Hello, We have a lovely 13 month old black female lab. We're looking for some advice with the 'off' command as it doesn't seem to be working for us. Often she'll jump on the sofa (she's never been allowed on the sofa) or now the bench/ kitchen table as well - almost seems like attention seeking. When we try to get her off she just ignores us and/or thinks it's a game and starts jumping around. If we try to get hold of her to get her down (the table is quite high!) she has started snapping and being aggressive. We have to try and put her lead on then as otherwise once she's done it once it's like a big game. I know that we're not meant to try and get hold of her but don't know what else to do - we hoped she might grow out of it - but is still the same. We have tried putting her in her crate after she does it but she just barks doesn't seen to make any difference. We have spent hours trying to train her to get 'off' with treats etc but she still just ignores us. We have also tried leaving the room which does sometimes work. Other than that she is pretty good with her obedience training - good recall, sit, down etc. She did pull a lot on the lead but with persistence that is also much better now. I'm worried that she might bite one of us soon (we have two children) if we don't find a better way to deal with this. Any advice/ tips? Thanks
I’m no expert and have never used “off” as a command but I would have thought it falls into the recall command. i.e get your dog to come to you when they are doing something you don’t want by using high value treats. It also sounds like she wants attention and is maybe bored. Does she get two good walks a day to burn off energy and play/ training at other times? Using the crate as a punishment won’t work as her brain won’t associate being in the crate with having jumped on the sofa. Have a look at doing some scent training to direct her energy at these times rather than turning it into a battle of wills.
Thanks very much for your reply and tips - yes she does get at least two good walks every day, play as well as some training. Although, I'm thinking now that we should up the time doing the training and have never done scent training so will try that too. Will also go back to increasing the high value treats to get her to come to us instead but I worry that we're reinforcing the behaviour that if she jumps on the sofa/ table she'll get our attention quickly followed by a lovely treat! Thinking about it the time she does it most often is in the morning before she's been out for her first walk so maybe that is being bored/ too much energy and we need to take her for her walk earlier than we are at the moment (usually around 8am). Thanks
There may be a connection with going out in the morning. This may sound odd but my dog used to have a few mad moments and one of us would say”Does Toby needs a poo?” Because he never wants to do it in the garden one of us would take him out and he was calm again when he came back. Scent training is great as it is really tiring for them without being energetic. We did a basic introduction at the end of which I could hide small pieces of cloth that had been in a jar with cloves around the house and ask him to find them.Obviously he then got a treat. Would love to take it further but with lockdown it hasn’t been possible. He really enjoys using his nose. Someone else may have advice re rewarding the bad behaviour but don’t forget dogs don’t think like we do. If you call her to you with a treat and get her to sit/lay down she won’t immediately jump back on the sofa because she thinks she will get another treat.
