Hi everyone this is my first post. I have a working line 6 month lab pup with some issues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Firstly he will always chase the dummy and he's like a rocket but on return he sometimes uses me to stop himself or go past me. When he brings the dummy too me he will drop it and start jumping and biting. I think it's excitement but i don't know how to deal with it. Secondly he sometimes gets to the dummy and may eat some grass or sniff a bush and return without the dummy. I'm a total novice and it's my first gundog. Would i need to see a gundog trainer? Regards Craig
Hi and welcome . I wouldn't called them issues to be honest , I would call it a perfectly natural play for a six month old puppy ! Many Labradors have an inbuilt desire to retrieve, it just requires fine tuning ! I would tend to think that at six months, he is a little young to start serious gundog training , they are a little too silly and not really mature enough,neither do they have the concentration needed to absorb . I started my own dog, now six years old, when he was about ten months old on a 1-2-1 basis with a trainer but before this , we did practice in the garden and out and about, but I didn't make anything too " heavy " for him , it was very much a play session with added incentives . The jumping and biting is pure excitement and enthusiasm , a joy of what he is doing so praise him madly when he gets it sort of right but don't worry about the rough edges too much. When he starts to mess around , as in sniffing and eating grass , end the session straight away , no fuss, no telling off , just collect the dummy and put it away.Pups don't have a high level of concentration at six months , so sessions of training shouldn't be too long or too arduous . Good luck
@Craig.tân meant to add , there are lots of things you can be gently working on with your puppy, just general training , recall , sit, stay etc . but again, make the sessions short and stop if he starts to lose concentration , good luck !
His sit and stay are quite good. He won't eat his food until told. His recall needs more work as he's good at home but when distracted he's not so good. I've got to try and stop him jumping on people....he loves everyone.
My puppy is also 6 months and gets excited when we meet people. I was shown a good technique at training class this week to stop the jumping up at people. You need your puppy to wear a harness with front and top ring with a double ended lead (I have a Halti). Put the lead down to the ground - the half nearest the harness front ring and place your foot on it. You still have the rest of the lead in your hand. It kind of anchors the puppy and prevents jumping up. I put it into practice yesterday and it worked! Hope this makes sense. I could try to get it photographed.
Hi @Craig.tân and welcome to the forum from Benson 3, Casper 8 and Bramble 17months old. A 6 months old puppy, what fun, well mostly! It looks like you are hoping to dip your toe into gundog training, it really is a great way to work with your dog, whilst developing a deeper bond combined with a sense of purpose. I take 2 of my dogs to gundog training we love it...although we have had our err..interesting sessions shall we say! With retrieving, personally don't do to much, don't expect too much either. It should be a game, lasting a few minutes only. At this stage I would be using soft toys, lozenge shaped, and soft in the middle, so it doesn't matter if they make mistakes, then when your dog has worked out the pattern...meaning 1. Send out 2. Pick up 3. Deliver to hand. - you can then progress on to puppy dummies. I also started out by "back chaining" meaning starting out with the end of the pattern first...so rewarding my puppy just for holding the toy..then adding the other parts later. I was lucky in the fact she adores carrying things around in her mouth, and I encouraged this, even if this was a sock or shoe, never correct your puppy for bringing things to you. If they don't want to hand the item over, swapping for a toy or treat helps them develop a positive association with giving things to you. Finally, take things slowly, don't rush, your puppy is very young! They also don't learn in a very linear fashion, sort of all over the place, this is further complicated by hormones...what worked perfectly one day...falls apart the next! Much to my ire! I have found it's best to get a good solid foundation, which helps enormously when moving forward into more complex training. Finally if you bear in mind that labradors although have that retrieval instinct...some seem to master different aspects of this based on very individual skillsets, so never judge your dog based on what the other dog next to your is doing. Here is a good link to read that I found useful: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-do-i-teach-my-labrador-to-fetch/
Thanks for the replies it's really helpfull. I've been trying to get him to hold onto a ball when out by walking away, otherwise he spits it out and attacks me. It's playfully, it's like the zoomies have taken over. Is there other ways to get him to hold objects in his mouth?
