Help. We have a 6 month old black male lab who is very happy and friendly but he has started to bark and jump at people. Our walks are on towpaths so it is hard to tak evasive action and move out of the way. Clicker training hasn't worked so what do we do now? Thank you.
Hi @Sue Aude France Welcome to the forum. I think we need more information. Is he barking and jumping at people because he is friendly or aggressive. What make you say one as opposed to the other? What clicker training did you undertake to resolve the problem? For how long did you do the training? Why do you think it failed?
Hello and thanks for your reply. He is very friendly,tail always wagging and happy to see people so why he is barking we do not know. The clicker training was bark,click until the person had passed. We tried it for a week but he ignored it.When he is with people he is very affectionate so aggression is not the issue.Sue.
Hi Sue tail wagging is not necessarily a sign of friendliness. It matters what is happening with the rest of the dog. And how the tail is being held, and how quickly the tail is being wagged. But for the rest of the post, I'll assume you're correct, that the dog is friendly. Initially the dog may have barked with excitement or sought attention from the stranger. But what you did with your clicker training is that you have positively reinforced barking at strangers. You clicked after the dog barked. The dog thinks now if he barks that he will get a treat. Rather than not working, I suspect the clicker training has worked-except that you've trained the wrong thing. You might try the following: When your dog first sees the person coming and is still quiet, then have him sit. click and treat. While he is sitting and still quiet click and treat continuously. Click treat click treat click treat etc. If the dog starts barking, then the clicks and treats stop. Use a very high-value treat for the exercise. Something the dog does not normally get but something the dog will love. Remember it is the dog that decides what is a high value treat, not you. It is going to take a bit of training because.you have to undo the previous clicker training. How wide are tow paths? It is not clear to me why you can't get the dog to sit on the far side of the path, letting the stranger walk on the other side of the path. May I suggest you enrol in a good obedience class. It will be fun and you and your dog will learn a great deal.
Hi Michael. Many thanks for your suggestions. We will upgrade our treats and do the training differently. The towpaths are very narrow and often we have to walk in single file hence his excitement at being so close to people. Ofcourse we could look for alternate routes but we will see how we go on now; I will keep you informed. Thanks again, Sue.
Hi @Sue Aude France Since the path is very narrow you will need to train sit stay plus quietness in environments in which you have at least 3 metres of distance between dog and passerbys. Gradually work on reducing the distance before taking the exercise on the narrow towpath. How do you keep a Lab out of the canal?
Hi Michael. We have just returned from our walk and your idea has worked. Louis was so interested in the treat(tiny pieces of sausage) that he ignored the 4 people who passed him .He jumped the first time but sat down after that so we will continue.Louis is our 5th Lab and the first with this behaviour but they are all different. Hm he loves water like most Labs and if we let him off his lead he would jump straight into the canal so we do'nt at the moment. There is a waiting list for the Dog Club but that is our next move so many thanks again. Sue.
Glad it worked @Sue Aude France.. Over time try clicking and treating every two seconds, then every three seconds and so on. Once you get to 5 seconds increase in increments of 5 seconds. When I was a boy my Lab jumped in a very large open drain that ran through a market garden near our home. She grabbed a large rat and threw it in the air. She was so happy. I was gobsmacked. I had forgotten about this happy story until I read your last post. Thanks for jogging my memory.
