My aussie puppy is a great listener and learner but she wont listen to anyone els but me? help!?

Question

I have a 13 week old Australian shepherd puppy. She already knows the commands, wait, stay, come, sit, down, drop and bring it back. She's a great little girl and will what ever i tell her when i tell her. but here is the problem. she wont listen to anyone els other than me and it's frusterating. I've tried having other people or family members to work with her daily but she wont do it, and it's getting on my nerves. what can i do?

btw i'm taking her in to the vet tommorrow to get her next set of shots etc. could i ask my vet, would she know what to do?

Answer 1

That's a common thing with herding dogs.  They pick one person they know as the Boss.

The rest of the family will all have to take turns working with her.  You will have to take a step back.  Luckily she is still young and will eventually figure it out.

Answer 2

You can start by having the other people in the same room when you train. That way she won't have to deal with them being new to the training environment, as well as having to learn to respond to them. Dogs are very context dependent (which is why it's also important to train in different rooms, different outdoor areas, etc.). After a few days of having them present, start having them give her one cue she knows very well (one of her best/easiest things). Then slowly add in one or two more cues by that same person. When she is doing that well, start over with a new person. It should go faster with a new person because she has transferred some of that learning to one other person already.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:

I should have specified that one person at a time should be present when you are training her so she isn't overwhelmed by a whole 'audience'.

Answer 3

She can't generalize. It's a common problem with dogs. Start by having someone else give her simple commands that she already knows and have them reward her with something yummy such as hotdogs. She'll get better with some extra training and practice.