Hi there. We need some advice. We live in a coptic-orthodox monastery in Langdale End (North Yorkshire) and someone gifted us with this little 7 mths old Puppy, a chocolate bitch. To be honest, i haven't trained or even owned a dog before so i just kept reading and reading and watching YouTube-clips...Thanks Pippa for Your great website by the way, it really answered most of my questions! But there are still some things i'm not sure about. Brosia is 14 months old now. She sleeps in a 3x3m shed in the garden, which has carpet flooring and an electric heated cover over the crate she sleeps in for the cold nights. in front of the shed there is a fenced area where she can move during the day when we don't go for a walk or play in the garden. Our garden is large and rather open from every side. From the beginning i took her for walks inside the garden area and actually never had the problem with her disappearing, she always keeps walking nearby and looking up to me and if not, the recall training with the whistle works fine (unless there is something tooo interesting ;D, in that case i have to whistle 2-3 times and wait some sec before she comes running back). With her growing i began to take her outside the monastery on the lead. This happens to work fine unless she sees something too interesting. Here the pulling begins or she just stops behind me wanting to go another way or to have a closer look to something she found. I usually keep on going while pulling 1-2 times and commanding "Come on, let's go" and it works mostly. On the way back home she then becomes very excited and begins to bite the lead and pull it in front of her, she jumps up trying to bite the hand that holds the lead and growls. That's where i'm not sure: Is it right to just stand still and ignore until she gets bored or to say "No!" and even push her down to stop the growling? Is it right to take her out or should she first learn to heel properly before leaving the garden? When she jumps on people i keep telling them to stroke her while pushing her down gently so she lays down on her back and just enjoys the massage 8) Other when she's walking with me: Here she tries to catch my attention by jumping and biting and growling if i try to push her down (the biting can really hurt if you get bitten in your cold fingers! :-\ ) Brosia loves meeting people or other dogs, but unfortunately we live in a countryside with only 3-4 neighbors around us and their 3-4 dogs which on their side always bark and run away from her while she is trying to play with them. She does great with our pigs & calves & poultry though During vacation periods we get a lot of visitors, mostly families with children. Beside all this Brosia is a very very gentle and calm girl. She "sits", (sometimes) "stays" on command and returns to her shed if told to, she won't touch any food put right in front of her nose until she gets the command "Go". She retrieves on command, although she puts the ball on my foot and bites the ball AND my foot to tell me that she's ready for another round : Sorry for the looong text.. i appreciate every advice / remarks. Thank You all. God bless You. dometius St. Athanasius
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hello, welcome to the forum from me, Julie, and my chocolate boy 10 months, Charlie. I'm sure lots of people will be along to answer your questions, but I just wanted to say hi and welcome. Your dog sounds great fun, and a normal boisterous young labrador! I was born not far from Scarborough, and my family still live up there. A lovely part of the world.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Welcome! Am a newbie too but know this is deffo the place to get help and hints.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi, I have a 7mth black boy called Widgeon. Other than the colour they sound exactly the same!! As we get back from a walk he seems to get a shot of energy (or maybe he realises the walk is over?) And starts jumping and snapping - just as you say!! This is perfectly normal, if slightly tedious!! Most people have been through the walking nicely, recall and retrieve problems. Welcome to the site, I'm sure it'll put your mind at rest
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hello and welcome from Poppy and me! Your dog sounds lovely, and what a wonderful place it sounds like too! If your dog jumps up at people, I wouldn't tell them to stroke her, but just to say 'no' and turn away. Reward good, calm behavior with stroking, not jumping up. If she pulls when you take her out for a walk, stop and wait until she stops too. Don't let her think that she is going to get anywhere if she pulls, otherwise she thinks she is getting a reward for pulling. On the whole, she sounds pretty good though for a seven-month old re-homed lab! Please don't hesitate to come on here and ask any questions - we may not always know the answer but at the very least we can sympathize!
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Welcome from me Emma and Charlie the chocolate lab (4months). Firstly, wow, where you live sounds amazing and Brosia is a very lucky dog to live in the countryside. Can't help much with the training other than to say the Labrador site has most of the answers on it somewhere! You have made me think though that perhaps since God blessed us with Charlie and he is part of our family of 7 perhaps I should be praying for him too...not occurred to me before! In Christ, Emma
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi there, I have Dexter who is nearly 15 months old,a yellow boy who flew out to live with us in Dubai from Bonnie Scotland....I'm originally from Liverpool and my Husband is from close to Harrogate.He said it is lovely where you are but pretty remote. Dexter is our first dog too so I'm not always the best person for advice,sounds to me like Brosia doesn't want her fun to end on her walk! Best wishes Angela
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Welcome from me and Obi! Sounds like you live in a beautiful area. With the behaviour that you don't want there are a few courses of action that work together: 1. Make sure the unwanted behaviour (jumping, biting) is never rewarded with what she wants (so, as Karen says, turn around on the spot or walk away if she jumps, don't stroke her). Sometimes we have to think about what it might be that the dog is finding rewarding about the unwanted behaviour, so we can change the situation. 2. Make sure wanted behaviour is rewarded (so, if she sits, give her a treat and a stroke) 3. Teach her what the wanted behaviour actually is. Be proactive and get in first, before the unwanted behaviour happens. Perhaps instead of jumping you want her to sit. So, as people approach you, get her to sit, and give her a stream of treats to keep her sitting and to keep rewarding the sit. Allow people to pat her only if she is sitting (patting is also a reward). If she moves her feet have the people quickly turn and walk away. They should only approach and she should only get treats while she is sitting. You will need to practice this with some willing helpers before you try it with strangers You can use the same kind of approach when you are walking. Reward with a treat for walking without jumping or grabbing the lead. You probably need to teach her a cue for 'walking without jumping' - to do that, when she is just walking along nicely, say a cue word (like 'walking') and then reward with a treat. Do this often. You are kind of just putting a name on a behaviour you like. When she learns the association, you can use the cue to get and reward that behaviour to keep her feet on the ground in a situation in which she might jump to grab the lead. To be honest, the lead grabbing is a tricky one as it is probably inherently rewarding for her, as in, she just likes it for its own sake. It can be hard to make the alternative (not biting the lead) more rewarding. Might it help to give her a toy to carry instead, to keep her mouth busy? With the biting your hands, I would actually be pretending to be pretty cross with her over that - a loud, angry NO, with a cranky facial expression. The second she backs off, switch to being a picture of joy and give her a treat and lots of praise. Don't push her physically - a lot of dogs just find that exciting and see it as an enticement to jump and bite all the more.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! I agree with all you suggest. The nice thing about training dogs as a species is that they understand a positive reward. When working with parrots its not anywhere as clear .... they see a negative as a reward too. They are real drama queens and any fuss good or bad is a plus to them.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi and welcome here from me too (Lisa and Simba, 16 month LabX). Don't have too much to add to the great advice so far, other than to say that I find clicker training really helpful with my pooch. You can find lots of info on clicker training on the main site and some great videos on the kikopup YouTube video channel. Love to see some pics of your girl and the monastery as well!!
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi from me and Lilly - 3 and a half year black girl. Think everyone else has pretty much covered it. Be patient and consistent, and try to get your regular visitors on board too so as not to undo your good training plan. Loads of info on the forum, and people to help. Good luck jac
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi to all of You - the ones on 2 and the ones on 4 feet Many thanks to Your many and helpful replies. We'll try to do so.. God bless You. dometius
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Hi again.. Brosia is 5 months old now and You really see a difference, she's getting calmer -at least when we're on our own, with others the jumping up has come to a minimum and there's only a very little mouthing left! After today's walk i had another incident which happens from time to time and i really need help with it: The walk itself was great. About 1 3/4 hours in the forest, off lead, with many "sits" / "lay downs" and a quite good recall. The few cars we met were no problem. She automatically went to one side and sat down as trained. Now comes the problem: Brosia found a dead bird somewhere and then completly ignored me!! No whistling no "come here" could let her stop eating that stuff! After waiting a while i went to her (uphill, and that didn't really put me in a better mood ). She obviously knows that she is doing something wrong because once i came closer she grabed the bird and ran away. After i managed to get her away from it she kept running away from me with her tail between her legs... Sorry, sorry i know what comes next is completly wrong: After a while of chasing her i finally grabbed her from the neck and carried her downhill across the garden into her shed and closed the door. And to be complete honest: yes, i gave her a little slap on the nose. This happened about 2-3 times during the last 2 months always ending with me grabbing her and carriyng her to her shed, and putting me in a very bad mood for the rest of the day :'( Now i realize that she often looks suspicious at me when i call her just to stroke her a little and it needs a treat to gain her trust and have her come. How can i regain her trust and how should i behave in such a situation? Thanks a lot. God bless You. dometius
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! [quote author=dometius link=topic=3698.msg52689#msg52689 date=1391703751] She obviously knows that she is doing something wrong because once i came closer she grabed the bird and ran away. [/quote] She doesn't know she has done anything wrong - she is just being a dog, and trying to stop you taking away the thing (food) she wants. She doesn't think it's wrong to eat a dead bird. A magic word might help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/your-labradors-magic-word/ I've been working on Charlie's magic word ever since he found a dead seagull, but haven't used it yet! I hope it works!
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3698.msg52691#msg52691 date=1391704676] A magic word might help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/your-labradors-magic-word/ [/quote] What a fantastic idea - off to open a tin of sardines right now!!
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Dometius, obviously you know that from now on it will be critical to never ever punish your dog when you go to get her, put her on lead, call her etc. There is also zero value in chasing her. She will just learn that it is much easier to run away when you call, and I bet that she can run much faster than you If she is eating something she finds, don't call her. Go get her. As you approach act like the thing she has is really fascinating ("Oh, Brosia, what have you got there? Oo, doesn't that look interesting! Oh, how amazing!!"). I know that sounds daft but it works for me! Although you might be screaming inside, fake happiness on the outside. As long as she is not running away, keep faking that happiness with a big smile!!! As you are approaching, get out a great treat (or a handful!) and show this to her. As you get to her give her the treat as you put her on lead. Then give her another treat and heaps of praise for being so good as to not run away. Before you try this in a real situation I would practice approaching her and giving her a treat quite regularly in situation in which she does not have anything, in her home environment. You want to teach her that when you approach her off lead it's a good thing and she can expect something tasty. Then start doing this when she is out on walks (again when she does not have any 'illegally found' objects) to build up a history of times when she stays still as you happily approach and give her a treat for being so good. . You are not trying to teach a recall here - just a 'stay there and don't run off as I approach'. And - good on you for being honest about getting cranky. You haven't ruined it all, you just have some ground to make up. Also, don't worry too much about the effects of wolfing down a dead bird....it's gross, but it won't hurt her.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! What Rachael said. Just want to reiterate that your dog needs to associate coming back to you with GOOD things, not being grabbed by the scruff and put in the shed! Don't worry, we've all lost our temper with our dogs on occasions.. And as Rachael says, a bit of positive reinforcement will soon put all that right. My vet says not to worry too much about the gross things dogs find and eat. I mean, obviously you try to avoid it, but they are naturally scavengers; it's what they would do if they were strays/village dogs. Just remember to worm your dog every few months, if she is one that eats stuff she finds in the woods.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! [quote author=Karen link=topic=3698.msg52781#msg52781 date=1391763101] My vet says not to worry too much about the gross things dogs find and eat. I mean, obviously you try to avoid it, but they are naturally scavengers; it's what they would do if they were strays/village dogs. Just remember to worm your dog every few months, if she is one that eats stuff she finds in the woods. [/quote] When Lilly is scoffing a dead bird, rotting rabbit carcass, horse poop (actually....I think she has stopped that ) or a rotten fish on the beach, I just remind myself that though they are disgusting, they are naturally occurring food sources, and they are NOT COOKED CHICKEN BONES. That always makes me feel better.
Re: New Puppy - NEED ADVICE!! Thanks a lot for Your encouragment! It is astonishing how fast it worked. The same day i read Your advices i started to do so and even directed our visitors and tadaaa: no running away, no chasing (unless we play). Thanks again!! God bless You!
