We've just got back from a very stressful trip to the vet for a routine booster injection. It was a vet he hasn't seen before, and as usual he was massively excited and hubby and I practically had him in a headlock to enable the vet to give him the injection - he's just desperate for fuss and attention. He has just turned 15 months old, and over the last few weeks has started to ignore his recall whistle when there's another dog in sight (like across a big field - he just bolts). So now he is being walked on his lead a lot more, unless it is somewhere we can almost guarantee there won't be other dogs for him to run off to. The vet asked if we went to training classes (yes - every week), and then suggested seeing a behaviourist for his excitable behaviour. Before I look to pay hundreds of pounds on a behaviourist I wondered what advice other forum members might have. I've read some posts that say to carry on with training excitable dogs around distractions and eventually they calm down with age. Is this enough, or does his behaviour sound so extreme that I should be looking for professional help? He generally walks okay on the lead now, unless another dog takes a particular interest in him but he doesn't really lunge or bark. He's okay with people until they look at him or interact with him - then it's straining on lead, panting, lifting front paws off the floor. He's also entire - vet has advised not to castrate until he's 18 months old, and I understand castration doesn't impact behaviour in any event. thank you.
I forgot to mention that the vet also spent some time telling us the importance of feeding Monty after we've eaten so he understands his place in the pack. I thought this was outdated thinking - should we be doing this?
I'm sorry you've had such a difficult experience. It's very normal for pups to be super bouncy and enthusiastic at this age. It does sound like working on greeting people calmly will be helpful for you, but really your vet needs to be able to cope with bouncy teenage pups, too! What does your trainer say about his excitable behavior? Will Monty stand still while you groom him and examine his feet and ears? If not, this would be a great project to work on at home to help him learn to stand still while he's poked and prodded by the vet. Pippa gives some step by step tips on how to teach this under the 'Getting Your Dog To Stand Still' heading on this grooming page. For the recall - do you have Pippa's book 'Total Recall'? If not, I really recommend getting that and working through it stage by stage. It will take you through exactly how to proof your recall against distractions. This is a *long* process, and one that's really worth taking the time to get right. The skills you'll learn in the book will also help you plan how to proof other skills, like sitting calmly and looking at you, or being groomed and examined, in the presence of distractions too.
You're absolutely right - pack theory has been completely debunked! Pippa covers this in this article. If you have any questions after reading it, please feel free to ask (and if I don't know the answer, I will ask Pippa )
Thanks Sammie. I've got some introduction/fact finding calls set up this week with behaviourists/trainers both locally and online as I think I would benefit from some more support to get me through these teenage years.
That sounds like a great plan. Hopefully they can reassure you that Monty is very normal, just very bouncy! And give you some pointers to help make managing his enthusiasm easier for you. One last link.... this is Pippa's recent article on choosing a trainer, that might also be helpful for you
