Hiya, I am wondering if any one can help. We got our 1yr old lad on the 3/1/15 at 12 week old. At 1St all was good then at 16ish week he changed. He barks and growls and jumps at visitors with his mouth open he has caught 3 people and broken the skin and he is terrible at being left alone. He will whimper and bark as well as shred/destroy anything he can get his teeth in too. He isn't very good on his lead, he is very pulls and is jumpy, he gets 2 1/2he walks a day. I have a 3 and 7yr children, and I work part 15hrs a week. I just feel that doggy ownership us hard going at the moment and I need help.
Hi Dani and welcome to the forum What is your dog's name? You may not believe it but your dog sounds pretty normal. That doesn't mean that you have to live with this behaviour! Just that your dog is pretty typical of a young Labrador. His jumping and biting behaviours are meant as play (in his furry head anyway!!) even though it is not fun for a human to be on the receiving end of what a 1 yr old Lab thinks of as playtime.... It sounds like there are a few things to work on here that mostly come back to your dog learning some impulse control (aka patience and calmness). These things can be taught. These articles are probably a good place to start: Pulling on the lead: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/ Jumping on people: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/no-more-jumping-up/ Biting (this one is about little puppies but the principles are the same http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/ Overexcitement: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-cope-with-an-excitable-labrador/ Impulse control: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teaching-your-labrador-to-control-himself/ If you read through the articles on the Labrador Site (that I have linked to above) you will see that there are many topics that cover exactly the kind of behaviour you're describing. This is not only a great resource, it shows just how common this kind of problem is Believe me, you are definitely not alone!! What kind of training have you done so far with your dog? Have you been using food treats?
Hiya, Thank you for taking time to respond, he is called zeke Pronounced zee key. He has had a behaviourist out to see him and she said he needed boundaries. And a lot of his issues were due to me lacking in confidence. (which I still do). He is very food orientated, I will give the links a read and report back. Thank you again. Danielle
Hiya Thank you for taking the time to respond to this post. He is called zeke Pronounced zee key.he has had behaviourist out to see him and she said he needed boundaries and many of his issues were due to me lacking in confidence (which I still do now). One of my main problems is that he jumps up at the door whenever people knock and I have no where to separate him off too as I won't leave him alone with children in his heightened state. People have stopped coming. I will read the links and report back. Regards Danielle
If you have to meet people with your dog outside a training situation (and who doesn't?) try "parking" your dog. This is where you step on the lead and basically ignore your dog and get everyone else to also ignore your dog. It also stops your dog jumping up on people. Over time, your dog just learns to relax when you step on his lead because he knows nothing of interest to him is going to happen. Of course you also need to train "no jumping up". But "parking" your dog is a great management technique while you do that. It's very simple, here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ealapRYpMQ So, you could take your dog to the front door, on a lead, and then "park" your dog while you open the door.
Hi Danielle and welcome to the forum from Fred and me. Fred is a 18mths old black lab. It is hard work to have a puppy and children, but keep going it is worth it.
Thank you all. For your replies I have decided that today is the day when we start working towards a new happier/well mannered zeke. Julie is it OK to "Park" zeke using a collar and lead or would you recommend to use a harness?
Hi Dani and welcome to you and Zeke from Poppy and me. Good for you for deciding that today is the day to start his training in earnest! Can I just say that if I read your post right, he gets two walks a day of 30 minutes? If that is so, then you could probably also increase his exercise, as he is certainly full of pent up energy! I would suggest taking him somewhere safe where he can run around, maybe play with other dogs, chase a ball thrown by you, and so on. Then once he has got rid of some of his energy, that is a good time to do some heel work training with him. Good luck, and looking forward to hearing how you get on!
Hi Dani and welcome to the forum. Where in the world are you? Rachael has given you some good advice and links. It's a really, really common issue, but it can be overcome with training him to be calm, which means rewarding calm behaviour and ignoring the excitable behaviour. How did the behaviourist suggest you tackle his behaviours? Did she give you any exercises or tasks?
Hiya all, We are in a small village called Micklefield nr Leeds. The behaviourist said to give him boundaries, like no more upstairs no more sofa and to create imaginary lines that can't be crossed when I open the door, which work (kind of). But when you have 28kg of labrador Barking snarling and jumping because your mother in law is at the door I for one find it very Un nerving. Just going to take him for a walk and a game of ball. :-D
Well, first things first when your mother-in-law or anyone else comes to the door, put him in another room before you open the door, as that is indeed unnerving for anyone! Have fun on your walk.
Hi Danni. I too have a very boisterious Labrador. If it is of any consolation, you are probably at the very worst right now. On top of a naturally boisesterious dog you now have a teenager as well. Hell on four paws as I remember it. I well remember your desperation. Thinking, how much longer can I go on like this. Have I bitten off more than I can chew. Should I send her to rescue. I was hugely embarrassed by my dog's behaviour and my inability to control her. I longed for the winter so I could wear thicker cloths so it wouldn't hurt so much when she jumped up at me and clawed me. I also thought it would be good when I could walk her under the cover of darkness. I don't think it was any aggression on Molly's part. I think it was a burst of energy that she couldn't control. I clung on to lamp posts and fences while she flung herself around me on the end of the lead. I found that trying to "do" anything when she was having one of her episodes just made everything much worse. So you can see you are not alone. You have been given some very good advice. I would like to add. make a fuss of him when he's being good and quiet. I know that right now, when he is being quiet there is a tremendous urge to "let sleeping dogs lie", but I used to go to Molly, talk to her quietly, tell her she was "a good quiet girl", stroke her gently and feed her treats. I wanted to reward the good behaviour, to make her feel that if I lay here quietly good things happen. I also think it was good for our relationship, it is difficult to build a relationship with anything ( human or animal) if your only contact is trying to stop them doing something. Molly is 2 now, she is still boisterious, but notice now that when she is having a mad moment she never collides with us so,she is now in control of herself. All the Best Tina
Hiya we have had a good walk he walked fairly nicely but then again we didn't see any one or thing, the weather here is grim today. We walked a nice country trail which is secure so he has a run and a sniff and then we headed to the rec where we played fetch, so long as he got a treat I got the ball to throw again. He is now snoozing in his bed and I am heading out to work. Thank you again for letting me know I aren't alone.
You've had some great advice here. "Parking" is a really good thing to teach your dog. I didn't start doing this right away and wish I had, but it's super effective. I do it with both collar and harness; you want to ensure that the dog can stand and sit without any tension on the lead, but not more than that. That way, they can't get enough momentum to hurt their necks if using a collar, anyway. Having said that, if he's pulling against the lead himself when teaching the park, it might be better to use a harness so he doesn't damage his neck. You want to be starting with only a few seconds of this, and build it up slowly. Tina's suggestion of rewarding calmness is also great, and I absolutely agree with her when she says it can be difficult to "interrupt" their rest. You need to be really calm, but even so, you may find that your dog gets up and moves at first. I had this when I was in busier places; I'd reward quietly for them settling down, but this would result in them standing up again, looking at me for more treats, then becoming more interested in their environment again. However, with persistence, they are learning that they only get rewarded when they're settled, so they may as well remain settled. As for the sofa, I believe that's a personal choice. Some old-fashioned trainers believe that your dog will become "dominant" if allowed to sit on the sofa, but that has been debunked. Here's a bit of information about the idea of dominant behaviour in dogs: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/is-yo...dor-in-charge/ I do, however, believe that, should you choose to allow your dog on the sofa, you should be able to dictate when this happens. So, you should train an "off" cue. Some people even don't allow their dogs on the sofa unless invited. I haven't gone down this route, myself. It's all personal choice. Your dog being allowed on the sofa won't, however, have any impact on the rest of his daily behaviour. Conversely, you may be able to use other opportunities to teach him impulse control. For example, going through a door. Again, it's not a dominance thing if your dog pushes past you to get out; he's just excited to get through. But, it's not ideal because a) it could cause you harm, b) it can be dangerous, for example if there's a road the other side of the door and c) it's plain bad manners! This is easy to train, though. All you do it open the door a tiny bit and, as soon as the dog tries to go through, you close it without saying anything (being careful, obviously, not to trap his nose). Wait for him to take a step back or sit down, then open it again a tiny bit. Gradually, you can increase the amount it is open, closing it if he attempts to go through. Then, use a release cue, such as "OK!" to let him go through. Over time, you'll be able to have him sit or stand while you open the door all the way and for him to only go when you release him. Once you've got this sorted, you can use the same idea for training him to be calm when people come to the door. It's easier to do this as a set-up rather than with a random visitor, so you can prompt them that you might not be able to open the door immediately. Have them knock on the door. Zeke will probably bark and get excited, but you don't make any move towards the door until he's quiet. As soon as he's quiet, move your hand towards the door. If he pushes forwards, drop your hand. As before, gradually open the door for calm behaviour. If he gets excited, it closes again. This is basically "negative punishment", which means taking away something rewarding (the chance to go outside, or the visitor) to reduce an undesirable behaviour. In the same way, you can do this with jumping up; as soon as he jumps up, all attention (even talking to him and eye contact) gets removed until he's calm. As soon as he has four feet on the ground and is calm, he gets attention and praise. If this isn't a strong enough message, then try removing the visitor completely as soon as he jumps up. Again, this needs someone who is willing to spend a little time with you helping out - but you can use positive reinforcement with them by telling them that if they help you out, they get tea and cake
Huh. Did she say why? I mean if you don't want the dog on the sofa or upstairs, it's fair enough that you train him to stay off the sofa and discourage him from going upstairs, but in itself on or off the sofa will have no impact whatsoever on his general behaviour. And neither will staying behind imaginary lines although it's fine to use this technique if you want to reward him for not entering a certain part of the house - but that's all it will teach him, nothing else.
In our house, we have never trained an off cue. But we do have a cue for where Charlie can sit. It's "on your sofa" or "on your armchair". So we can move him around the furniture, but not tell him to get off it. It works just fine.
You've been given some good advice so far, and I don't have much to add but support. You are at a difficult time with your pooch, they really are puppies in a bid dog body at this stage. Continue to work with your pooch and you will start to see some results. If you are not clicker training, I would highly recommend this. I got my dog when he was around 10 months old, he hadn't had a lot of training, and he had learned to completely ignore verbal commands. The clicker gave me a new way to communicate with him, and I have found it invaluable. Here's a link to the main site where it discusses this: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/ten-great-reasons-to-start-clicker-training/ There are other links there too on clicker training, so have a look! Really, it completely changed my relationship to my dog!
Hi there, just stopping by to say hello. No advice from me right now, apart from the fact I wouldn't know where to start, i think you have enough to absorb right now. Hope you enjoy being on the forum jac
Hi Tina, You have summed me up perfectly, I find Zeke a huge embarrassment and if we see people he seems to take this as his cue to act "the fool"
hi Fiona, I have managed to rally a troop to come and door knock and then feed cake and coffee to. He has had 3 walks today of between 30 and 45mins a time. And he is currently snoozing soundly on my feet as I am laid on the sofa, He already knows the off command for the sofa but we were told he couldn't have sofa time any more if I wanted to be top dog. Dani
