Dougal has just turned 9 months old. He has been a really good puppy and is a real joy - in the house!! As soon as we step outside he goes mad. He pulls like crazy on the lead, has the attention span of a gnat, jumps at us and everyone else and totally forgets everything he has ever learned. We go to dog training and I'm sure the lady thinks I am totally hopeless, I just wish she could see how hard we work in the park and at home when he is so good. Am I expecting too much from him or should he now be walking to heel and not being as silly as he is. He works really well with his clicker and his recall is very good minus distractions. I just want to scream really loudly before we set off on walks that I do actually work really hard with him so people don't think I'm not a good dog owner.
I'm afraid you've got puppy brain in an adult body. Hang in there, be consistent but kind, keep working and it will come right again
If it makes you feel any better my quite lovely boy probably spent about 4 months on a long line at this age as he would run after other dogs to play. He has lovely manners now and is even under sufficient control to go shooting
I'd say he's pretty normal for that age... Don't worry, lots of us have been where you are! Every other dog in the class is quiet and still and your Labrador looks like he's had a tonne of Mexican Jumping Beans for breakfast.... I often have this conversation with people at the dog club: Them: Just a pup still is he? Me: He's 4 Them: Oh. *makes mental note never to buy a Labrador* If you don't already do it, try to train in places that are more distracting than your house or familiar environments but a bit less distracting than the class environment. Maybe even go along when other classes are on without actually doing the class, and just focus on getting/reinforcing attention and calm behaviour. That kind of thing can help to bridge the gap between the environments where he's perfect and the more challenging environments that he doesn't experience so often.
I am laughing here as you describe our last gorgeous lab to a tee! Dog training classes were always great fun-for everyone else! He still got the "puppy crazies" at 13 Our new lab is showing the same tendencies. I'm beginning to think it may be us!
Thanks so much for your replies. I love the comment about Mexican jumping bean, sounds very familiar. I am going to find a bench somewhere in our local country park and try the distraction training you suggest. He is currently not speaking to me as we haven't been for our usual walk today because of the heat. Who knew dogs could tell the time. I'm waiting until later when it might be a little cooler
@Calkarima that was us four years ago! I made the mistake of taking Snowie to a school with about 50-60 dogs on the field at any one time, all in different classes, instructors shouting loudly, dogs barking, balls being thrown, everything mad. Only contributed to Snowie's inability to focus on me. When I look back I don't think it was fair to him, he was never set up for success. And I was made to feel like the worst handler on the field. Then we changed to a much smaller school: only 6 dogs on the field, very quiet and peaceful. Snowie progressed in leaps and bounds. And I'd leave class so much happier (I'd want to cry each week at the old school). I suppose you find what works for your dog, what environment sets your dog up for success, and where you feel comfortable and happy. Have you considered a private instructor? From what I've seen of people who went this route, they progressed really fast, they themselves were trained well from the start, handling mistakes were nipped in the bud. It's probably what I should've done for Snowie and me when he was a puppy, would've saved us all the trauma of feeling like the dunce in the class!
That's a good idea. Thankyou. He actually did quite well on Sunday morning. There are only 4 other dogs in the class but he is definitely he worst behaved of the lot. To be fair though he is also the youngest. I am kinda plodding along with him and I'm hoping as and when maturity hits we might make some progress. I'm guessing I have a long time to wait
Instructors at all of our classes always stop at our station, look at Edsel leaping about, tongue flapping, tail wagging madly and say "well , he's a Lab." Generally followed by a slight smile and a gentle pat on my shoulder. I always feel they at least appreciate the effort even if they feel it's a lost cause.
I think this is totally normal behaviour for a 9 month old PUPPY! The one thing I always think is that I would much rather start off with a dog that is full of beans, and joy of life, and wants to see everyone and everything because that is so much better and WILL calm down, than having a nervous/quiet dog!! Murphy is about 14 months now, and I too had this around 9 months, where he suddenly starting pulling like a train!! Because I am too lazy to stop every 2 seconds on a walk I just used a figure of 8 head collar on him, for probably 6 weeks tops - this, combined with the heel training, sorted this out and he walks lovely now on a normal collar. I think sometimes they just have these phases, but do keep plodding on, because it is about to get better I promise!
I do think it's normal behaviour, but what you expect is relevant. Charlie was a super excited teenager, and looking back on things, I don't think I expected enough of him. These days, I do expect a lot more and I expect a lot more of my 15 week old puppy than I expected of teenage Charlie. So, for example, I used to let Charlie jump out of the car and then try to get his attention. These days, he doesn't get out of the car until I have his attention. My new puppy knew this was the expectation from day one, and she is quicker at focussing on me than he is! The same for the next step, dogs sit outside the car while I collect my stuff. Charlie often wanders off and I have to go get him. New puppy has never done anything else so she sits there... I'd say expectations need to be relevant to your starting point, it's unfair to ask a dog to do something that they just can't do, but I definitely, definitely wish that I had been at least clearer with Charlie about what my expectations were from the get go!
