Hi all, My dog is now 10 months old and she is really great but like almost all labs she likes to eat everything anytime and that lead us to main problem, eating outside. I really don`t know anymore what to do. When she is off the leash in the play with other dogs (focus is not on me), whatever she finds on the ground have to be in her mouths. She response to commands “stop/wait” or “leave it” or “recall” very well except in this situations. In the controlled surrounding she will not eat something unless I give her a command but outside is a complete different story. I am thinking of getting a muzzle but she likes to play very much especially with balls so I am not sure is this a good idea, or maybe to use a muzzle as “punishment” in training period after she eats something but I am afraid that she will stop to response on recall command because of that Anyway, I read many articles but I want to hear your experience and ways how you manage this. Thank you
Hi @Birkes She obeys you when you have her own lead. Good. She ignores you when off lead. Keep her on lead until she follows your cues even when there are distractions. You need to proof your cues by gradually increasing the level of the distractions. Pick a distance where you are far enough from other dogs that your dog follows your cues. And over many repetitions that you have rewarded move closer to the distractions. Forget about the muzzle.
Hi Birkes, It's a really tricky one, but basically avoiding and preventing are the only solutions in most cases. We have an article on dogs eating rubbish here that gives a few ideas for managing the situation. Recalling a dog away from something they consider yummy is incredibly tricky, even for the best trained dogs
With Boris and Jacob I trained drop, so he would drop any item picked up e.g socks etc also train drop so when they pick up rubbish out side it is dropped, I know some people remove items from their dogs, but when a dog has picked up something outside, do you really want to remove the dead mouse, cat poo,!!! etc. Having trained a drop , train a leave. So when out you can command ,drop, leave and come.
both my dogs are lab crosses.Boris is lab X golden.Best of both worlds or worse of both worlds. Fur is longer than lab put not as long as golden, Still moults twice a year, both moults last 6 months.
