, but man is it slow...
This week is the first week where I feel he is figuring out any of his commands. He is about 50% on kennel, and come. It is funny, I will give him a command and can watch him think about what to do for 4-5 seconds before he remembers what he is supposed to do. I could go on with all those kind of things but I am sure you get the picture.

Anyway, have any of you had really "slow" dogs? Or have any good stories about your "slow" dog?
Click to expand...

I had the same thoughts with my setter. I was used to springers and just couldn't believe that this setter was going to turn out to be a good dog. He was so slow at learning anything.

It lasted until he was a little over a year. He is just about 2 now and my favorite dog I have. I love that little turd. Be patient.
 
Jakeismydog2...what you said has made me laugh so hard :) Hang in there Oxford is just in the puppy stages yet. I've noticed with my labs that most will have that "light bulb" click or go off when they are a year old. Then when they hit two it's like they're perfect. It's amazing to watch them grow. One day you could be asking if they're ever gonna get it and the next day they're great. Don't give up and call the "short bus" yet. He's just in his toddler and elementary years :)
 
LMAO...in 30 years of education, you have no idea how many times I have use the term "short bus".:D
 
I have had 5 setters over my life. Currently have three. All have been pretty solid pointing and pretty impressive bird dogs by 6months, except for two. My current 3 year old was very solid at 6 months and pheasant hunted him in SD. I currently have a 2 year old male that i considered untill recently to be a cull and a poor example of the breed. I mean to tell you it pained me to watch that dog work and stumble around like an idiot. Against better judgement i kept feeding that potlicker and he proved me wrong. His light switched on in a big way and has a better nose than any dog i have had. He still has a ways to go to catch up with the 3 year old....a long way, but i dont get mad anymore when i dump the feed in the bowl. lol
 
SetterNut said:
It can be that they are a little slow picking up commands, or it can be that they are testing you. Just doing things when they feel like it.
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My mutt (Jake, a Bassett hound/SharPei mix :eek:) is way to damn smart, by the time he was 19 weeks old the only thing he did not do was roll over when I asked him. He is a tester. He was a very honest dog until my wife and I moved overseas for 6 months and had to leave him with some friends. Now he will test me all the time and is a dishonest as they come. So I feel like I have a decent idea when a dog is acting that way. Ox does it some, but not much. I honestly think when I ask him to do something and it takes him 5 seconds I can see the wheels turning in his head. "What was I supposed to do?.... Oh yeah go to the kennel. Ok I will go now."
 
Toad said:
I don't know what you do for a living, but I wish I could bring my puppy to work with me.:thumbsup:

Good luck with Ox.
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I have been pretty lucky in my life. My first career out of college was on the golf course so I took my dog to work to chase off geese (Jake). Now in my second career I work for two friends of mine as a property manager. They love having him in the office.
 
jeffstally said:
I had the same thoughts with my setter. I was used to springers and just couldn't believe that this setter was going to turn out to be a good dog. He was so slow at learning anything.

It lasted until he was a little over a year. He is just about 2 now and my favorite dog I have. I love that little turd. Be patient.
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This is kind of what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for letting me know.

Btw when we named him Oxford it was so that we could call him Oxford if he was smart, or Ox if he was dumb. So at least I got my bases covered.
 
JMc said:
LMAO...in 30 years of education, you have no idea how many times I have use the term "short bus".:D
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The funny thing is I grew up riding the short bus. Those of us country kids rode the short bus to school. I remember in college the first time I heard someone talking about the short bus. I thought, that is a strange thing to say about country kids.... Then I learned.
 
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