My chocolate lab peanut has a beautiful temperament, no barking, no aggressiveness at all and very cuddly. But the second he gets over excited the jumping and snatching things and running away behaviour starts. Occasional mouthing but this has improved massively!! The main concern at the moment is the lunging on walks he’s walked a minimum of 3 times a day 20 minute walks, and has free time in a big garden. He gets 1 good walk a week like around lakes and through big parks. The second he spots another dog he’s ragging me towards it. And walking past people he jumps at them with so much force. He’s really powerful and is 40kg right now and I’m struggling to keep control of him. He’s on a collar and harness and they’re connected via double lead. He’s had 10 weeks puppy training from when he was vaccinated, then private training for 4 weeks and then I paid for an entire day away with a trainer but I’ve noticed barely any improvement What am I doing wrong?
Hi Melja - we had very similar issues with Monty when he was the same age as Peanut - they are teenagers with puppy brains inside big bodies - really difficult to manage. Monty used to get really excited around other people and dogs - lunging at them, jumping/biting me when he was frustrated as he couldn't get to them. We do weekly Kennel Club classes which are brilliant for training around other dogs, and for emotional support! When he was really bad we avoided triggers - they tell us at classes not to let them practice behaviours you don't want, so sometimes that means avoiding putting them in a situation - I often did an abrupt turn on a walk to avoid a person/dog before Monty spotted them. Then it's about getting their attention and focus on you - use food to distract Peanut when he gets near triggers - ask for a sit, or a look at me...if he can't do those things you're probably too close to the trigger so start further away and use really tasty/smelly treats. He will eventually grow out of it (Monty is now 14 months and has been calmer for 1-2 months) - it just needs consistency, practise and time, you will get there
Hi Melja. Being dragged around by a big dog is no fun, is it! Can I ask how old he is now? And by 4 weeks private training, do you mean he did residential training without you? Or did you train with him? It can be hard for dogs to generalise training done with one person (like a private trainer) to another person (you!) so if he did residential, you'll likely need to do a fair amount of your own training to help him realise that those skills need transferring to time spent with you, too You might find some of these articles useful: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-leash-train-a-labrador/ https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/ The key to making these suggestions work is to 'proof' your loose leash walk by introducing distractions gradually, at a distance, and building up to being able to walk near to exciting things like other dogs. There are some ideas for proofing in this recall article - you can apply them all to your leash walking too: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/proofing-your-labradors-recall/ And lastly here's Pippa's jumping up article: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/no-more-jumping-up/ I do hope those are helpful!
Hi! Thanks so much for the links, he’s 11 months old and the private trainer come to my house a couple of times a week but we didn’t leave the house it was all done in house and in the garden so he wasn’t facing any of his triggers I did what the trainer suggested but he won’t listen to a thing I say once he’s near another dog!
I was Definelty considering taking him back to training but was worried it would be over kill, I’m glad to hear that worked for you though I’m maybe trying to rush the process, getting him right next to people and dogs and then feeling disheartened when he fails. I’ll try from further away and get him back into weekly training!
If he does as you ask in the garden, that's a great start and you can build on that! A good next step would be to work on listening to you in an interesting place like the park, when there is no one else about. (This might mean a very early morning trip or two!). You can then work on listening when small distractions are far away, and build up gradually
