I have a 7 month old lab who can be very attentive to me (we use sit and look at me often with distractions on walks), but when she gets together with her two neighborhood dog buddies for playdates she basically is a wild child and won't sit (even with high value treats) to let them get in our gate to enter the fenced in yard to play. I realize it's hard for me to "compete " in this situation, but I know my neighbor friend would be happy to work with us on a more civil way for them to enter. Thoughts on how I can go about this? Same applies with excited (read jumping ) greetings of people who are not family members. Yes, I know she's a teenager, but I still want to work on this! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Hi Liza, Your Lab is still very young and the arrival of her friends is just too distracting and exciting at this point for her to be expected to sit nicely while they run past It's definitely something you can work on, building up to this point with maintaining your sit with other dogs in the distance, moving gradually nearer over time. But it will need a lot of proofing and won't come quickly. At this point i'd simply keep her on a leash or out the way as they come in, and work on proofing the sit/stay separately. You can find some helpful information on proofing (recall related in this case, but the same principles apply) here and getting the dog to sit here. And some information on dealing with jumping up here for your guests! Hope this helps, but it sounds like for 7 months you are doing great Best wishes, Lucy
Your pup is still a teenager and requires much time and intensive training to eliminate the distraction and bad behaviors like jumping up to others. I used a retractable leash to train my dog until he is completely controlled when meeting some canine friends. Of course, this is also a process of leash training. If your dog responds well to a clicker, you could combine it with your training. Some pet owners and trainers prefer using a clicker for training as it makes it easy to identify the desired action. Here are some steps: Attach your dog to a medium leash and ask your family or friends with dogs to walk their dogs near yours. Let him wander. Slowly over the first few days, let your dog wander closer to the others, but maintain control. Call her back and shorten the leash. As she starts to take off towards the other dogs, call her name and use your recall command. If she returns to you, be sure to praise her and give her a tasty treat. Hold steady If she doesn't come back, use the leash to stop his forward movement, and then go and bring her back the starting distance. Practice Repeat this process and gradually lengthen the leash until you can let the leash trail behind her ands she will come back when you call him.
