Hello, looking for some advice here, please. I’ve a beautiful chocolate Labrador. Got her at 8 weeks, she is just gone 13 weeks. Up to 12 weeks of age I socialised her in the arms in all kinds of situations and with lots of people but kept her away from dogs until she was fully vaccinated 10 days ago. Friends of ours regularly brought their Whippet and Yorkie to the house since Keri first came home, she gets on great with them. Having started walking her for short periods where there are all kind of dogs, she is barking loudly at big dogs, even a Labrador Guide dog and she wants to go to them. She is not growling or lunging, just wants to go to them. What would you do in this situation. I say no, keep her back and walk on, she is getting surprisingly strong!! She is a super friendly, confident puppy. I don’t want to do anything wrong to ruin her. Thanks so much for reading this and any advice you can give me.
Depends on the owners of the big dogs. If they are happy to let your puppy say hello, then let her. The other dog will let her know if she is too much for them and the humans decide how much interaction is ok.
Thanks, this morning I read a post by snowbunny called Look At That and watched the video included. I’m new to this site so went searching through it. Armed myself with treats and clicker, did some training first at home and then off we went to the park. So happy with her. 6 dogs passed about 5/6’ from us, carried out the LAT method and she was great, no barking, will continue this every day now, I’m much more confident. Thanks for your reply. Btw, these dogs were off lead which is not ideal imo. They were probably great as they took no notice of us.
That's great @Keri , well done finding the LAT thread and starting straightaway with your puppy, I'm sure it will stand you in good stead, it's so useful. Welcome to the Forum by the way, from myself and Cassie, who is 2 now. She is also confident and outgoing!
It is, never heard of LAT before, great for the lab and great for me too because I feel confident again because I fell asleep last night worrying. No stopping us now!
Hi Keri - I can so relate to you - I have a fantastic almost 18 week old chocolate labrador puppy and am exactly the same - so anxious about training and not doing anything to ruin her. I keep getting stuck and sometimes very disheartened but have since revisited this site which I had completed forgotten about (had seen it long before we got her) and the forum so I feel much better. Hope your puppy is doing well.
Hi CarolT I’ve relaxed now and she’s great. Doing a bit of training at home every day and last evening we started puppy classes, went very well. She is so confident and relaxed that I think the very first time I took her to the park at 12 weeks, she was just too excited and overwhelmed. Now after a few weeks of LAT, she is great, of course she’s interested but stays calm and takes notice of me. She’s going to make a great dog. Best of luck with your puppy, don’t get disheartened, just keep at it, it will be worth it.
