Hi all I've just joined this evening and wanted to ask for some help on behalf of my parents who have recently (28th March) got a new Labrador Lottie who was born in December 2014 so is around 16mths old. They bought her on a selling group and she lived with a family who had young children and not enough time for her. My parents are retired so home all the time so ideal really. All things considered she's very well behaved and is settling in really well. There's only one issue and it's her behaviour when out on lead walking towards other dogs. She barks a lot and will not stop. My parents tried distracting by giving her treats as the dog passed as they read online and that had some limited success but often it's not possible to see the other dogs in enough time and they'd like to train her not to bark especially as they'd like to let her off the lead so can't really trust her at moment. She also barks at new people who come to the house but seems to settle quickly - think it's more fear than anything. I was wondering if you could give me some advice I could pass on so they can try something and stick to it and try and stop her doing this as other than this she's a really nice dog. One other thing they tried to get her micro chipped at local pet store but she just barked at the lady and they couldn't do it so guess need some help with the stranger thing. Of course it's all new to her so hopefully she will settle down to given some time Thanks in advance
Hello and welcome to the forum from me and my two monsters, Willow and Shadow, who are 20 months old. It certainly sounds like fear due to lack of socialisation. My two have experienced the same thing to some extent, because we live somewhere where it's very quiet for months at a time. The best thing to do is set up some scenarios if you can. I'd encourage them to look into clicker training (http://www.thelabradorsite.com/clicker-training-whats-it-all-about/), which is a very easy but very effective way of communicating to the dog what bits of their behaviour you like. With this method, you'd start off with a stranger standing a very long way away. As Lottie looks at the person, you'd click and give a treat. Over time, the stranger can come closer. You continue to C&T for her acknowledging the person calmly. If she barks at any point, you move her away from the person - it's important that it's her that moves, rather than the stranger, otherwise she might see her bark as "working" - scaring the stranger away. Over several sessions, the strangers gets closer and eventually to the point where they can toss her a treat (you click, the stranger gives the treat). Make sure the stranger doesn't look her in the eye and it helps if they stand slightly askew, so they're not straight on to her. No bending over her, or stretching their hand towards her head - these are all quite aggressive signals to a dog. Just have them toss a treat on the floor near her, without talking to her - they can talk to whoever is holding her lead, though- make the conversation nice and relaxed, with contact (handshake, kiss on cheek etc) if she's happy with that. Again, if at any point she's uncomfortable, remove her from the situation and make it easier again. I've used this technique for several issues my two have had, and it really does help. Don't expect it to be a quick fix - you'll have to work on it over lots of sessions, but you can then apply it as you're (or rather, your parents) are out walking. Just carry the clicker at all times, and the instant a stranger pops into view, click and treat, then immediately get her to a distance that she's comfortable with, continuing to C&T for not barking. This might mean doing an instant 180 degree turn and backtracking, but in time, with your structured sessions, you'll be able to get to the point where she walks past in a relaxed manner. The click followed by a treat is so much more effective than just treating alone, because you can click immediately (assuming you have the clicker already in your hand) and then have a couple of seconds to muddle around in your treat bag to get her the reward.
Agree with all above and I'd add, they haven't had Lottie a full month yet. Time and patience along with the training can work wonders. A training class can not only teach the owners how to work with the dog to gain it's focus but they also tend to bond the dog to the trainer and that will help Lottie to look to the person she trusts for direction instead of deciding for herself that barking is the answer. Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" might help you with the tricks, she calls them games, described above. It's straight out of your Psych 101 class and is Premack Principle but her presentation is fresh.
Agree Control Unleashed is a very useful book - as is viewing all training (even this stuff which starts out stressful) as games. It makes it more enjoyable for both you and the dog, and keeps the energy and enthusiasm levels up, where they could easily flag if you were just focussing on "problems".
Coco was 16 months when we got him, with a similar problem - he pulls hard to other dogs. We are not much further on at 23 months. He goes to training where he gets exposure to other dogs - with mixed results - depends on the dog. I have started just sitting on the prom with him and using a clicker, I click & treat for him looking at a dog - distant dogs. Get the C&T in before he reacts. I was having some success, then I broke my finger, so this has been on hold for a couple of weeks as I need both hands to be working for this training.
Hi all Thanks very much for the helpful suggestions, I will pass these on and let you know how they are getting on. Thanks Debbie
