Hi, we have a one year old chocolate lab (Barney) and firstly i have no doubt we could have done more to train him better from the start but need to accept we are where we are. There's no doubt he's clever and overall his behaviour is better than it used to be but there are a couple of issues we can't seem to improve. Firstly is his recall which works sometimes but often when there is something more interesting around, like rubbish in a field, he won't come to me for all the food in the world but I think this will eventually improve. The bigger issue though is his nipping and jumping up at my kids and visitors. Problem with the kids particularly is that they aren't tall enough to stand and ignore as he'll still nip and jump up. Our only solution is to put on his halti head harness which he hates and when I say hate he'd rather not go for a walk at all than wear it. If we hold him back his frustration grows and grows and no amount of treats will placate him. I'm hoping this is an age thing but am I hoping in vain ?
Hi Golar, Welcome to the forum. These are puppyish behaviors that he'll hopefully grow out of, but there are things you can do to help in the meantime. You might find these articles useful: How to stop your puppy biting How to stop your dog jumping up Calming an over excited puppy Let us know how you get along!
It's better to house train your dog, and the obedience training is a good option. A well-trained dog can listen to the commands of the owner. Once you give him the "sit" command, he will stop jumping and sit on the floor. What's more, obedience training can be used in many occasions, such as "wait" you in front of a store and "go potty" in a special spot. You could refer to the steps of obedience training in this article.
Hi @Golar Keep your dog on a long line until you have a rock solid recall, even when there is rubbish. You have to be more exciting than the rubbish! Squeal if the dog starts to come in your direction, run backwards. Do not pull him in with the long line. It's there for safety. Standing tall is clearly not working. Try something else. Cue sit or down (chest and belly on the ground). Mark and treat. If the dog is down then he cannot jump. Use tug toys to redirect his mouthiness to playing with a tug toy. Play tug with him, so that he finds it to be rewarding. Let him win sometimes. Many dogs hate haltis. Try a perfect fit harness. Dog are never too old to train. Find a good positive reinforcement obedience school, and take a class or two.
Like Michael says, you need a 10m long-line on him so you can PREVENT him reaching the stuff you don't want him to reach. It's not a choice 'have that thing you want, or come here and get a treat' - instead he needs to learn the other thing becomes unavailable after your recall. I would also make sure you are using amazingly tasty treats - like sardines, mackerel, paté etc etc - you can deliver these with a plastic toddler spoon to his mouth. You need to have an area you can put him in, to prevent him from accessing kids and visitors when he is over-excited. I'm a big fan of stair-gates and stair-gating off a room. Meanwhile when you can, you are putting him on leash and training him to sit and how to behave in the presence of visitors - all with treats for sitting and standing far enough away that he can't reach them and just gets bored of them eventually. If you can't devote your attention to training him because you have guests, then it's behind the stair gate he goes (with a stuffed Kong). I don't recommend Haltis or head-collars at all. The vast majority of dogs hate them as yours does, and so they are really quite aversive. Instead, get a harness with two attachment points on it so you can control the front of him more easily, using the front attachment point. The Perfect Fit is one. Or, if you want slightly more control, the Freedom harness. If you read the suggestions here and you can't imagine how they would work or have the response of 'we've tried that already', then it's very likely that you are actually not implementing things in the right way. There's only so far that the written word can take you and it might be best to work with a behaviourist or trainer in a 1-2-1 way - especially if you know you've missed out on training earlier. I can recommend some directories of trainers to check out but it does depend on where you live... if you let us know...
Thanks for all the advice. I'll certainly look at the guides again. Stair gates are a great idea but won't work in our open plan area unfortunately. I tried a long line a while ago but may be worth dusting it off again.
