I've had a lab and golden retrievers before, and German Shepherd. I now have a beautiful yellow lab male who I adopted from the local humane society just recently. He's a little over 3 yrs old. He was neutered this past April! He is crazy, and I'm not exaggerating. He steals our clothes and towels and runs with them. I try calling him with yummy snacks to give him in return for the item, but he's not interested in that. He'd rather run from me with the item. It's especially irritating when he steals dinner about to go on the stove. He knows what items are off limits. I've even watched him go after it, he looks around like a child, and if he thinks nobody is around or watching, he grabs it and runs outside with it. Sometimes he drops it outside and sometimes he chews it. He goes nuts when someone comes to the door and I have to put him in his crate when visitors arrive, just for their own safety. Then he's in his crate with this high pitched bark that about breaks your ear drums and we can't even hear ourselves think let alone talk. He will bark for a good 20 minutes like this. I'd like to get this kind of thing under control because I work from home and need to be able to concentrate and take phone calls as necessary. He also darts out the door any chance he gets. He's gotten better about sitting and stay before going on a walk, but the minute the door opens he is fixated on it and charges through it. When I have the main door open (screen door closed he charges through the screen door and it goes flying open. I can't have this behavior since in the fall and winter months, this door will be open a lot. It has gotten to the point where the door doesn't latch, it just loosely sits in place and just looks like it's closed and latched. I really want to make this guy a permanent fixture at our home but don't have the thousands of dollars to send him away to training.
Hi there, and welcome to the forum All of these problems are treatable at home, and your dog sound boisterous and a bit confused about what is expected of him, rather than anything more sinister. So please don't panic Stealing is a common problem in Labs, they love attention and they love to carry things so running off with your clothes seems like a good idea. Here's an article to help you with that https://thehappypuppysite.com/how-to-stop-your-dog-stealing/ Here's a technique that you can use to teach dogs to be quiet: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/click-for-quiet/ The door barging is fixable too, but I suggest you tackle one issue at a time and make some progress on that, otherwise you are just going to feel overwhelmed. While you are getting to grips with the training issues, you might find it easier to manage your dog in the house if he wears a house line (a short trailing lead attached to his harness)
Hi and welcome. I can sympathize because my lab mix Johnny is our 5th dog from the local SPCA - over many years, not meaning that we have 5 dogs now. Eek. When they first come home, things are challenging but once they relax and figured out this was their home, things got way worse. Sort of like the honeymoon was over. Johnny is my first lab and frankly I was at the end of my rope because it seemed I had adopted an insane kangaroo with teeth. Thankfully I found this forum. It took me a while to find the right trainer. In retrospect I should have perhaps started with the group classes offered by the SPCA. Does your local humane society offer classes? We were also offered a discount due to our adoption. Private consultations are also offered but the price was high enough to put me off. You might think otherwise and it was a lot less than the fee for a board and train program. If there is more than one trainer, call to chat or ask to visit classes and see if you prefer one over the other(s). The trainer I found charges $50 an hour and I found it well worth the money to have in-home sessions given Johnny's, um, "quirks". She gives homework, which is great, and is always available by phone to answer questions. One of the reasons it took me so long to find the right trainer is because the first one we had, whom we love, quit because Johnny's jumping and mouthing made her cry. Something I found very helpful was training for "place". In time this should be ideal for making dinner. Hopefully somebody will come along and add a good link for this. In the interim is there some way you can use a pet gate to keep him out from underfoot while you cook? Johnny and I needed a lot of help from the trainer, what with jumping, mouthing, pulling on the leash like a sled dog, not to mention the barking-snarling-jumping-nipping-while-circling-me game, so it cost me hundreds of dollars but not thousands. And of course the great benefit was I learned what to do. Sending a dog away for training, at least in my case, wouldn't be so helpful because I needed the trainer as much as Johnny did. And of course congrats on your lovely new boy. Any photos?
Hi Jacksmom, Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear that you're struggling at the moment. You've had some good advice and links above - it might also be worth going to a positive reinforcement behaviourist if you are able to find one in your area (vets often have good contacts). Best of luck, and do let us know how you are getting along!
Hiya I feel your frustration as my first black lab, who sadly passed last year, was very similar to your mischievous lab. Despite my best efforts she was a menace! I do blame myself for some of her behaviour though because she was our first Labrador and wasn’t trained as well as she could have been. She did improve gradually but I know she would have been great if the training had been applied from day one. I guess initially I let her get away with murder. We now have two labs, a five year old black lab Shiko (very nervous - which is a daily challenge to ensure she has the correct training and guidance) and we have a fox red Labrador Luna who is 9 months old and is just going through her first season :0 We have had Shiko for 3 years and aren’t 100% sure of her start in life, which may be an influencing factor with your boy, but since her arrival her behaviour has improved 10 fold, don’t get me wrong we still have some serious issues, which she is seeing a behaviourist for, but I never thought she’d get where she is today with her behaviour. Now Luna, who we have had since 8 weeks old, has had training since day one. And without being biased she is an amazing dog. So very intelligent and well behaved and I guess this has come from our hard work of training her and her desire to learn and please us. One thing I have learnt by having 3 labradors is that they are very intelligent dogs which thrive off training, they love to impress us and make us proud. Like Pippa said, I don’t feel you need a specialist trainer to achieve results with your boy, just lots of small amounts of daily training. The only reason Shiko is going to a behaviourist is being she recently bit somebody, which I got advice from this site about. Good luck but most of all enjoy the training and reap the rewards x
Well, it's been a while since I posted this because I couldn't figure out how to sign back in and had phone issues and had to buy new, and the list goes on. Thank you for all your advice and suggestions! I still don't know what to do as now, Jack has destroyed some property, hurt people, offended people including neighbors, etc. I now have to replace the front screen door, the back screen door, and one of the window screens. This is not cheap. I actually had a talk with my 2 teenagers about rehoming Jack or getting him into a rescue for their assistance. My daughter is very on board but my son wants to keep Jack. I told him, well, I would love to but I am not made of money nor am I a dog whisperer. I know he thinks I have all the answers and that money grows on trees, but neither is true. I cannot afford a trainer, as I tried that and it didn't work. I felt it was way too passive for Jack. We run the risk of hurting ourselves while we're in the process of training. Keep in mind that I've had horses all my life and I feel a 1,000 lb animal is easier to work with than Jack. At this point, I have resorted to putting him in his cage while I cook and I need to do the same when I have the windows and front screen door open. I've also come to the conclusion that I'm really tired of altering my lifestyle because of this dog's disrespect. I want to enjoy this beautiful weather we have and my home too. I know, I sound like negative nelly but I'm being honest. I don't take him for walks anymore because it's a horrible experience. My daughter won't do it either. My son tried and took treats with him but he won't give me the truth because he wants to keep him. Well, after their walk, they walked in the house and Jack got away from him and bolted through the screen door, the door goes flying, and so did Jack, at night. I reached out to the humane society where I got him, and they won't take him back. This would be his third time being surrendered. So, here I am with no remedy or answers once again. I'm at a loss. It's a constant struggle. While I would love to keep him, I don't know if I can cope with it. Single mom here who works, home owner, you know the routine. I did post a pic of the tyrant but don't know how to post one in this message here.
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Obviously the dog needs to be trained, starting from square one. I'm not the right person to give detailed training instructions but here is my suggestion: If your teenage son wants to keep the dog, tell him he has to train it. I don't know how old he is, how responsible or committed he is, or how much free time he has, because it looks like this will require a serious effort that demands much time and attention. Read up on positive training, get a clicker, and start with small tasks and improvements. I can't imagine problems will go away overnight, but if his training yields demonstrable, consistent improvement, even if just incrementally, maybe over the long run you can turn a bad experience into a positive one for the entire family. Of course if you ultimately decide your home is not the right place for Jack, you may just be encouraging further emotional attachment that'll be more painful to sever.
If you can't afford to pay for a trainer yet you desperately need a lot of training help to be able to keep the dog... If you want training to happen instantly and think that the slow slog which is needed is 'too passive... If the dog is not even getting walked because you can't deal with his behaviour, creating a downward spiral... If your attachment to the dog is not enough to work around this... Then please place the dog elsewhere.
