Our golden lab, who is nearly 5, makes a bee line for any child as she thinks it may have food in its hand. It is very scary for the child because the dog is very fit and strong. She leapt the wall to try to steal off a stranger's child and they reported us to the police! She nearly chokes herself on the lead to get to any children and I am at my wits end. It doesn't help that my partner ( who had the dog before I arrived on the scene) likes to let the dog run free on the beach where allowed. The dog gets over excited and into a frenzy trying to get this food. How do I cure this please?
Hello and welcome to the forum. This is tricky, because your dog obviously has a history of self-rewarding - that is, her behaviour has got her what she wants in the past. So, you have to change what you're doing. That means a lot of management. No free-running when there are children or food about. Keep her on the lead. Next, you're going to have to work on her recall so that you can call her away from children and food. I'd recommend getting a copy of the book Total Recall to help you work through this. This will take a reasonable amount of time and, in the meantime, you need to manage her closely so she can't self-reward. Also, it sounds like you need to work on her walking to heel with distractions (children). This means starting off at a good distance from the distraction - a distance she can cope with - and gradually (over several sessions), working closer and closer to the distraction. You need to make sure you're rewarding appropriately for her walking nicely. Here is some more information on getting your dog to walk to heel: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/11-ways-to-help-your-labrador-walk-nicely-to-heel/ and without pulling on lead: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/ I would also be working on other impulse control games, so she learns that she gets rewarded for doing the opposite of what she wants - so, games of no mugging (where she only gets a treat when she stops trying to get it from your hand), learning to leave food on the floor, both with a "leave" cue and also uncued etc. These will help her get into a mind-set of "learn to earn", rather than taking what she wants, when she wants it.
I need to add that she is not aggressive towards the child, only obsessed with the food and it's only small children.
Welcome to the forum Do you carry food treats with you when you're out with your dog? If not, that's something you should start to do. Buy a treat pouch or bum bag (known as a 'fanny pack' in the US) and use that to carry treats like small cubes of cheese, or cut up roast chicken or sausage. Use treats that are the size of the fingernail on your little finger. When you see a child, use your treats to get your dog's attention and to keep her with you. Feed her treat after treat till you pass the child. She'll realise that you are much more interesting and have much better food than those children. You will need to do this all on lead for quite a while. Eventually you might be able to switch to a long line (a very long lead) and then later to off lead.
The others have given you good advice. Basically when a dog is doing something that you don't want them to do, it is much easier to train them to do an alternate behaviour rather than trying to get them to "not" do something, especially if that "something" is a behaviour that is very rewarding to them. So when they see children with food, rather than the dog straining to get at the child/food, you train them to do something else, which will give them an even better reward than what they got previously. So eventually when the dog sees a child with food, she will automatically look at you for the tasty treat rather than rush over to get the food. This does take time, patience, and dedication on your part, but conversely you might be surprised at how quickly she catches on.
Thank you all very much. I have treats with me on the daily walk but never thought about them when we both walk her. Doh! I will work on the positive action, especially to encourage her not to jump the wall. It will take time as my partner hasn't trained her at all and he also gives titbits at the table which infuriates me! My family have had gundogs all our lives but I've never seen this obsession before, just the normal begging look... Thank you once again for your constructive comments.
I've stopped walking Snowie in picnic areas because he makes a beeline for the picnics. Most times he first stands at the picnic and stares (he can be polite that way and does actually wait!) until he can take it no longer, and then makes a grab for it (unless I get there in time). Sometimes he romps in and helps himself. Is there any Labrador that won't make a beeline for a picnic where sausages and cheese are laid out at ground level?? A friend has a Charpei x and you can hold a treat out for her and she will first sniff it for ages before deciding whether to take it or not. Not Snowie; he eats first, thinks later.
Yep, a good "don't touch/leave it" command would work wonders, along with the other advice about just having more control in general. I'd also add to really be aware of your surroundings when walking. If there's a little kid 20 meters ahead, you steer way around and put your body between the temptation (kid with ice cream) and your dog. Not letting them fix eye contact and get whacko to begin with can really help. If your dog isn't amped up (ie. you catch it early) she is more likely to listen to your commands. Granted, even if she learns all this, don't count her out in finding other ways to get that food off of little kids. My dog used to sit and stare using his most "come hither" sweet puppy eyes on little kids with ice cream cones. This invariably ended with the kid walking over to my dog as if pulled by an invisible rope and giving him the treat. Which I didn't really want him to have, but how can you say "no" to some three year old without feeling like a nasty old grump. Worked on adults with ice creams, too, come to think of it.
