After a long time of thinking about it and wanting it I've finally gone ahead and splurged on the manners minded treat and train . It should be here by the end of the week! Any tips for what kibble/treats to use? Training tips? I'm very excited as Otis is full adolescent at this point and a handful!
Oh, I want one of these! I can think of so many uses for it, especially when training both dogs together.... My main thing initially would be for stop whistle on the way to a target. Julie will have plenty of tips, I'm sure
It is very easy to understand why so many Labradors go for rehoming during adolescence. They really are horrible, it caught me completely by surprise. Having survived it my advice is. Put your head down and continue doing what you know is right. You may well find you need to step back and retrain something very basic. Depressing I know, but I figure if you know it might happen it isn't so bad. When he has his explosions, do not react. Any reaction will only make matters worse. That doesn't mean you have to like it. Come here and have a moan. It is over relatively quickly ( I am the Veteran of raising 3 human? teenagers) Otis will never answer back
Mollly you speak with so much wisdom . At 8 months Ripple has awful days, really awful days and diabolical days. Everything seems to have gone backwards - I've had to move the towels again, pick up the mats and jam the kitchen drawers shut (or he opens them and distributes the contents all over the floor). What with that, the return of biting and the pure strength of him, some days I am ending up in tears. I also feel guilty as he seems to spend half the day in his crate as I cannot trust him with anything if I am not constantly there. He still terrorises the cats (who would no doubt be quite happy if I did rehome him), causes rows between me and OH, and worries me sick eating all manner of disgusting things when we are out. Even in the garden he has taken to tucking in to chunks of frozen mud - goodness knows why I bother paying so much for his food. I don't ever remember my other two chocolates being this horrendous - is it like childbirth and you blot it out? I have upped my exercise routine with extra swimming and fitness classes to help me cope, unfortunately I'm not getting any thinner as I also appear to have upped my chocolate consumption. You did say come here and have a moan
SteffiS I feel your pain! I'm hoping that the manners minder will be worth the money and will provide some extra training opportunities. Otis needs to be entertained 100% of the time (unless he has a treat) and literally roams the perimeter of my house searching for bad things to do! He really is like a giant toddler. When he finally is "relaxing" he has to be RIGHT on top of us, which of course is adorable but he's approaching half my body weight at this point! We're currently in our second puppy obedience class and I think he behaved better during the class when he was 12 weeks old! I was so embarrassed last night when he tried his very hardest to knock over every human in the building by jumping on them (something he rarely does at home). Anyway, he's approaching 7 months at this point so I'm hoping he's in the midst of it now and it doesn't get worse
Yes I did say come and have a moan and I meant it. While you are moaning there is probably at least one other person, probably afraid to admit how rubbish they are, your moans make them feel better. Just to give you a full flavour of how awful Molly was......... She used to hurl herself around on the end of the lead, and me with it. I used to hang onto fence posts and trees to keep my balance. She would jump at me and paw me. This was not nice as it was summer and I was wearing shorts and a singlet. She would even grab my arm in her jaws, she never attempted to bite or broke the skin but I still had bruises. She was so unpredictable I had to be careful where I walked, I couldn't risk her having an "episode" on a narrow footpath.... we could have both been under the wheels of a car. I tried walking different routes, I was ashamed of my total incompetence at dog training and I didn't want her to get a reputation. I longed for winter, I would be able to wear thicker clothes and it wouldn't hurt so much. Also I would be able to walk her under the cover of darkness. Ringing any bells. One glorious day she kicked off five times in 200yards when I was walking along the ring road, could anywhere have been more exposed. Then it stopped. There was nothing I had done different, she simply grew out of it (in my opinion) I have dogs before, adolescence is never easy, but Molly took it to a whole new level
Mollly - yes Ripple jumps and paws, puts his mouth round my arm (and presses down with his teeth) , he also growls and pulls at my clothes just like when he was a puppy. And I get the narrow path thing, he nearly leapt out in front of a bus one morning. At least I'm lucky in that it is winter - everyone is saying how cold it is but I'm roasting after battling through some of Ripples walks. Ripple is also worse behaved at this second lot of classes than he was when he was tiny Newlabpup. He even tried to bite the trainer a couple of weeks ago - luckily he just said 'I had one like you once' - I had visions of being banned. I do occasionally get glimpses of the dog he might be, he surprised me yesterday at the beach by walking right next to me really smartly even though I had him on quite a long lead (he had already been off lead but had eaten something unidentifiable again so I decided to keep him near). It's a shame that I have to long for the day when it all stops as I really wanted to enjoy him as a puppy but it seems it's not to be .
Newlabpup, I'm at the same stage as you. My god, I have really good days and really bad days and days with a mixture of both. It's such hard work. Dexter has gone backwards with lead walking and can be a right pain indoors. 100% attention needed if out of his crate. Oh and has reverted back to some nipping and biting of my arms and clothes, mainly when I'm stopping him from pulling up and chewing the carpet tiles (not always but sometimes). He wasn't well last week which was worrying but more restful in other ways. He is strong and harder work than either of my two kids. I could cry and did tell my husband a few weeks ago that I could easily send him back to the breeders. Then I thought of all the things he does so well, off lead he's excellent. The Treat&train is a god send to me, I occasionally use the automatic setting but more often use the remote. I use it when I vacuum and for various types of training. I use his food kibble in it and if I'm upstairs with a client who's having waxing (not one of my relaxing treatments), I can leave Dexter out of his crate downstairs and keep him out of trouble but not restrained with it. I tell him place as we go upstairs and he gets a treat then I say stay and after a couple of seconds he gets a treat, then at various intervals. I only do this with a few clients that are happy to have me occasionally check that he's still on his place and are shortish appointments. One has even got me to order a Treat&train for her dog and is now using it. Today has been a mixture of hard work, feeling frustrated, feeling elated and every emotion in between. I'm shattered but glad Dexter is bouncing back to full health. I wish we lived near each other as we could then meet up with our two hooligans, oops, pups
Thank you to your wonderful posts. You are definitely not alone. I'm right there will you, my gorgeous choccie girl can be an absolute monster. She is 14 months old next week she can be a delight but more often than not challenging. This afternoon our walk started so badly with Mabel running like a bullet to every single dog to play, I could see other owners tut tutting as she looked totally uncontrollable. Yesterday perfect recall before she ran to a dog, and barking at various people and objects is infuriating. . Definitely trying to keep my cool and taking a step back in the training is the only way to go.
I totally melted down a couple of weeks ago. Zeus had torn 2 of my shirts, pulled hard on the leash while walking, and nipped constantly. I unloaded on this site. It is good to know lab owners that understand.
Mollly @newbielabowner SteffiS Kpeters58 It is so good to have lab owners who understand the struggle of raising difficult lab pups. I know someone with a lab a few months older than my Otis who is "an angel" and I just don't understand how! Not to mention she's used a shock collar for some of her "training". It's just unbelievable to me. Anyway, it's hard to stay upset when just as I type this I have this cutesy lovey lab snuggling and sleeping on my lap. He is totally attached and even though he drives me absolutely crazy I could never leave him. He has taught me more patience and understanding than I could have ever asked of him! With that being said, my manners minder is coming in tomorrow and I'm super excited!
Newlabpup, yep, we have to take the rough with the smooth. I've been thinking lately that I have been in a bit of a stressed out state, lots of things to cope with on so many levels, helping out my parents and my mother in law who are all not in the best of health for various reasons, getting back into work after my surgery, coping with our first puppy on my own 6 days a week etc etc. I had forgotten to take time out for myself. I love meditation and was doing one daily even if it was only for 10 minutes, I had stopped these due to helping everyone else. I think my so called stressed state was transferring to Dexter, not saying he was stressed but I had no routine in my life. In my business I was fitting people in wherever was convenient to them, I was all over the place. I have now set regular working hours which will benefit me and will allow me to get a better work/life balance. I am no longer going to keep being so available just because someone has decided that they want to do something different and can they change their appointment. Me and Dexter need some sort of routine, not set in stone but so I can keep on top of myself. Hope that makes sense as I'm typing very quickly lol.
Newbie Lab Owner , I can really see where you are coming from - I try to have a structured day with time to myself as well (which is why I've increased my fitness stuff ). Currently OH is working away so I have Ripple all of the time and although this can be a stress I also think it helps Ripple as he has consistent training, OH doesn't like to keep correcting him so usually comes back from a walk moaning about pulling etc, whereas if he dealt with it each time Ripple would quickly learn that the rules apply to both of us. I found the first few days of OH away Ripple was all over the place but he is quickly realising that doing things nicely means he gets a longer more interesting walk.
Charlie had a difficult adolescent period, he needed surgery, and when all that was over, he was a 16 month old puppy that seemed determined to make up for lost time. It was awful. The thing that saved us, and really still does, is gundog training. I have to say gundog training with a positive trainer - I tried traditional trainers and it didn't work out for me (although I learned lots, it was too difficult to train in a traditional environment and try to use positive methods when I didn't really have a clue what I was doing). So not any old gundog training. I don't think it really matters that it was gundog training, I think any training that gives you an example of a high standard to aim for, and requires a relatively complex and demanding set of behaviours - so it's stretching for you and your dog - would do. It gave me a focus, things to try to achieve with my dog. It also got us into class on a regular basis, presented me with a set of challenges about how I was going to overcome many difficulties I had. It meant I had to work hard on training plans, really break things down, and I always had (and still have) a list as long as my arm of things I needed to do with my dog. I also stopped walking my dog. I don't mean I stopped taking my dog out for activities and exercise, but I stopped trying to get from A to B with him. Instead, I took him out to train. I went out with my dog with a plan, goals for what I was trying to achieve, a packed training bag and the right treats. And he came back too tired to get into any mischief. Well, for a few hours, anyway. I highly recommend it for those struggling with teenage Labs.
JulieT, I was thinking along those lines. I have been in contact with a chap who does agility training and I'm in the process of setting up a day to meet with him for a 121 session. His web page and email was very informative. No harsh treatment all positive. I'm working through Grade 1 gundog book and also using a positive gun dog training book. I must admit that due to Dexter being poorly, I obviously wasn't able to let him have free runs just walks. I had put together a folder of different things to do with him and how to chart progress. The trouble I have is often finding somewhere out and about to do this. Some dog owners see that I'm training and give us space, others just let their dog disrupt us. Luckily if I have a ball or the dummy, I have Dexter's full attention and he ignores all other dogs. Unfortunately a little staffie with an attitude problem was so aggressive to him yesterday, Dexter was bringing the ball back to me when the owner let his off lead to run full pelt at me, boy my legs nearly crumpled, then it went for Dexter. The chap took ages getting to us and the only way I could stop the attack was when I managed to get the ball as Dexter dropped it and hold it up as if I was going to throw it. The staffie went for Dexter as he automatically came to sit and wait for me to throw the ball and wouldn't let me near my dog. I put the ball in my pocket but still the dog wouldn't leave us alone. The chap just said boys will be boys . He finally managed to get his dog on lead and then I could get Dexter on lead. As I was looking over Dexter, the chap did ask if he was ok, I said yes as luckily he was. I then walked nearer to the chap and had a few words, just general chat for a few seconds as I didn't want to end the walk with an attack as the final thing. We walked a few paces together and then parted company. Once I was well out of the way, I then let Dexter off, threw a few more retrieves before coming home. Too worried to go back there now. Today I went to another park, it was raining and we had it to ourselves. His heel when off lead was awful, so back to square one on that, his recall was brilliant. I'm hoping that agility will give us a stronger bond and stopping myself from getting overwhelmed with everything else will help too. So much to learn and continue learning and at the end of the day he's only a baby in a big body
Oh and if I don't have a ball or have put it away and someone comes by with a chucker, Dexter goes and sits to attention in front of them waiting for them to throw the ball. I can call him off and get his ball out to get him back. If we are up the beach there's often a few of them playing ball together and have never had any problems there. He has some lovely doggy friends and I'm getting out and about too. Have a lovely friend and her chocolate lab that I meet up with once a week and we always do some sort of training and some just fun doggy play too.
SteffiS, having a dog has made me realise how unstructured my life had become. I'm onto it now that's for sure. Dexter has actually enriched my life so much and I really do want a great bond with him. That first night he was poorly, I slept on the couch and kept looking at him as he slept to see that he was breathing, it was like the first time you have a baby near you in their crib. I spent the whole week on the couch every night. I'm so grateful that it wasn't anything more serious, I'd have been out of my mind. I am also making time for myself too. I'm still learning to play saxophone and clarinet and the Treat&train comes in really handy when I practice. Before Dexter would get really excited and bark so I'd have to stop but now he'll be on his place near me, come over for a little look but not try jumping up or trying to nick the wooden clarinet (now that would be an expensive stick ) or the saxophone then go back and lay nicely. I don't over use the machine but when needs must, it's a god send.
