I have a 7 month old female chocolate Lab named Sadie. I had my last black Lab, Molly, for 14 years and waited about 9 months before tagging my new little bundle of joy. I had forgotten how challenging a pup could be but figured that I have trained many dogs over the years and it would just be a refresher-course. Somewhere along the way....this little purebred Lab has an innate "Herding" instinct. I walk Sadie on a leash as well as letting her spend a little time on a 360 cable with fetching exercises, etc. I have been caught off guard a few times with her circling while on a cable and sometimes while on a leash. She acts much like she's trying to wrap me up and today she finally got me. I must have been a little complacent when walking her on the cable to her play area. She tripped me with the cable (or I wasn't watching for it) and I fell on the asphalt splitting my knee open. I'm wondering if anyone else has "a Lab in sheep's clothing" ? Tee
She could get caught up in that cable and hurt herself too you know. Just sayin. Many of us don't like too long a line for that reason. But yes, it seems sometimes they are herding. My boy is allowed sniffing on portions of a leashed walk and I've asked him many times, "If you want to go ahead, ok, but why can't you come back on the same side you started from?" He does the circle, just as you say, and I either have to flip the leash to get it unwrapped from around me or do a figure skating leap and twirl myself (a Salchow?) to get the leash back where it should be. Welcome to the board. Sorry about your knee.
Hi there, Great to see you've dropped by for some advice .....I'm sorry you've had a tumble ,sounds like a painful fall? I guess my dog weaved about a bit...and still will at times if he wants a sniff but I'm wondering if teaching him to walk on my left saved me from the situation you are describing? He's my first dog and I only did this because I was in a mess with pulling and started right back at the beginning using Pippa's Training articles......even though my dog is a pet ,it seemed to be the traditional position to walk a Gundog ( a gun is positioned on the right?) As I say ,we were in such a mess at one point there was no loose lead choice for him,we were either proceeding at heel ,changing direction or standing still....loose lead walking was a long time coming for us....he's 3 now and will mostly stay on my left and if I stop and he will automatically reposition himself on the left without me even having to say anything.....this might help you stop getting In a tangle? X
