Hi all, looking for some advice about our 1 year old lab. We have been doing lots of training with him on loose lead walking as this was a weak point for him and we have really started to get somewhere with him and hes been doing great. The problem we have is when our children are with us walking if they go ahead of us even a meter or two pup will bark, lunge and whine. He has also bitten and chewed through leads and recently jumped up at our daughter when he did get to them. I dont know if it is some kind of anxiety/sress around them? He is fine if theyre behind us and off lead no issues at all, he will follow them wherever they are. Any advice tips appreciated as we would love to walk him and take the kids to the park but he wont stay outside the park he will whine and bark to get to where they are. Thank you
It sounds like he wants to play with them.Children behave/walk/run differently to adults so he is probably very interested in them. The more you do it the more normal it will become. The whining and barking at the park is just frustration that he can’t be in there so he needs distracting until he is a bit older. My previous lab would always have to be at the front of a group if we were out walking and if on the lead would pull to get there. Toby likes everyone to stick together and will stop to wait for any stragglers to catch up.
Ahh, he just wants to be with his family. Our Meg always does this. It does not matter how any times I ask the kids not too run too far off, she just wants to be with them. It’s easier off the lead, so we don’t really ever have her on it unless she’s had a good run first. I think training to settle and wait at a park would take quite a process as it’s such a stimulating and interesting environment. Super hard when you are only 1. Am sure someone on here could advise how to start, maybe flood with treats and encourage focus on you. Even maybe take a kong or something to distract, but I think expecting calm behaviour there at this age is not going to happen without a bit of training and maturity.
Thank you for your replies. I did think it was a big ask as he is still very young. Its just sad sometimes as we end up not being able to do so much as a family because its too much for him and for us!
Yup, that’s the balance of having small kids and pups. It does get better though and it’s so worth it in the end. The friendship my boys have with Meg is priceless.
