This is a bit of a cry for help! I feel totally out of control with her at the moment. Not with everything but with some things. She gets the 'crazies' fairly often and she really is crazy. She will launch herself from a height and snap at my arms and grab my ankles and bark and snarl and grab anything she sees. There's no way of stopping her. The whole time I try not to shout and try stay calm because I know it will encourage her more if I shout back. Am I calmly try and pick her up and put her in her cage for time out, but it takes ages to get her and then I do end up shouting because she's biting me enough for it to hurt. Do yours do that? How do you tackle it? Also, she picks up alot of things on her walk and she does not listen to me when I tell her to leave it. Another really annoying thing that I might need to just forget about is on walks all she does is linger behind me smelling every blade of grass almost. I really have to do all sorts to get her to actually walk ahead and get somewhere because she is constantly nose to ground and smelling everything. I can't get her attention to come to me either. She comes really well when I call her but to get her to actually look up and hear me is another thing. Do I find some puppy classes? Are they actaully recommended and helpful?
I don't know how old your puppy is Olivia but I feel exactly like you at the moment. My puppy is 18 weeks old and a lot of what you say, rings true here. Everytime, I get disheartened (which is a lot of the time) my DH says it will all be ok. If I want her to go in her crate, I say 'time for a rest' and throw in a few small treats. This works. Yes out on walks can be very frustrating. I took her for just a short one this morning and she was literally 'hoovering' every stone and stick on the footpath. In the end, I get came back in as there is then nothing pleasurable for either of us. She will sometimes drop when I say 'leave it' but not often. I reward when she does. I suppose it is all 'a work in progress' but it is tough - very tough. We are going to puppy classes which I am finding helpful. Putting everything into practice in 'the real world' is harder. All I can say is, you are not alone.
Hi...this is all very normal. I guess you know that. Different things work for different dogs but at this stage I distracted Meg rather than giving her time out. she loved to chew cardboard boxes, milk cartons, frozen carrots, frozen kongs etc...admittedly my house looked a mess and I do have a few holes in a few jumpers but it kept her busy and then she just stopped being interested and stopped chewing...the croco phase passed. I can't even remember when...it just disappeared. Now she never chews anything..I am a big believer in going to classes, as long as you find one that suits you. Meg started about 14 weeks and was utterly hopeless...we stuck it weekly for a year. There were tears and bumps along the way but when she left when she was just over one having nailed her bronze and silver kennel club obedience awards on the same day. I think attending classes make you feel you are not alone and mosly everything you are experiencing is normal. It's all work in progress ....Best wishes Emma and Meg
OK, I've no puppy experience myself, but I would recommend you find yourselves a training group that you can both enjoy, not necessarily a puppy group. Coco goes to a very mixed group training, we have all ages and all abilities. I watch the puppies on their first day, like bouncy butterflies, noses everywhere, then in a couple of weeks they are able to walk better, concentrate a bit more - obviously they've been doing loads of work at home, between classes - but they've been given guidance and ideas. I find the distractions in a class environment are invaluable.
Hi _Olivia, I can only add to above posts by saying yes it's normal. Though not at all nice when they are rough and it hurts. When Cassie was about 6 months (how old is your puppy now?) I started attaching a short lead to her collar which meant I could grasp hold of that easily without her thinking I wanted to play and then escort her very firmly to her crate so that she could be separate for a while. This worked very well, she soon got the idea. The other thing is distraction with Kongs etc. It's more difficult outside, but just standing still and turning your back can be helpful. I went to classes around this age, I was lucky to find a good +R class nearby, I did regret not going before. When it comes to smells and sniffs though, for myself I think it's what dogs do, it gives them some enjoyment, so I allow her times to do that. I'm sure you will get plenty of advice re recall and leading walking from others on this forum.
What you call the "crazies" is most likely what many of us call Zoomies. I encourage zoomies. I don't allow feet on me, or teeth, but I do encourage the wild running around. OUTSIDE. I stand in a safe corner of my deck where I won't be knocked over and yell, GO ZOOM. Good boy, yay, go. By assigning a name while the action is happening ( same as you do in potty training) you can sneakily gain a bit of control and then even instigate the zoomies when you want them to happen. Same as with potty it won't be complete control but it will help. Zoomies are an expression of joy and good health and I don't want to see them ever stop. Mine have all zoomed after a swim or splash in a puddle and for some reason just after getting back home after a good long walk. My interpretation of the after the walk ones is, "Yay, Mum, that was great, thank you, thank you, thank you." JUmping or biting me makes me quit being encouraging, turn my back and walk away, if I can.
It is very normal and she will become calmer with age. I think it might help if you stop thinking about walks as being times to need to get somewhere and just think of them as times to do things together. Try taking some toys with you and engage her with games of tug and fetch. You can intersperse this with little spots of training sit and down (as in lie down). If you haven't seen them, have a look at kikopup videos on YouTube- she does make it look easy, but on the other hand her methods do work (even if you, like me, don't get to such a high standard as she achieves!) Have you taught 'watch me'? Hold a treat near your face, say 'watch me' and as soon as she looks at you give the treat. It might be a good idea to start teaching 'leave it' as a separate exercise, which you can then use later (once she knows it really well) with real-life things. Take a bit of food, put it near her but not so near you can't pick it up before she gets it. Say 'Leave it' and then as soon as she glances at you, pick up the food and give it to her. If she lunges for the food, pick it up quickly. Or you could have her on lead to start with so you can prevent her getting tot he food. But as you repeat the training you are aiming for her to choose to leave it. I'd have a look and see what training classes there are in your area. In the UK look for ones doing the KC good citizen dog scheme. KCAI trainers are supposed to teach with reward-based training.
That's all totally normal. We never gave time outs either. We redirected and or stuffed a rope toy in Duggans mouth everytime it opened and was heading our way. He never got crazies cause we were home with him all the time and he usually get tons of stimulation. As for walking. I'll share some advice I got on here but I can't remember who to credit but they said... who is the walk for ? Is it for your puppy, then it doesn't matter how far you get. Let them enjoy it. They are exploring the world around them with their noses and mouths. So let them explore. The sooner she commits all the new sounds and smells and tastes to the repertoire they will pass or over it the time. If the walk is for you then you need to find a balance. Satisfy her needs then she'd be more inclined to work with you so you can train her to satisfy yours. And I don't mean tire her out. A tired dog is harder to train and usually more crazy. Like how fussy an overtired infant gets. Just keep going and one day these will all be laughable memories. There's a group on here who all are around the one year mark and we all look back and laugh about the puppy phase and are becoming more and more pleased with our progress and how well behaved our dogs are becoming. The training never ends.
I can't tell you how very, very normal it is with Labrador puppies. They are total crocodiles! These articles are excellent - I relied on them totally when I first got Tatze (four years ago). I've had dogs all my long 60 years but never ever known such crocapups as Labradors! http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-cope-with-an-overexcited-labrador-puppy/ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-play-safely-with-a-labrador/ http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-training/ ...
I've been where you are and my pup is 18 months now and still has crazy moments, just not as bad. She is also very stubborn! We started using a prong collar for walks and she walks much better with that. We also bought a shock collar. I know it sounds harsh, but we only use the vibrate setting and most times don't even have to do that anymore. Just her having the collar on and showing her the remote is usually enough to get her to listen. Wendy's invest in some training classes which I felt were helpful for her, my husband, and myself. Good luck
Moderator Note: @Krista W I would like to draw your attention to the following rule: 3b) training advice This forum supports and promotes positive reinforcement training. Members may not advise others to use painful punishments on their dogs, nor promote the use of punishment in dog training by posting anecdotes which endorse the use of such punishment. Shock and prong collars both fall under the heading of "painful punishments" and so will not be advocated on this forum. With the moderator hat off, I would sincerely recommend you look into more humane, modern, methods of working with your dog. Even if you no longer use the pain functions, you're still controlling (I won't use the word "training" because this isn't training if she won't behave without the apparatus) her through fear. There are far better, kinder ways. I always think, if you wouldn't be happy using the device on yourself (fancy putting a prong collar around your neck?) then don't use it on what's supposed to be your best friend.
Hear, Hear. @snowbunny Prong collars and shock collars have absolutely no place in modern dog training, and certainly not in a positive training arena such as this forum @Olivia__ You have had lots of good advice. Keep positive.
Please please don't use anything such as a prong or shock collar - positive training works and builds a much stronger bond
If your pup is a little food motivated, pull out a high value treat and try to interrupt the "zoomies" with a short training session. Make her do a series of sits, downs, etc and this should redirect her mind and focus on you. Also the kong idea is great. I don't have so much time to prepare multiple frozen kongs everyday and I would give him bones for a while. It worked to keep him calm gnawing on the thing. I stopped giving him the bones though for fear of broken teeth so we changed over to bully sticks and he absolutely loves them. It is crazy how a 6 inch bully stick will last 15 minutes, but a 9 inch bully stick would last one hour. During walks, you can try doing a "chase me" game and let her chase you down for a few seconds. Sparky still likes to explore with his mouth @10 months, but has lost interest on some things he used to grab. I'll let him hold onto a decent looking stick and he would be content the rest of the walk. If I do see something thats new and interesting to him, I would say "leave it" so he ignores it. My trainer uses "leave it" as an ignore command, so I had to train "give" instead for him to give me what's in his mouth. It works 30% of the time, but gotta keep at it. I also used to carry one of the squeakers he has pulled out of his toys and used that to make him look at me.
I use a combination of positive and negative reinforcement. I appreciate the majority of the forum members use positive only with excellent results, but I failed miserably in stopping my boy from jumping up like an acrobat and grabbing television remotes, hair brushes, candles, etc. with just redirection - instead I now put him outside (a time out) for a short while when he does or attempts this. It's beginning to show results - of course I don't actually scream at him or hurt him, but the time outs are a definite "punishment" because he's a house dog and only chooses to go outside for his toileting (or annoying me whilst I'm trying to do some gardening). I'm comfortable using this form of training (you may or may not be), but I'd no more use a prong or shock collar than fly in the sky. Please don't even consider these viable options - they're completely inhumane.
IMO there is nothing wrong with using withdrawal of attention or company (for brief periods) in your training. This is called negative punishment. Negative = taking away and punishment = anything that reduces a behaviour. So you are taking away attention and it's (hopefully) having the effect of reducing the behaviour. Negative reinforcement is different and would be taking away something that has the effect of increasing a behaviour - that would be something like releasing pressure on a choke collar when the dog heels beside you. The removal of the pressure (negative) will have the effect of increasing the heeling behaviour (reinforcement). Negative reinforcers usually involve the removal of something unpleasant....which means that you have to apply the unpleasant thing first in order to then remove it. So most people who are trying to train in a kind way do not use negative reinforcers.
Thanks for explaining this Oberon, I was about to. I know that the terms in behavioural therapy and treatment are confusing for both the human and animal forms. Regarding punishment as a form of training or intervention for people or animals...it doesn't work. As a psychologist I can tell you that you "may" see a change in immediate behaviour but there is a displacement in another domain that may not be as overtly obvious or immediately clear. But I promise you it is there, and I promise you it will be maladaptive. I know the positive training processes take longer but if you can see the incremental successes it is also so much more pleasurable for both, but I may be speaking from my personal opinion on the pleasure. But the rest is science.
