I have a 5 month old black Labrador puppy and at times he can be quite challenging so I am just looking for advice. Firstly, he chews everything (we have been through £300 worth of rugs since we got him) and he bites a lot too. Also, when out on a walk he pulls a lot (we use a julius k9 powerharness) and sometimes I can get him to not pull but other times he doesn’t listen and pulls like crazy. When we are on a walk and he is off lead, he will chase people and other dogs/animals. This is not maliciously but because he wants to play and say hello however, this is not safe when it can involve traffic and young children. He can see a dog in the distance and run towards them at full speed, they don’t have to be nearby. I try to get him to focus on me but he doesn’t. The vet has said he is “over friendly” and could use some puppy classes? He doesn’t listen to me or come to me when I call him, no matter what I try. I just need some advice as he is very hard to handle at times and we have even considered returning him to the breeder
1. If he continues to chew the rugs, I would take a break from leaving the rugs out until he cuts down on the chewing. Otherwise, you are just enforcing the behavior, while having to continue to buy new rugs. 2. For the biting, always redirect him to a chew toy. Always...no exceptions. If he is getting over excited during play and that's when the biting happens, I would ignore him the moment he starts to get nippy so that he realizes that if he continues to do that, play time will not continue. 3. For your pulling issues and dealing with other/people animals around the park, I would suggest LAT Training. @Michael A Brooks gives great advice regarding keeping dogs under the threshold and I am sure he will be on here and help you out with that issue. 4. I would NOT keep my dog off lead unless he has a reliable recall and you know he will not chase other people/animals in the distance. Find an open field somewhere, and use a long leash to practice recall and give him some treats he loves when he walks along side you and comes to you when you call him. Use a clicker or a maker word "yes" when he does things that you want him to do. This needs to be apart of his daily training IMO. Coming when called is one of the most important (if not the most important) in dog training, in my personal opinion. These are things that worked for me and I still continue to instill in my puppy.. I am sure other will chime in with great advice as well. Good Luck!
Dont Return him! Friendly pups generaly have a harder time learning recall. He is teething so he will bite at this stage. like Bud Light/Dilly Dilly says, just redirect him to he toy when he bites. he should not yet be off leash. For the pulling i recommend using an easy walk harness. it works really well for my dog. For training treat bomb him. every time he follows a command give him lots of treats. i recommend using some of his food from a meal for training. I hope this helps!
Hi @Chloe Garrity Welcome to the forum You should have your puppy on a house line. Use it to prevent the dog from getting to you your rugs. Use a crate when the dog is not being directly supervised. You will need to crate train your dog. Please read the following. https://thehappypuppysite.com/crate-training-a-puppy/ You should be giving your dog stuffed kongs, that is, something the dog is allowed to chew. Redirect his biting onto a tug toy. And imitate the movement of a snake with the tug. Make it come alive. Play with it and your dog. Let him tug. If he bites you, then put him in a quiet, boring area for a couple of minutes. No real admonishment, other than "Not that way". Just quietly use the house line to the time-out area. I had a look at a picture of the harness you are using. I don't believe it is has a front attaching ring. The harness is designed poorly for a dog that pulls. I would not use it myself. Please read the thread https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/non-pull-dog-harness.26082/ for information of preferred harnesses. You should be trying to teach your dog loose-lead walking in the house. Then the back garden. Then try the front garden. Don't venture to the highly distracting environment of the street until he knows how to walk properly. To exercise him, put him a long line. Third, enrol in a positive reinforcement obedience class. Your dog should never be off lead until you have a rock solid recall. It is not responsible dog ownership letting a dog be in a position to harass other people and dogs. You realise that yourself. Perhaps you think he needs the exercise, No. He needs leadership. Mental stimulation. Obedience Training. Learning to be calm around humans and dogs. Until you are absolutely certain he would come back, even if he was chasing a rabbit, he must be either on lead or a long-line. Sorry to be blunt about this one. But the situation your describe is very dangerous. Young Labs are very powerful dogs and need lots of training. As I said enrol in a good obedience class. The vet said he is friendly. Great. You have the makings of a great dog. You need to learn how to channel all that exuberance in the right direction. Patience and persistence is required. It will not happen overnight. It is will take many, many months of training. In the end you will end up with a lovely dog. Let us know how you progress.
Hello, you have a very normal pup there. Training, patience and more training is the key to getting the calm family dog you want. I definitely agree with getting to some classes, obedience preferably. Training around distractions is so hard to start with but a brilliant tool to settle lots of those behaviours. It worked for us. Meg was all you describe and then some. After a year of classes she is pretty much perfect . It was hard work but worth it . Good luck.
Hi Chloe, are you still around and what do you make of the above advice? Prevention is very important. My puppies spend most of their time in our kitchen, shut in by a stair gate and the front door. Their crate is under the kitchen table. They are not out of the crate except when I am in the kitchen and directly supervising them. (I work from my laptop on the kitchen table during this time.) When the pup is in the crate, I can go out of the kitchen... It doesn't sound like you are implementing prevention very well. Crate training is IMO essential. And then removing anything the puppy might attempt to chew which you don't want them to. Preferably doing this BEFORE you have allowed a habit to develop of chewing the wrong things....
