Our pure breed lab is very smart, yet stubborn. He is good off lead for like 5 min then jumps on ya, chews on your arms, launches at ya. He weighs 85 pds. He did go to puppy school for couple weeks at happy tails but they were cruel with pinch collar training and we removed him. We have expensive shock collar but don't like using that. He ends up being kennel end up a lot which we don't like. Our other black lab which is 6 years old has always been able to have free range of house. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help Hello there, sounds like he needs some more exercising, retrieving, and training work to keep him physically and mentally exercised! How much do you exercise him each day?
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help Hello, I started typing a reply, and then - like Karen - decided I had questions first! I thought that what I was writing may be way, way off beam without knowing a little more first. What is Yogi's daily routine like? And are you only having these problems at one time of day, or is he generally poorly behaved in the house? I know you say he ends up being kennelled - is that outdoors or does he have a crate / pen in the house too? What commands does he already respond well to? I'm glad you said you are not keen on the thought of using the expensive shock collar you have - personally I hate them, but I do appreciate some people are supporters of their use. My guess from your post is that you are in the US?? (I'm basing that solely on the fact you gave your dog's weight in lbs and not kgs - could be quite wrong about that though...) I think if you don't mind telling us a little bit more about Yogi, then lots of practical suggestions will start rolling in! Clare
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help We have had horrible weather here so Yogi can't go out in yard for but a few minutes. He runs and runs and plays with all his large kong toys. We throw the ball and run him. It's been below zero so can't be outside long. Not sure what his daily routine is when I am at work. Husband cares for him during day right now.
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help Hi maybe you could do some gentle retrieving indoors along a corridor, some heelwork and some obedience, sits/stays, down, paw etc. if he doesn't already know them. He may just need to use his brain which is just as important as exercise, as you can't take him outside at the moment. Lots of people on the forum have done lots of clicker training of tricks etc. Hope this helps.
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help Yogi learned to heel on left side when walking. When weather is permissible he goes on walks too.
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help Helen's suggestion of as many games as possible to tire him mentally if he can't get outside as he normally would is a really good one... Finding toys / hidden treats / fetch games - anything that gets him thinking. You could also look at teaching him how you want him to behave in the house with mat / place training. You can start this in one room, e.g. the lounge / family room when you want him to be calm in there in the evenings, and transfer the behaviour elsewhere later! If you google place / mat training, you should come up with several different ways - choose the one most similar to the way you normally train? I don't know if you have used clicker training before - if you wanted to go down this route and haven't done clicker training before, I would suggest reading all the clicker resources on the forum before beginning! Hopefully when your weather improves and you can get back to more outside exercise, his behaviour indoors will also start to settle too! Clare
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help I am in agreement with previous posters, he needs more mental stimulation and excercise. Labs have a thick coat, no matter what the weather is like he should be excercised properly outside, every day! Below freezing or not! I have seen so many photo's of working labs in the US wearing coats so get him one, If it's too cold for you put an extra coat on. Sorry to be blunt, its just how I feel about dog ownership.
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help I have a Chocolate labrador that is bonkers. Feels like I should be saying this in a village hall, in a circle of people sat on cheap plastic chairs who are looking at me with sympathetic faces! Not all Chocolate labradors are bonkers. But mine is. And I love him to distraction. But it's a challenge. I'm on restricted exercise too - from injury, not the weather. Taking him out of all the situations you need him to learn to be calm in is not the answer. You need to work out when he is able to be calm, reward him, and build on that. Slowly. For example, I have had to drill my friends and family to watch my boy - watch how an extended hand AND a high pitch voice makes him jump up. While one or the other is ok. You've got to get him to a place where he can cope with the excitement and build on that. My boy couldn't stay calm while anyone but me and my partner walked up to him. We introduced people one by one, clicker training a calm reaction, with people taking one step at a time and stepping back if he over reacted. It took forever. Training calm is a billion times easier if you can find a way to get rid of some of the excess energy first. But if you can't do that, you've still got to train, but the steps you can take are tiny.
Re: Chocolate lab yr old can't be off lead in house or goes bonkers all over- help I agree with all the previous posters that have said it sounds like he needs more exercise physically and more mental stimulation. If it's cold outside - get a coat. There are plenty of good quality dog coats available too that are windproof, waterproof and thermal, weatherbeeta is a particularly good one. If you don't want to take him out then he MUST be having some form of exercise indoors to compensate. You can't just expect him to be calm if he's got a lot of own up energy from not being walked. Extra training is good as it exercises the mind and will tire him out mentally, it's also good for building more of a bond between you. You don't have to stick with the standard sit, down, paw tricks, you can try something fun such as hide and seek with treats or a favourite toy. Teach him to fetch the paper or your car keys. Target trainin is good fun as you can move on from the basics of that to really cool tricks like opening and closing doors or pressing the lightswitch. Start clicker training - with that th possibilities are endless and you can also teach calm behaviour.
