Koda is 6 months old. He's been great so far - for everyone except me. I'm home all day with him. My daughter is away at college, my son is in school, and my husband is at work. I take Koda for a walk (about a mile) every day and he does great with the leash. When the walk is coming to an end and we're nearing our house, he starts jumping up at me. This continues no matter what I do to get it to stop. I've tried turning my back to him (he just jumps at my back), saying no (means nothing to him), stepping on his leash (he just starts back up as soon as I let it go), etc. At this point he's panting pretty badly - between the walk and the jumping. I bring him back into the house (which is often times another battle where he throws himself on the ground so I can't continue walking) where he then starts the zoomies. He goes all through the kitchen and family room, running around like a maniac, jumping up on furniture and under furniture. As he passes me, he stops to bark. He ONLY barks at me. I eventually have to get him into his crate because it seems nothing will calm him down and he's panting so badly that I can SEE he needs to rest. Being in the crate is the only thing that gets him to actually get any rest. And that leads me to the rest of our day. If he's out of the crate, he expects my undivided attention. I can't vacuum, clean, do laundry, or even sit at a computer or he barks non stop at me. He will let me cook. But I obviously can't do that all day long. I try to play different games with him - he lasts about 5 minutes and then wont play any more. He wont play with any of his toys on his own - only with me either playing them with him, or standing over him watching. If I walk away, he drops the toy and starts barking at me. Eventually I get frustrated and put him back in his crate. He doesn't do any of this when he's in there. What makes this harder is when it's my husband home with him, he does NONE of this. My husband can take him for a walk, they come inside, and Koda gets some water and then lays down to rest. My husband can sit at the computer and do some work and Koda will lay at his feet with a toy and play on his own for an hour at a time. He's never once barked at my husband. He's never jumped at him. So of course my husband doesn't understand why I'm having so much trouble when I describe my day to him. He's never seen any of this behavior out of Koda. I don't know what I've done that has caused him to act this way but I've obviously done something terribly wrong and I don't know how to fix it. Oh and on weekends and evenings when we're both here with Koda? He's sweet as pie. If my husband goes to bed earlier than me, it starts up all over again when it's just me and him in the room. I don't have to initiate anything - as soon as KOda sees that I'm the only person in the room, it starts up. Help! What have I done wrong? I don't understand why this is happening! I'm seriously thinking I should get a job so I don't have to be home all day!!
Aah so sorry @Kaesmom, this must be horrible for you. I don't have any solutions but could you video his behaviour and show your husband so he can understand? It must be incredibly stressful. I hope someone can offer advice that will help.
Hi @Kaesmom , sounds like Koda is putting you through the mill a bit. I have Cassie who is now 17 months, and a few months ago I went through a similar thing to the jumping up on the way home, there's a whole thread about it under training logs. For her, it was due to several things, and in the end the only way to deal with it at the time was by standing on the lead until she stopped, and turn so that you are side on. Yes, she would start again -- and I'd just keep doing until she stopped. Pick up the lead and just carry on, with no interaction. This was the advice of a behaviourist. Aswell as all that I started doing much more training and focus on me games when out and about, and this has really helped, it's fun and good to do things together. It must be very galling that he only does this to you, but I think sometimes they do these things to their favourites In the house, does he know how to go to his mat and settle? Cass hasn't been a problem in the house, but I'm glad that I taught that behaviour.
Hi , it does sound like he has discovered who is the soft touch ! I guess its like small children who behave badly all day and then become angels when Daddy comes home ! Have you thought of some training classes with your little monkey ? I did some gundog training with Sam when he was around 10 months old and to be honest , it was as much training for me as well as him and I have had many dogs in my life , but we are all always learning . I`m not suggesting gundog lessons , but a good general training class which will show you the way to help his self discipline . I do think many become little hooligans at around this age , feeling their feet and testing boundaries which is what Koda is doing , pushing the buttons to get a reaction , even if it means a cross reaction ! Ask around , ask your Vet about classes , it might just help you both x
I'm looking into classes but right now they're only offered at night and on weekends -- I need to find something that's during the day (since I'm home all day with him, that would be ideal!). I agree he needs some intense training. I'm just beyond frustrated that he only does this to me.
I think he probably needs more activity / interaction with you -a one mile lead walk a day isn't likely to be enough to satisfy him. It's a shame you can't find any daytime classes -how about following an online trainer and having a go yourself. The free videos on YouTube by Kikopup cover a whole range of behaviour and are really good. Or have a look at Absolute Dogs - we've been discussing them on another thread- some of their content is free and a couple of posters have joined their 'Academy' for a wider range of videos. Do you know anyone else at home with a dog who would like to meet up with you, perhaps to train together, or just to walk in company? I'd definitely go out more -not necessarily to walk miles, but different situations will tire your dog's brain - take him out for a coffee for example (well, ok you have the coffee not the dog, but you get my drift ) Play games -tug, catch, fetch, hide and seek.. I feel sure that if you engage with your dog while he's so young that eventually he'll become the calm adult you would like.
As far as running around like a hooligan after a walk, let me tell you that is completely normal! My three (two are three years old and one ten months) do this after almost every walk. I don't allow it in the house, but I actively encourage it in the garden. Koda barking at you as he goes past is his invitation to get you to join in, that's all. Take it as a compliment - he sees you as someone to have fun with! It's nothing dramatic or serious, just him being a Labrador. The best thing to do (for this, and all your not settling woes) is to get a pile of kongs, stuffed and frozen, and give him one of these every time you want him to settle down. When we're in Andorra and zoomies aren't appropriate, they three dogs get a kong after a walk. This gives them a way of decompressing and they'll be chilled by the time they've finished. Other than that, training him games that have clear rules - whipit, tug, retrieving etc will give him a way to burn some energy while working his brain.
My 3 year old comes in from a walk and goes straight out into my very small garden & zooms round and round like a lunatic. He has a joyful look on his face - I let him be. It sounds as if Koda sees you as his buddy and he's trying to get you to join in all the time. Coco is a bit like this. I'm alone with him in the morning, and after his walk (and his zoomies) he does bark and badger quite a lot. I slip in lots of short, varied training sessions while trying to get housework done. Coco has an active mind. OH comes home & plays with him & Coco is quiet all evening. If OH goes out again, Coco will get noisy and badger me again. How about teaching him to settle? I think there's a Kikopup video about this. I haven't tried this, but I'm about to embark on Bounday Games (from Absolute Dogs)
You'll love Boundary Games. They are so powerful. The best thing I ever did was get raised beds for my lot
That's a problem. Have you tried the "I'm busy" routine that Stonnie Dennis uses on his lab videos? This involves treating him with a kibble for sitting quietly, then turning away for a second, turning back towards him and treating again. Then turning away for increasing lengths of time, over some weeks, until you reach the point where he will be quietly on his own whilst you do something else. I've also noticed a difference in how Nelson acts when with me and how he acts when with my wife. I don't know for sure, but I think it's because my wife (being a very caring person, eager to mother the boy) will react to every request for attention, whilst I (still a caring person, I hope) refuse to react to every request for attention. I hear a lot of people say that dogs are better behaved with the puppy-daddy than the puppy-mummy. It could simply be down to the differing levels of "mothering" that the dog receives from each parent?
This is very true. If you react to the attention-seeking behaviour at all, you reinforce it. Even if it's to look at him and tell him to settle down, or go away, he's achieved his goal; getting your attention. It's important that you never respond to his demands, or he's essentially training you, not the other way round
I was that person at our house...Quinn used to drive me insane with whining to do things, following me etc. She went through a barking phase (only at me!!) at about 4 months. It's 100% because I responded to her all the time in some small way I wasn't aware of at the time, including looking at her, talking to her (like a person, "what's wrong now? Do you need to pee? where's your ball")...just chatter. Or I would get up/move to do something with her. OH just went about his business at home and when it was time to go outside or do something, he would call her. Even now, on my days off she paces and cries a bit in the mornings, waiting for her walk. Never with OH on his days off. It definitely got better as she got older and I used a lot of chews/kongs, and tried my best to stop responding to her in any way when she pestered...hard with such cute faces!
I'm bringing this back up for a quick update. He's still doing it (the constant barking) and I think he can sense that I now tense up around him. He KNOWS he's getting to me. I have started playing a game of catch before we go for a walk - and he's much better now about biting at the leash and jumping up at me when we need to come in. But he clearly isn't tired yet because once we're in, he's barking non-stop at me again. Where can I find some brain games to play? Clearly he needs them but I can't find any to play with him. Maybe I'm using the wrong search words. Oh and thank you for the YouTube suggestions. I'm going to watch some of those videos tonight (when my husband is home and Koda is sweet as pie).
All the videos / links that have been suggested already show training activities that will tire your dog’s brain - Kikopup, Absolute Dogs, Susan Garrett, All Dogs Are Smart. When you come back from your walk why not see if Koda will settle with a tightly packed Kong for a while? However I do think he will need several periods of activity with you during the day. I imagine you’re not in the UK, as otherwise you’d be able to take him to an off-lead area? This video: shows what Tom and Laren’s whip it game looks like. This is after it has been trained, but it’s a great game. I hadn’t heard of it when my dogs were puppies but I played a similar thing with them, getting them to chase a soft toy on a rope and learning to release it.
It's only been a few days; remember you've been reinforcing the barking for a while so it's going to take longer than that for Koda to learn not to do it, and in the meantime you have to be 100% consistent about training. There's a thread I'll link later unless someone beats me to it (I'm on my phone right now, so it's a ball-ache) for dogs on restricted exercise. That has lots of ideas for quiet brain-training games. One word of warning with whip-it; it is very hard on joints, so I would never play it with a really young puppy and only for a very short period (by which I mean no more than two minutes a couple of times a week) for a six month old.
My puppy did the exact same thing and would refuse to go home but I just started to be confident on the walk and pull and release when he does not walk and pretend ur walking nothing
I think that your Lab must have had a negative experience with you. Or he is ridiculously excited. I would recommend you to watch Cesar Millan training videos. They are very helpful.
