Hi everyone I have an 18 month old choc lab, male who has been desexed. He has such a happy friendly nature Yet ever since he was a puppy when we go on walks and we come across other dogs (with there owners on lead, off lead behind fences) he goes off his nut. He barks, whimpers, cries pulls my arm out of the socket. He won't heel, do any commands or respond to food. He is always on lead as he is still working on returns. I'm at breaking point cause I almost hate taking him for a walk or anywhere in case we cross another dog. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks in advance
Hello there This is quite common, and it doesn't really go away unless you train through it in a structured way. It's difficult to improve things just out on walks because you are not in control of distance or the actions of the other owners or dogs. My boy was a horror for this - so bad he was going to hurt me or someone else (he had been on a long period of rest and isolation from other dogs, as he is now so I've got this to do again). What I did was find a trainer with dogs and a field. And I spent weeks walking round her dogs. At first, a perfectly trained gundog that would ignore Charlie no matter what and I was as far away as I could get and still be in the same field. Then that dog moving. Then a younger dog, then a puppy, then a rescue dog that was a bit reactive to Charlie. And so on, and on, and on.... It really, really worked. It is quite difficult to find someone with so many dogs available though! So you maybe need to look for a class, or a trainer that will work with you in the park around other dogs, or something like that. If your dog is not getting off lead exercise, that won't help (I don't know if that's what you mean though). It's very difficult to proofing a young Labrador's lead walking if they are generally under exercised. Best of luck with it.
My girl has always been over friendly I happened to find a good trainer straight away it's an absolute godsend he has really helped with this issue. She's awful at the moment as she's on restricted exercise but the tools he gave me help me to work through it. Hopefully come September we can start his training classes again. I googled dog trainers in my area and asked around, I don't mean just friends but if I came across someone with a well behaved dog I ask if they had been to training classes. Good luck, let us know how you get on.
As others have said, find a good trainer to help you work through the problem with Milo - they will also be able to help with recall
If your young dog is never able to meet other dogs this will create its own problem. You need to work out whether this reaction is based in fear or frustration. Either way, a force-free trainer who has experience with reactive dogs will be able to help you. Any form of punishment (shouting, lead-yanking) will make the reaction worse! The trainer could also work on your recall with you so that your dog can get some freedom. Happy hunting!
