My Lab retriever is 7 months now and she is an absolute star, so well behaved, lovely nature, well mannered, honestly she is the ideal pet in the house but as soon as we go out she is a different dog. I take her out for just over an hour every day, sometimes the beach, sometimes the park and even to the hills up by where I live. As soon as I let her off the lead she is away, she goes absolutely mental. She will run full force into a family group if at the beach, she leaves crying toddlers and panicked parents in her wake. She is not vicious and I know she won't bite, it's just all excitement. We practice recall constantly and if it's just me and her she is amazing, I have her trained to a whistle as well as my voice. As soon as she sees another human or another dog she is off. She pulled my 66 yr old mother over last weekend when she was dog sitting for me. I'm at a loss, I dread our walks. She has been bitten herself twice by other dogs. I'm so unfit and not at all athletic and there is just no way I can run after her. I started to just keep her on a lead but thats not enough and we get home and while I'm exhausted from her pulling she is wondering when her actual walk is going to start, being on the lead just doesn't tire her out. I know she is still a puppy and I know more recall training will help but as iv said I actually dread when it's that time of day and I have to take her out, she panics and embarrasses me on a daily basis and I'm constantly having altercations with other members of the public while on our walks. Sorry to rant and ramble on and please be nice with your replies, if the solution is obvious to you I'm sorry, this is my first lab, iv always had little yorkies who wouldn't leave my side. Thanks, a despairing Trisha and a VERY excitable Scout xx
Re: I need advice and help please Oh dear, sorry you are having such a problem Trisha. I might be wrong, but it sounds as if you have to work more on the recall, and get proofing it. You have my sympathies - I have a similar issue, although not quite so bad I think - or maybe my pooch has just matured a bit. I think if it was me, I would be looking at working on walking on lead with no pulling, and not letting her off-lead at all, but invest in a long lead (and probably a harness) when you have a little more good walking behaviour. You need to get control over your dog in public areas. At the minute, she is maybe being rewarded for pulling like a train by getting an off-lead romp for an hour. Could you bear to do exercises on pulling? The main site information for this starts here. And a little bit of long lead information here Do you have Total Recall? - if not, I think this would be a good place to start. I hope someone else comes along with some other suggestions too.
Re: I need advice and help please Loads of sympathy, my boy was pretty nutty at 7 months. Yes, he would jump on people at the beach, for sure! So, he had to go off lead. But we picked our times and places. There was absolutely no pointing taking him to a busy beach and expecting it to go well! We worked on coping with other people and dogs slowly. For months, we just avoided small children - he would send them flying! The key was keeping him engaged and interested in us - we played games. Ball games, hide and seek, recall games. What we could not do was let him off his lead, let him do his own thing, and relax. If we wanted to do that, we'd go to a big beach at the crack of dawn. Good luck with it all.
Re: I need advice and help please You poor thing. I can totally understand how you must dread walks now, and I certainly get that feeling of embarrassment when others give you 'those looks'.... It is difficult, I know, but as Jacqui said at the moment there is nothing to indicate to Scout that it is not ok to pull. Pulling gets her what she wants and that is obviously more motivating than any discomfort she might be feeling from pulling. I can understand how hard it is to stop a big, strong dog from pulling when you are not big and strong yourself. I guess that what I would be doing is: - working hard on the 'not pulling' (see this article in environments that are slightly more distracting than your house and yard. This might be just up and down your street - looking for an opportunity to enrol in a good dog obedience club or any kind of training club really (as long as it uses positive motivational methods like food rewards) which will help keep Scout's mind busy and will help her to slowly learn to control herself and listen to you in an environment with other dogs and people in it - wear Scout out by getting her to use her brain with training exercises such as teaching tricks and obedience moves in slightly more distracting environments than your yard, gradually building up to more distracting places (e.g. down the road from a school). This sort of thing is surprisingly tiring for a dog - think about anyone you might know with a dog of similar build that might be happy to have play dates in a secure backyard - Consider trying a front-fastening harness that attaches at the front of the chest. These things aren't magic bullets but they are different to the dog and are not yet associated with pulling and give you a bit of a chance to re-teach walking nicely (plus is might make it a bit harder for Scout to pull as pulling will tend to turn her to the side). I would see these things as a temporary measure to help you re-train walking nicely. Do be assured that you are not alone in having a massively enthusiastic, playful dog who wants to greet the whole world daily and who loves nothing more than galloping right through the middle of a large family picnic. Also be assured that this is something that can be solved with time and patience (though I am sure you feel that the latter at least is in short supply right now).
Re: I need advice and help please Thank you all, your replies have reassured me and have put my mind at ease for now. I am going to go through the links in the morning and no I don't have total recall. Starting from tomorrow I will be keeping her on her lead as you suggested and work on her pulling. It saddens and it is quite upsetting to me that I have no confidence and trust in my own dog. People keep telling me when she runs off to "just walk away, she will sharp realise, get a shock and come running back" but that is a lot more easier said then done- not only am I extremely nervous about doing this, it is hard when you have other people (families and other dog walkers) shouting at me and my dog, plus what happened if she doesn't come running back?! Is this a tried and tested method, would anybody here do it?! Thank you all again xx
Re: I need advice and help please That doesn't work for me Trish. I used a long lead for a while, but found it difficult to proof against wildlife. I would really recommend Total Recall, it is really good, sensible and takes you through things step-wise. There is no doubt the more anxious you are, the worse it can be, but you gradually have to build up your confidence with Scout and learn to trust her. Total Recall can help you do that. A good investment f you ask me.
Re: I need advice and help please Sorry you are having this difficulty, Trish, but there are lots on the forum who can give you good advice. I do think that working on th "no pulling" will really help you. Just be patient, it will take some time, but if you persist, you will get there! Just a clarification for you, "Total Recall" is a book by this site's founder, Pippa Mattinson. It's a great book on how to teach your dog to recall to you using a whistle.
Re: I need advice and help please Agree that Total Recall is likely to be a huge help It will give you a plan that you can stick to and I think that kind of thing helps us to feel more in control. Start from the basics, as if Scout is learning it all for the first time. I do the 'walk away' thing if the environment is totally safe - no cars, no people, no other animals, or the area is fenced. Walking away doesn't tend to work if there are other, more exciting things to do. If people are shouting at you to do this or that then they are terribly rude and bossy. I just hate it when people do that - it infuriates me for days. I know it's hard, but try to ignore them. Summon up the mental image of everyone on this forum telling them to keep their opinions to themselves.
Re: I need advice and help please Hi Trish, I have had a few problems over the past few months with my pup Harley (now 8 months old) running off to children and grabbing their food and sticks. After a particularly bad day I had a bit of a rant on here and got some brilliant advice and support Anyway, I now use a long line when I know children might be around, and I always have several balls with me. She doesn't always want treats......but loves balls! I now throw the ball in the opposite direction to where the families are and keep walking away. Also, I have changed the times I walk to reduce the amount of children around (unless it's raining or generally not nice weather which few parents take their kids out then) Harley is usually really good with recall, unless kids are paying her attention, then she ignores me. I do know how you feel and it does get better hope this helps
Re: I need advice and help please Just sending some sympathy and reiterating what others have said. I'm working through the 'Total Recall' exercises and am pleased with progress. I would definitely avoid areas where people sit (especially with children) for now. I find forest walks are good as I can take lots of different routes so Molly (7 months) isn't quite sure where we're going and tends to stay with me more than in wide open areas. I haven't been able to interest Molly in a ball when out, though she likes them at home, but have recently started taking 'tuggy' toys, which I produce for a few minutes every so often during the walk for a game. I live very near the beach, so if I go there I put Molly on a trailing long line which gives me some control and reduces stress.
Re: I need advice and help please Trisha - was thinking about your post. This stuck in my mind: [quote author=Trishad3397 link=topic=5376.msg67659#msg67659 date=1397248584] we get home and while I'm exhausted from her pulling she is wondering when her actual walk is going to start, being on the lead just doesn't tire her out. [/quote] I think you do need to find a safe way to let your young dog blast off some energy - even if that means avoiding other people and dogs while you work through the total recall book. In the meantime, I wonder if my experience with Charlie and lead walks helps. He was very suddenly put on restricted exercise, lead walks only, when previously had been used to 2 off lead runs a day. It was just murder. He became appallingly badly behaved on his lead. I'd never had much trouble before, but now realise trotting round a field to practice walking nicely, with a well exercised dog, is very different from exercising a young, lively dog through lead walks only. I decided on my "walking nicely" strategy, which was from Turid Rugaas: http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Dog-Pulls-What-Do/dp/1929242239 Then, I did nothing but this - at first in 5 minute walks (I got nowhere, just outside my house). I did this again, and again, in 5 or 10 minutes. By the end of the day, he had a hour, but in many, many small walks. We got to the bottom of the street, then round the block. For a while we were stuck on the same 25 minute walk, but did it 5 times a day (so 125 minutes of exercise). Then we added another few streets. Baby steps, but it worked. It's quite a project, 4 months later, we can nearly walk nicely passed other dogs, but not in new areas. If you need support with this journey, could you try having a few sessions with a dog trainer? I had several, they really helped.
Re: I need advice and help please Scouts walks are going well, she is missing her runs but I do try to find an enclose little park or space- it's hard at the moment with it being the Easter holidays and all kids being off. She pulls a little but after about 5 mins she knows what she is supposed to do and she does as long as there are no distractions. Thanks again for all you suggestions and advice.
