Hi I'm new, I have a lovely chocolate lab and up to a month ago was Fantastic on and off the ( a little pulling). Over the last month he is so excitable and lunges for other dogs and sometimes people when on the lead, I have tried to get him to sit which he does until we get to the dog and then goes wild. I have socialised him lots! Off lead he would play and then Cary on however now he seems to be over stimulated and runs off when theirs a dog there and if it's a small dog owner they go oh he's going to hurt them when their dogs wanting to clearly play. I know he has to learn doggy manners but how? Please help, I want him to enjoy other dogs and I know I'm making it worse being anxiety
I feel your pain! I have a 8mth old who's suddenly turned his ears off and forgotten all his training too, in fact he's doing exactly the same as your pup. They've become teenagers, with hormones all over the place. All we can do is ride it out, back to basics with the training, even if it means using a long training line to control them, be consistent, use plenty of tasty treats and toys to keep them interested and eventually they'll grow up and come out the other side. Some may take longer than others though.
Than you for that it's nice to know I'm not the only one. We took him to the seaside today with lots of people and dogs and was still very excited but it was positive to see him interacting a little more gently on his lead and didn't bother with people at all. I'm going to keep going and carry on socialising him lots. I am praying that he will turn a leaf, some days you think where's all that hard work with the training gone and he's my first dog.
Hi, I'm new here too, and like yours, my 10 month chocolate lab Cookie, seems to have forgotten all the progress we had been making while walking. She also gets too excited when she sees other dogs. I'm trying to go back to basics with her.
Hi there! One comment I noticed from your post that I found interesting I have highlighted in your above post. I hope you don't mind! I also own a wonderful chocolate labrador and my on my did he turn into a hooligan at around 8/9 months, he almost brought me to the point of despair at more than one occasion. Now he is just amazing at three and a half. He is my "go to" dog (I have three...) if I need a quiet, calm walk after a stressful day. Going back to your post, one thing I would change is the way I socialised my very friendly lab, focussing instead on training how to be being calm around other dogs and people. When he was younger I was very keen for him to meet everything and everyone, I probably didn't need too, and pretty sure that I was making a rod for my back later on. All is not lost though, we went back to basics with our choc pup, and incorporated adolescent classes but any positive reinforcement class will probably do. At the moment, your pup is finding everything more interesting than you, this is completely normal, particularly in adolescent labradors. Working on how to engage with your dog on walks, short training games for example combined with high value rewards. Consider adding LAT (look at that) a training technique, which involves rewarding your dog when their attention turns back to you after spotting something interesting, like another dog, person, football etc. If you use the search function on the forum, you will find lots of useful information
Thank you for all the help, what really helps is knowing that it's common. I will look at all the training advice and I will fill you in on our progress. He's such a lovely dog just want the best for him.
