I retract my last statement. I am miserable. We tried a walk and you would have thought I was reeling in Marlin.
Sorry to hear that your last walk wasn't very good. What was Zeus going that you felt that you were feeling him in? What training method are you using to encourage loose lead/heel walking. Zeus is still very young at 4 months old with a lot of training and learning ahead of him and you. It takes time, patience and a lot of treats to achieve a nice walk and many of us struggle with dogs a lot older than 4 months.
We have been stuck in the house for nearly 2 weeks. Our mojo was way off. Usually I just stop, stand and wait for him to calm down. He has never been a puller. My husband walked him today, there were a lot of people out today and Zeus did ok but much more vocal. There is a huge white dog that lives in the front of the neighborhood. We call him the white wolf. He makes me a bit nervous because he is huge and unsupervised. Zeus saw him for the first time today. M husband changed routes to avoid a meeting. Husband said we need to get back to a routine. The holidays and cold weather has changed it up. We got up at the same time. Zeus got the kids up (I'm in the room). There has been a lot of sitting and not as much activity as we should have.
Reduced exercise, for whatever reason, will normally produce more energetic/excited/vocal/pulling dog - just any one or combination . Zeus will also pick up if you're anxious about a person or dog which will also impact his behaviour. Hopefully when you get back into a routine walks will improve again, you're using a good strategy when he pulls so consistency is important.
I agree; you need to get back into a routine of walks, and if possible stay calm and chilled about other dogs! Can you drive him somewhere safe and let him have a run around to burn off some energy, and THEN take him for an on-lead walk? That usually works better, in my experience.
Yes. Our city just finished a great dog park. The white wolf was in the driveway yesterday. Today he was outside when the kids got off the bus. http://imgur.com/zkC8oZ0
Ooh he does look a big dog! Are his owners anywhere around? Is it ok where you live to let your dog run around unsupervised?
Not ok to just let them roam. I have good news. The white wolf has been corralled. http://imgur.com/LxewrAC Zeus and the family are doing better. We are walking again and he has evened out a lot. I am so relieved. Thanks for the input.
My goodness, is that huge fence to keep him in the yard? He must. Be quite an escape artist Well done for getting back on track with Zeus.
My pup has done 75% of these things, and it's so great to know that these things WILL get better. I always hate the dreaded "he's just a puppy, he'll grow out of it" response people provide when venting about how crazy a labradoodle puppy is. But this post was more than that--you provided personal examples that I could relate to! Our sweet boy Walter loves grabbing the toilet paper roll and running through the house until it runs out. This has stopped by simply never letting him in the bathroom until it's bath time (which he loves). He definitely will grab everything in sight he knows he definitely isn't supposed to. He now is tall enough to grab things on the counters and stands up awaiting us to give the "off" command to see if we are paying attention to him. He used to bite very hard and often, but now he only bites if he's on the bed with us and just to have something to gnaw on. The number one issue we've had since he was six-weeks-old was that he humps our legs forcefully after he's done going #2 or playing really hard. He's getting fixed in just a few days and we're hoping this comes to an end eventually. Has anyone ever had any trouble with a puppy humping so much? All that we do to curb it is to not make eye contact but firmly press on his chest and say "off" or "no."
Lovely to read through these posts, I could spend all day soaking up all the fantastic stories and useful information! The funniest thing I think Nala (6 months) does is try to help me load the dishwasher, she just keeps trying to get in there and lick the plates! She also tries to steal stuff from the side, pulls on the lead massively when we see another dog/person and jumps up at strangers with muddy wet paws, hoping to get 4 paws on the floor asap!
Always nice to know that your dog is totally normal (and maybe even better behaved than most!!) With the humping....that's just an excitement thing. You are doing the right thing to try to stop it...try to move away rather than pushing at him (as some pups can find pushing really exciting and it can actually be a reward). Be consistent and you should find that he gives up doing it to you in time.
My puppy has been doing the same thing to us. Our trainer says to keep a leash on him and pull him down with that but of course he chews the leash so I'm haven't been using it I find of I out Shelby in his kennel when he starts that it calms him down and he normally doesn't do it again afterwords
I don't think that is very useful - you are much better re-directing his activity (I am torn on the use of a "humping toy/pillow ), but you are quite right popping him into a kennel or crate as often this is yet another over-excitement thing and a short time out is a good idea.
That is so great! I hope I will be luck with mine too! He tries to hump everybody and everything(toys, couch, pillows, carpets, shoes..). He made a few holes in the walls, tries to eat floors, the couch, he learned how to open drawers in the kitchen (I didn't teach him), he learned how to open the closet to steel my shoes! If I talk on the phone he bites me pretty hard! I have bruises all over the inside of my legs and arms! He walks OK on the leash as long as he doesn't see a bird, or a fly, or a bee, or a sqirl, or anything red! I can't have anything red in the living room because he will destroy it! We can't watch soccer on the TV if he is not crated because he lunges at the TV to try to catch the ball! So yes I am really looking for the next year! He is just 6 months old!
I am very glad I found this post! I'm completely new to all this, Bella is 8 weeks old and I've had her a week now. She is my first dog and I live on my own so it has all been very overwhelming. Luckily I have a great support group with friends and family. It is such hard work and completely exhausting. When you speak to people with these grown up, trained dogs they make it all sound so easy which makes me feel like I'm a complete failure and doing it all wrong! Bella has still got another 3 weeks before she has had all her vaccinations so we are confined to training in the garden. The problem I'm having is that she feels so safe in the garden that it can be difficult to get her to concentrate. My garden isn't massive. She also won't stop eating the bits of bark at the base of my tree but if I take them away she will have a lovely patch of mud and soil to dig. Any ideas? Would really value any advice.
It is overwhelming! It does get better, honestly. Just build up the training very slowly. Start with a sit for a second in the house with less distractions and extend that. Then gradually build up to the garden! Have food with you and encourage her to trot after you in the garden and come to you for treats! This is the basis of recalling her. You can then start calling her to you for a treat. If you supervise her in the garden to start with you can swap a treat for the bark, which is the start of training drop it. Also in the house have a handful of treats in your hand by her nose, close your hand the minute she goes for the treats and say 'leave it'. As soon as she backs off give her a treat. Eventually you will be able to apply this in the garden to leaving the bark! It takes some time and feel like you will never get there, but things do improve very quickly! Good luck.
Thank you so much for the advice, I will give it a go. She is really good with sit already as started that from day one. When I start calling her do I just say her name and then 'come' once she is running towards me? Thanks again.
First I'll admit I've no experience of puppies. But, I would suggest introducing clicker training while she is young - you'll both find it fun & it will help to tire Bella out - I find it really speeds up the learning of new cues with my older dog Coco (2).
