hey guys, My 8 month old lab-retriever is so chilled out that he doesn't really initiate play with me. I got him at 5 months from a rescue centre. I think he was left on his own a lot when he was with his previous owners and didn't go out much. He used to get excited when I got him toys and played with him but he never comes to me to nudge me to play. I try and do play with him in the garden and out for walks with a ball too but outside he's only interested in searching for poo. Do you think he's going through puberty and it's just a stage? I work from home most of the week but spend all day on my laptop. I feel ever so guilty when I look at him and he just looks bored so I take breaks to try and play with him but he;s not always interested or he loses interest. Sometimes I think he's depressed. I'm also a part time dog walker so he socialises with other dogs too. I wish I knew what he was thinking...
I guess you get all kinds of dogs, some hyper-active, some really laid back. It sounds like he maybe has been left to his own devices in the past so maybe doesn't really know that it can be good to initiate play. Perhaps he has been punished or chastised for initiating play in the past. It would probably be good for you to take regular breaks when you are in the house together. Sort of to help bonding? The poo-eating is a real pain though. Have you thought about doing something fun together like obedience, or agility, or gun-dog work? I think it really helps with bonding as well as giving you a focus when out on walks rather than self-rewarding with poop
Hey, yes, I play with him often in the house and the garden, weather permitting. I read about dogs hassling their owners because they want to play and I almost want him to do this. He's such a sweetheart though and I have taught him a few tricks. I took him gundog training last week but looking for somewhere else as I found the dogs had to sit and wait for way too long. Definitely doing the agility and recall or gundog training. It's the bits in between I'm worried about. I had mentioned the poop eating on a previous post before and someone said to be more interactive on walks but finding it hard to come up with ideas. When on lead he listens to my command to leave it as I give him a treat. I let him off to play with other dogs but lately this only lasts for a minute or so as he rather goes in search for it. He's not interested in balls or other toys, just searching for poop. It's very frustrating.
Maybe appeal to that side of him then. Play games using his sence of smell. Hide treats around the house and get him to search those out. Then try the yard and slowly make it more challenging. This might also help with the poo issue.
Hey Johnny, Thanks for your response. I live in a flat but do hide the treats there somewhere. At gundog training they didn't advice hiding treats in the garden (soz, I'm the Uk, we say garden, not yard, hehe) as that encourages him even more to forage for food. Definitely interested in doing scent work with him. It's just the daily walks I want to keep him as occupied as possible but running out of ideas.
Hahaha, oh my gosh. Here I am in the States reading all these posts and picturing all you in the UK with these cute tiny little gardens with like flowers and a bench and a fountain. I was like....man, a lot of people over there have gardens! I didn't realize that's what you called a yard
Ha ha, most of us do have the flowers and maybe a bench. A shed and greenhouse. Ponds are popular. It's funny the image we get of other countries just by the word. I thought for ages American yards meant you all have a concrete or gravel plain square!
Hi Anya, My dog isn't a rescue but he had a very different start to a lot of the other Forum dogs.We live in the UAE and we had to wait until he was 4 months to import him from the UK...a mess up in his date of birth meant he was actually 5 months.He'd come from a Gundog Breeders kennels and whilst he had been in the house as we requested ,he was very self contained and distant when he came to us ,it took him a long time to become affectionate. I wouldn't say I needed to teach him how to play and he definately did initiate play with us but his prey Drive and desire to pull was a shock to me and I realised the expectation I had of him plodding along with me on hikes outside was not going to be...probably evert and that I had to get 'Interesting ' FAST! Our recall needed work so I worked though Total Recall as best I could ( I fell down at the stage where you need to be able to work with other dogs) that really helped build a bond ,a lot of the excercises felt like 'games' and my dog is massively food focussed to so quickly I was the best thing ever if I gave him a tasty treat! Retrieving I messed up and to behonest I'm have never properly recovered that..I had to clicker train my retrieve and Dexter got massively rewarded for bringing 'anything' back....I've even walked along the road with a house slipper because that was something that was fun for him at one point. Games can be simple...you don't need to worry about being massively creative.You can play Hide and Seek ....when you dog isn't looking stand behind something and let him come and sniff you out ....your dog sounds like he would enjoy that.Hide a toy he likes ( make it really easy at first) and tell him to 'Find It' once he gains experience you can make it harder so he really has to use his nose.Just walking along asking for a 'touch' from your dog can be a game, rewarding them with a treat or a tennis ball throw if they touch your hand with their nose.You can do the same with 'look' the dog gets a reward if he looks at you.When I go on a new walk if Dexter is off lead ( I have to up the treats and games massively or he will go off 'self employed ' to find fun ) so I Say ' Hi 'to him and reward every time he looks at me . So you see ,you can like me,walk along with half of Pets At Home attached to your body or you can keep it quite simple.....the main thing is to keep being the most interesting thing in your dogs life....not always easy I know. Hope there's a couple of ideas in there for you X
If you like the idea of scent work, it might be worth checking out the Talking Dogs scent work guides. There are videos you can either rent or buy that stream from Vimeo, and books to work through. http://talkingdogsscentwork.co.uk/
