Monty's training log

I'll start with a positive...Monty has been in the lounge a few times this week with the cat & not chased him (but sometimes he does still chase).
On the more challenging side, at last night's silver class the instructor stood next to him talking to us for a few mins and he got so excited, trying to jump, straining on his lead, panting. He just never calms down around anyone other than me & hubby. My neighbour has been over a few times over the last week to practice calm behaviour, but people are busy & we're finding it difficult to find people with time to help us (we were asking him to lie on his mat while she entered the room...if he got off mat she left room...after 15 mins she got to the mat & he got a tummy tickle from her). He's nearly 11 months old so peak excitability from what I've read. Does anyone have any hints as to how we can work on this outside of class without asking people to give up their time?? Thanks.

 

Ah yes, I remember it well. I used to get fed up with a the perfect little dogs at class that strutted round perfectly whilst Meg was doing her Tigger impression!! What helped us was we would go for a walk at a busy place and sit on a bench and she would have to "look at me" whilst the world and his wife walked by. Some great treats helped and made her focus on me. It took some patience, but I stuck at it and I think it really helped. She is not remotely bothered with people or dogs now, just has her eyes ready for a rabbit

 

Thank you EDP, we were at our wits end last night and I was having to hold back the tears. We'll follow your advice - we live in a village so I suppose he doesn't get much training in busy environments. Off to town we will go to sit on benches & throw gammon at the dog when he look at us

 

Last night we stood outside Tesco's entrance and did some 'watch me' training - he was generally good, but if there was something particularly interesting to him he didn't look at me even when I waved high value food in front of his nose. It was very very cold so we weren't there for long, but intend doing some more at the weekend and might try some different treats to see if they work better. I feel much more positive, and he was absolutely exhausted when we got home and flopped in front of the fire all evening - result

 

Great location and a good start. Just need to practice more often, you will get there.

 

Disastrous walk with Monty this morning - he is jumping up and trying to latch onto my arm and hump me when we're walking around the village. It appears to be triggered by frustration/excitement (seeing another dog or person he wants to get to), and he is very persistent. It got better as the walk progressed - I avoided other people/dogs where possible (sometimes it feels like a computer game where people come at you from every direction you turn!), and asked him for a 'sit' when he jumped up - which he eventually started doing. He never does this at home, but has done it on morning walks in particular for a little while now. I think this morning was worse because we walked later so there were more people around. We're still doing training in busy environments (around Homebase last night...he was fine). On 'good' walks people are stopping to comment on how nicely behaved he is...then he usually starts humping me

 

Hi Sammie. He is slowly getting better, and the jumping/humping is decreasing, although he did it 3 times on yesterday morning's walk. He is very excitable...having guests at home requires us to have him on a lead otherwise he jumps all over them. In terms of routine - gets up at 06:45 for an energetic play in the garden, then an hour's lead walk (we can't let him off lead at our village park as it has 7 exits directly onto a road and we wouldn't trust his recall at the moment), then back home for breakfast which he hunts for in the garden. Then around 20 mins of training, a bit more play, then crated for a snooze at 9am. He's crated until midday with 2 mid-morning breaks for training/play in the garden - he has a Kong Wobbler and various other things to keep him entertained, and has frozen kongs in his crate. He has another lead walk at lunchtime for 20 mins with lead-training, then lies infront of the fire while I eat my lunch. He's crated in the afternoon until 5pm, again with regular breaks for training, play, enrichment. Then another hour's walk off lead in the evening, followed by dinner (hunting in the garden again), bits of training and sleeping by the fire until bedtime around 10pm. He's very settled at home/in the crate. On Monday evenings we go to Kennel Club classes. On Saturday mornings we were joining a group dog walk led by a dog trainer, but despite all dogs being on lead, he found it too exciting and I got covered in bruises from the jumping/humping. He also jumps after an off-lead walk when he's put back on lead or if he's excited. We do a lot of calm behaviour work at home - waiting on his mat, waiting for us to go through doors etc. He's a dreadful counter-surfer. We also teach him tricks and are doing lots of LAM training in busy places - this is slowly getting better. Any un-bouncing tips gratefully received!

 

Thanks Sammie that's really helpful. We'll try that & see if it helps. Having him out of his crate during work calls used to be really challenging as he'd demand attention, but now he's a bit older it'll hopefully be easier.

 

Quick update - yesterday Monty was crated for around 3 hours. On this mornings walk there was no jumping at all We also popped to the vets at lunchtime to weigh him, and for once he didn't boing on the reception counter, and paid attention to me. It's a couple of months since we went to the vets for a weigh-in...such a huge different in his behaviour in that time. When he's out of his crate he lies in his bed and sleeps, but he's choosing that over the crate (other than lunchtime today when I said it was time to do a bit of training, and he ran straight to his crate for a treat and snooze...clearly not in the mood for training ).

 

The reduction in Monty's crating is going really well - we were worried he'd destroy the house, but he curls up in his day-bed and tends to snooze when we're working - he's only crated for maybe an hour or so a day now if we need to pop out (and from 10pm to 6:45am when he sleeps). The jumping is still happening, but is more limited, so it's only when he's in close proximity to another dog (for example if I stop on a walk to talk to another person with a dog on its lead). My plan is to try to avoid meeting other people as much as possible in the hope that Monty calms down. It's as though he gets massively excited and just can't keep a lid on his behaviour.
To end on a positive he bolted towards another dog on this morning's off-lead walk...I whistled and he did a swift about-turn and dashed back towards me

 

Quick update...no jumping up for over a week now, including at a dog training class this week where there were around 8 other dogs weaving around us. We're working hard on LAM which is working well.
He also goes to his bed when told to if the cat is in the same room, so the cat chasing is reducing

 

Last night Monty won a high achiever award for 2023 at his Kennel Club classes - super proud
The jumping up at me has stopped, and he can be in the same room as the cat (occasionally the cat has to put him in his place though when he wants to play). I never thought we would get to this point - what a difference training and time makes!

 

Whoop whoop. Well done to you both for being patient and persistent. Hard work pays off. Congratulations.