Our 7 month old pup Ranger is so excited when he sees another dog that I end up having to quickly walk a different way or cross the road otherwise I'm worried I won't be able to keep hold of him. He's 25 kgs, very strong and just keeps jumping to play with another dog. We did puppy school and now taking him to a weekly obedience class. He's doing well with heeling, sit, drop, stand etc when it's just me and him, but the first half of the hour at the class he's constantly pulling and barking at the other dogs. The trainers there say to just keep bringing him and he'll settle but its been 8 weeks now. Unfortunately we don't know many other owners of calm adult dogs to help him with exposure to dogs. He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at 4 months and so really shouldn't be jumping so much. This also I think didn't help his behaviour as we had to keep him inside for some time after doing the JPS surgery to try to help his hips. We will have him desexed around 12 months, so I'm hoping it may help. Any one been through this and have any tips? I keep hearing just have to wait till he's 2 or 4 or 7 years old and calms down!
Hello and welcome, you are going through a very normal adolescent stage...we have all been there. Meg had me in tears at this point. However, you are totally doing the right thing going to obedience classes. Stick with them, I promise they will pay off. At this age Meg (and another lab) were the most boisterous dogs in the class. I often felt deflated watching all the little maltipoo robot dogs as I called them, nail every exercise where Meg would either leap or roll on her back.....anyhow we stuck at it weekly and on her first birthday she passed her bronze and silver KC obedience awards. She is now 5 and a totally delight with a nice “meet and greet” and a rock solid recall. So I think I am saying your dog won’t grow out of this behaviour, you have to patiently train them to be the dog you want them to be. Neutering won’t help this either, it only helps sexualised behaviour. Keep going to class, you will get there.
I would really not recommend that you castrate your dog, especially if he has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia: https://www.avidog.com/research-on-the-effects-of-spaying-and-neutering/ Removing a dog's hormones will have effects on their endocrine system, immune system, and has been shown to predispose dogs to joint disorders including hip dysplasia. I'm not sure what it would do in a dog already *with* hip dysplasia but would assume it's not going to make it any better and could well make it worse. The behaviours you describe will in no way be improved by neutering. Neutering is not a training cure-all - and the behaviour you describe is not sexual in any way so will be unaffected by it. You need to be training him at these times. Look at the page on this forum about Look At That and implement it constantly at class and on walks: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/look-at-that.22184/ If you are worried he is going to break free from you, then you also need to be thinking about equipment you are using and ensure it is secure and gives you enough control over the dog physically. What equipment are you using? I would recommend a Freedom harness, given what you describe...
Thanks for your reply, that sounds exactly like us - Ranger is going crazy in the class and all the others the same age sitting still and looking at them like "what are you doing?"! Thanks so much for letting me know it is not just us and you have continued and have a delightful dog now! We will continue with classes.
Thanks so much for the advice. We are seeing an orthopaedic specialist for the hips so will go with what he recommends for the neutering. The Look At That page is fantastic, I will try to start that on our walk today!
