My 1/2 year old chocolate lab is constantly attention seeking, particularly when people come to the house. He is impossible to ignore as he jumps up, paws, whines and barks. I have read about teaching him to settle however I struggle with this as he knows I have treats and will whine, paw and bark for them for a long time. I am looking for advice to get him to relax and also allow me to relax! I don’t like having to put him in another room when people come round to the house.
You don't need treats to teach a settle. I have a 5 step guide 1. Make cup of tea or coffee 2. Select reading material. 3. Sit in comfy chair 4. Place foot in dog lead allowing enough slack for oupmto sit/stand/lie down 5. Ignore puppy/dog When puppy settles you can quietly tell them they are good and praise their 'settle. Jumping up can be modified by asking the Dog to give an alternative behaviour which is rewarded; so you ask for a sit, reward when all paws are on the floor, go to mat/bed, fetch a toy. Any of these will prevent a dog jumping up. Paws should be ignored unless a 'give paw' is trained and ignore whining and barking which includes avoiding eye contact.
Oh, you have my sympathies! Having owned a young and very sociable labrador I know how frustrating this can be! Firstly it is very easy to inadvertently reward these annoying behaviours, so training your dog to be happy in another room or crate is a good start. Physically introducing barriers, such as baby gates is a good idea, actually combined with a crate, this is the approach we decided on. Secondly, you can train calm behaviours with your dog on a lead, around the house. Rewarding calm, and setting your dog up for success at the same time. Here is a good link to get you started! https://www.thelabradorsite.com/attention-seeking-dog/
These threads always seem to pop up at just the right moment. Rosie has been TERRIBLE today. First, through 10 was when we got company today. Some of which was bad timing on my part. When my daughter and grandbaby come over it's gotten to be routine and a bit more manageable. We had a quick settle down and good playtime then naps. But just as we were getting up from the nap Rosie's original owner(my mother in law) came for a visit I lost any control over her; not a damn thing worked...I kept getting responses 'oh she's being a puppy'; 'she's so energetic' 'good girl Rosie' while being jumped on and petting her- can we say reinforcing bad behavior!!! SIGH..and with all that amazing loving how could any doggie go play with a toy or sit still for a minute. And just as she got reasonable we got another visitor and let the uncontrollable happen again. My son-in-law loves to rough up with her while she jumps on him and say 'Rosie you need to get down' WHAAATTTT!!! I did put a lead on her; we don't use one in the house at the moment and she wears a harness so I found it helpful to physically restrain her when she was a danger for herself or others. (we are still nursing a limp). About a half hour(seemed like DAYS) into everyone being there she settled down fabulous and listened to every command I gave her. I can tell you that this afternoons nap was VERY LONG! After we played, off leash up into the woods to get some fabulous sniffing in and back into the house for a bit more play and dinner. NOW she's nipping, barking, jumping on me and finding 'things that aren't hers'. The nipping and barking are directed at me and will occasionally come in contact with me; today my thigh got a friendly 'HEY I'M HERE' nip when I wasn't paying attention to her - I find these very hard to ignore. Luckily the jumping up is much more control with me and most of the time it's gentle placed or an air jump. The finding things are like towels, baby toys anything she can nose that will get my attention - luckily she doesn't destroy them. Occasionally the toilet paper roll finds it's way into the living room. If I went and sat on the couch so she could curl up with me she would be down for the night but I'm sitting at my desk trying to work(and write this post). I do ask for a hand tap before she gets any positive response from me. Tell her to sit and laydown which is responded to begrudgingly, oh what a sound that makes. We are playing toss and catch with kibble and when she's settled I remind her of her plushy toy to cuddle or a chew to work on. Nothing seems of interest. I KNOW she'll settle down but I haven't found a quicker way to make this easier for her. And yes I give her a TON of positive feedback whenever she is being calm and well behaved. Thanks for the link and I'll be watching this thread for more great tidbits. off to deal with ms.barky again
Thanks for the advice, I will try without the treats as if there is food involved he will either act worse for it, or behave perfectly until he gets it then forget everything!
Might be a silly question but is the lead needed to teach to settle or can I try without? I only ask as I’m thinking will be only do this with the lead on once learned...
Yes, you can do this without a lead. This is how I worked with Bramble as a puppy, using a mat beside me and rewarding for calm, disengaged behaviour. I didn't use a clicker, however, when Bramble was quiet, not focussed on me I would trickle a small treat between her paws. My objective was having a puppy, able to sit quietly beside me, but not watching my every move! I also used kilkopup videos, and found them immensely useful to support my training calm puppy behaviours
We go into the front room to watch TV at 9pm once the pups are five months old (until then we stay in the kitchen). We use a lead for a few weeks then try them without. They get into such a habit of settle time that they soon get into it. Most have needed the lead at first, ‘tho Keir didn’t but he’s a naturally calm dog (and not a Lab!)
No It's not necessary as @Beanwood says and the drop a steady trickle if treats to pup is a valid method but on lead it is much quicker to get the settle, and less interaction with you with the possibility of reinforcing behaviour you don't want. Once pup settles quickly (and they do learn quickly) you can try either without the lead or with the lead just on but not under your foot
Although, if you go for the treat-trickling method, be careful you don’t train a ‘fake settle’. The idea is to gently drop a treat between their paws when they show signs of relaxing, switching off. My Pig has learnt that if she rolls her hip over, and puts her chin on the floor and avoids eye contact with me, I think she has relaxed and I drop a treat for her. But I have realised that she is faking - if I move my hand a tiny bit I can see minute muscles tensing, an ear flicking towards me, and I know she is poised holding this ‘relaxed’ position waiting for her treat. I have been too busy to correct this yet, but I’ve seen through you, Piggy!
The ideal is that puppy doesn't see you drop the treat - it literally drops unseen, which can be quite hard to achieve. Also you have to phase the treats out while maintaining the settle.
I find with the settle that simple duration builds the real settle as opposed to a fake one. I train the settled position (over on one hip) and reward for me going about my daily business. Starting with rewarding every couple of seconds and of course the dog is going to stay looking expectant with this. But over time, as I spread the time between treats and, importantly, with me being out of sight too (I'm working on them not following me around the house and staying settled even if I *gasp* go into the kitchen!), they just learn that nothing of interest is happening and they might as well really settle down. I will still drop the occasional treat to reward this (even if they're asleep!), but being calm also becomes its own reward once they've learnt it.
So trying these techniques I’ve found, using treats makes him a lot worse, and if he settles without the treats and I give praise he instantly jumps up looking at me for either treats or attention, should I just completely ignore him all the time unless I am the one wanting to offer the attention? This sounds mean however he is constantly attention seeking and expects my attention 100% of the time.
The treats will make it worse in the short term. Persist and he'll learn that being settled will bring more treats whereas prancing around gets him nothing. Make sure you're putting the treat on the bed and not to his mouth. Don't put it down if he's fussing your hand for it, wait until you can put it down without him mugging you.
