Hey everyone havent been on the forum for a wee while. Penny is now 15 months and is as much a ball of energy as ever. Couple of issues that i am struggling with. 1.Every night at 9pm (ish) she goes berserk and starts the zooming and jumping up at my wanting constant attention and wont settle..this can go on until i am forced to put her in the kitchen. I take her out for a run about at least 5 times a day. She still constantly demands my attention. 2. The barking constantly the minute she is in the garden. Obviously i have looked and can never find a cause. This can go on and on with no let up ..my neighbours must hate us. She is definately pushing all the bounderies as an unrully teenager. I thought it would have got easier as she got older.
At 15 months your dog is nearing the end of adolescence, the end of the teenage phase. Not the start, or the middle. Rather than thinking this is about the teenage months (comforting though that may be), perhaps think of it more as a management/training challenge. So, why does she behave like that when she wants attention? Is it because it sometimes works? If not that, then why not make 9pm settle down alone in the kitchen with a kong BEFORE she starts mithering, and change the routine? Why is she out in the garden alone so she can entertain herself by barking? And so on. As for 5 runs a day....well, the only thing that exercise does for a naughty dog is make a naughty dog fitter with more energy for being naughty.
I have a large park outside my back garden so i always take her there to chuck her ball and let her get some exercise and its only for a short time . I dont leave her on her own to just bark her head off. I have watched her to see how long it would last and she didnt stop until i went out. I just wondered if other dogs barked as much. I feel she has got worse. She paws at me constantly when she wants out and mostly it isnt for the toilet but i never know. I have never had any issues overnight and she sleeps all night with no noise from her. I didnt want to put her in the kitchen as a punishment as thats where she sleeps. I am greatful for any advice as i have not had a labrador before and i still cant believe how much effort it takes. I know she is so clever and strong and through this forum i have seen that she seems to be a typical over excitable lab. I have always said that she learned the basics quickly but i am not the best at training and i know i havent took the same time as others do with the training. I just wish she would sit outside and relax rather than constantly bark (even when i am sitting there with her).
Yep, my younger dog - if left to her own devices in the garden - would bark her head off at any remote noise, or sense of movement in another garden, or even a smell of a fox. She wouldn't quit until she was exhausted. She doesn't go into the garden alone. Ever. To allow her to do so would be allowing her to reherse something I really don't want her to do. My other dog never barks. That's the way the cookie crumbled with the dogs i got. First train your dog to settle in the kitchen, lounge, hall...etc. before you try it in the garden. You need a strong settle cue before you can try it with distractions. A mat, a lead and a chair (for you!) are really good props and cues to the dog. Once you can sit in your chair, with your dog on a lead, and give a settle cue inside, then you can try it outside.
