i have a yr and a half bml who won’t stop jumping up and snapping at clothes. I have tried the knee to the chest and yelling no! to him but nothing seems to work. I have had t-shirts ripped by his teeth getting hung on my t-shirts. He doesn’t bite or anything, he just is playing but it needs to stop because I am tired of buying new t-shirts! Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. He is an English lab if that matters.
I suspect that your dog finds the yelling ‘no’ rewarding. I know that sounds strange but many dogs find shouting exciting. I am currently helping someone train their Flatcoat to greet people calmly and he definitely loves noise, even if the person thinks they are tellling him off. So first I would train a really solid sit or down - down for preference because it’s harder for a dog to launch themselves at you from a down. You need to train this in a quiet voice and with a hand signal (more effective from a distance) and in planned sessions. Start in situations with no distractions and gradually build them up. Somewhere on here I have written a complete training plan (which is working) so I’ll try to find the link. Hand in hand with this, have a look at what interaction with you your dog gets. I believe that he is trying to get your attention when he grabs you, so build in planned playtimes with him every day. Things like tug or whippit are good, as is retrieving (which can start simply as fetch and then build to fetching named articles or going for the one you point at and putting them in a box.) Or consider a formal sport like agility or flyball. Labs are high energy dogs so enough legitimate outlets for this energy are important.
On a serious note, I am coming to the end of basic obedience classes, have now started Gundog Training, but next week start a course of socialisation training which is to do with dogs greeting us, other dogs etc. So will pass on any tips I get from that class as i have the same issue with Jax from time to time. Especially if he hasnt been at work with me and i get home from work.
