Glad to be here, I am new to the forum and new to owning a lab we have a 7 month old chocolate (Charlie Brown.) and a 13 year old jack russell who he torments daily, lol. We are slowly working on his training, what a long long road it is! I have him walking at about a 4 ft distance to other dogs and people with no reactions, he is staying calm and has come along way. I try to take him to crowded places often and while at a safe distance he is doing excellent, in time we will move in a bit closer; however my problem is people stopping us while walking etc wanting to "pet the cute puppy." It makes him wild, he lunges, jumps and gnaws on the people who want to say hello and all the calm we have worked so hard to achieve is pretty much gone at those moments. Ideally I should maybe not allow it? I don't entirely want him to avoid people, any thoughts on teaching him to greet in a less chaotic manner.
Hi there,nice to meet you on the Forum,sounds like you are making great progress with your puppy,he sounds like a really good boy. It's hard to train your dog but even harder to train well meaning ,friendly members of the public!most of us have come up against your problem at one time or another.I gave up trying to be polite about it in the end because folk don't listen to you and say things like 'it's ok' or ' I don't mind' when your dog launches at them....but I minded!I used to use someone's approach,whether or not they wanted to stroke Dexter ,as a practice opportunity to get him into a sit and stay then if they wanted to stroke him he was already focussed on me and the promise of a treat for sitting nicely.There were times though when I literally used to put my hand out like a policeman and say ,'please don't stroke him until he's sitting down' over time you get used to the queer looks I didn't care really! Dexter isnt that keen on people bearing down on him from above and stroking him directly on the head anyway so to be perfectly honest there have been times when I've actually said to people,' no because he doesn't like it!' Putting up with a few uncomfy moments now is so worth it when you get a little further down the line and someone comments on how good your dog is x Best wishes Angela x
Lisa, I could have written your post word for word. Same issues with Myles (6 month chocolate). I don't have it worked out yet but just wanted you to know I feel your pain. I think for me, it's going to require me doing training with someone willing to stand there and do exactly what I tell them. Maybe see if you can find a willing friend or family member who will let you train them on what to do, so that you can get him used to it? This is what I am going to try to work on this summer. It's a hard one! He has same problem with meeting any and every dog. Lunges, jumps, flips, pulls himself out of harness. Loses it! Sorry not much help, but you're not alone!
Hi LisaF and welcome to the forum. I can't offer much advice other than what Dexter has already said. I do sympathise with you though, I've had people cross the road to come and greet Juno when we've been walking in town . I've always trained Juno that she must be sitting before being greeted, whether it's when we return from shopping, when we have visitors or first thing in the morning when we come downstairs. I've found that it really helps when people insist upon greeting her in the street as she will go into a sit (even if her tail is wagging madly)
Hello! I have a bonkers chocolate Labrador called Charlie...... Er...the bad news - he's two and a bit and will still go nuts if people come to say hello to him in the street. If I let him. I don't let him though. Not letting him jump all over people has been the biggest single factor in the improvement that I've seen. He doesn't need to greet people in the street. He is madly in love with all people and doesn't need to meet more. So I have measured his lead for a distance from his collar when he is standing or sitting in a relaxed way to the floor plus about 3in, and at this point in his lead, I have a knot. If people approach us, I put my hand on his collar lay the lead on the floor and put my foot on the lead in front of the knot. I can then straighten up, have my hands free and deal with the person without worrying about my dog. Dealing with the person is about getting them not to pat your dog until he is calm. In the meantime, because you are standing on the lead, your dog can't pull you towards the person, use any slack in the lead to get to the person, or jump up.
Sam used to be wildly excited at the prospect of meeting and greeting everyone he met . You are doing right to take him out and about, getting used to different situations, but social graces don't come high on the list of Labrador puppy expectations I had a friend ( note the Had ) who would insist on calling out Sams name every time we walked past her cottage , to the point that I would cross over the road but still she would call out to him which turned him into a whirling dervish . Eventually , after asking her politely not to do this , I had to be more firm about it, she became offended by this but hey, tough, its my dog and I wanted a reasonable lead walk which we did eventually achieve
Hello and welcome from my 20 month old Golden Girl Molly and me. The simple truth is that Labs are super friendly and LOVE meeting people and dogs. To put it simply, they go right over the top. You are doing all the right things, but when you are fighting the dogs ebullient friendly nature it takes a long time. I always thought they were calm dignified dogs, until I got one
Thankyou all for your helpful replies, it is so nice to know we arent alone in raising these loveable creatures. Too loveable at times! I have always loved the Labrador breed, this is my first one and I thought I actually knew something about dog training after owning dogs forever, but I know nothing after this fellow. He is teaching me so much.
Hi Lisa and welcome. I agree with the above. Sometimes you have to get quite assertive with people, and very firmly say "Please don't touch my dog!" before they get to you. They normally look at you like you're mad, but since they've stopped by then, you can then explain that you need them to wait and ignore the dog - no eye contact or anything - until they are sitting calmly. Then, if the dog jumps up again, they stand up and ignore again. If you tell them they are helping you train your dog, that generally boosts their ego a bit. It's just that first interruptor that you need to be really firm about, enough to stop them in their tracks. And the policeman hand definitely works, too
Strangers can be a real problem & can undo what you are trying to achieve in YOUR training - THEY don't have to live with the consequences! If I really don't want a stranger touching my dog - for a variety of reasons; I find - "He has a contagious skin disease so don't touch him" - is usually effective!
