Hello, So this is the first time I’ve ever used a forum, hope I do it right! We rehomed a nearly 7-month old Lab x Golden retriever a week ago. He has been separated from his brother, who has been rehomed elsewhere. He’s settled in really well, loves the kids, really chilled out during the day and evening. We work from home, and he has a good walk twice a day. He is house-trained and knows basic commands. First problem: sometimes he walks beautifully on a loose leash, a lot of the time he near enough pulls our arms out of their sockets. Any recommendations for training in this respect? Second problem: night time . He sleeps in the kitchen, which is where he slept in his previous house. He appears fine for the first couple of hours. Then sometimes he’ll bark, which we haven’t responded to, so he eventually settles. He then seems to find something to destroy in his frustration. We have tried him at the bottom of the stairs, and he sleeps much better, however, he gnaws and chews at our original irreplaceable floorboards ☹️. Is it too late to go down the crate training route? Thanks Barb
Hello Barb and welcome x No, its never too late and you will find some good pinned articles on here about all training , lead training and crate included . I would think that there is still a good level of anxiety with your pup , rehomed dogs do take a while to settle and trust ( I know because I`ve rehomed many ! ) but also he has lost his sibling , which will also have added to the anxiety . Please have a good read at the articles , and maybe I could suggest you buy the Happy Puppy Handbook ( via Amazon ) written by Pippa Mattinson who is editor of our lovely forum , it will help I`m sure x
Hi Barb and welcome to the forum from me, Poppy (six years) and Merlin (11 months) in Germany. Your dog sounds lovely - although seven months old is prime time for chewing, I'm afraid!!! Our Merlin was never crate-trained (long story), and we found that he would chew at night if we left anything around. We used baby gates to keep him in the hallway, and made sure he had lots of toys etc. His favourite thing to chew was our front door mat, and we eventually just left it, figuring that was the least expensive option... Now, at eleven months, he barely chews anything any more, I even forgot to move my walking boots from the hallway last night, and he left them alone... NOTE TO SELF: replace the chewed up mat now!!!!
Hi and welcome. You’ve had some really good advice re crating which is something I didn’t master with my girl. I do have a lot of experience around pulling on the lead. I went back to basics - several times a day we went out into our street and walked up and down our driveway rewarding everytime she didn’t pull. I stopped dead if she pulled and only started again once she stopped. After a few weeks we managed to get part of the way down our street, it rooms several more weeks to get to the end of the street. I then slowly added more distance over the weeks. It took me a few months to master walking to the shops & back (about 10-15 mins each way), but with consistency we got there. She’s still not perfect in new environments (she’s 4 years old). During this time, i took her in the car to off lead walks so she could still get exercise without reinforcing the pulling. It might seem like a long time to train, but it is worth investing that time now before it becomes so embedded in them (which was my mistake!). It might not take you as long as it did with us. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Hi there @Barb R it is worth starting with puppy basics so you train the cues you want and the behaviours you want first. The advice I give to clients is that it takes 3-4 weeks for re-homed dog to settle into a new home and he's probably feeling some stress from tge cgange of environment and the loss of his brother. It is absolutely possible to crate a train a 7 month old dog, just start slowly and make it a wonderful place for him to be. Feed him his meals in the crate, pop him in there with a tasty kong.
Hello, So this is the first time I’ve ever used a forum, hope I do it right! We rehomed a nearly 7-month old Lab x Golden retriever a week ago. He has been separated from his brother, who has been rehomed elsewhere. He’s settled in really well, loves the kids, really chilled out during the day and evening. We work from home, and he has a good walk twice a day. He is house-trained and knows basic commands. First problem: sometimes he walks beautifully on a loose leash, a lot of the time he near enough pulls our arms out of their sockets. Any recommendations for training in this respect? Second problem: night time . He sleeps in the kitchen, which is where he slept in his previous house. He appears fine for the first couple of hours. Then sometimes he’ll bark, which we haven’t responded to, so he eventually settles. He then seems to find something to destroy in his frustration. We have tried him at the bottom of the stairs, and he sleeps much better, however, he gnaws and chews at our original irreplaceable floorboards ☹️. Is it too late to go down the crate training route? Thanks Barb Thanks for the responses I went and bought a crate shortly after I posted on Tuesday and spent the day encouraging him into it. He took to it quite quickly, and I bit the bullet and put him in on Tuesday night. I also gave him an antler in case the urge to chew overtook him again! Two full nights’ sleep later, the little guy spends quite a bit of time in there. it continues
