In the latest article from The Labrador Site, professional dog trainer Jo Laurens shares her thoughts on dealing with an over friendly or pushy Labrador, who is accidentally bullying the dogs he meets. Bullying Dog: Is Your Pushy Labrador Over Friendly?
Oh heavens.....Jo has just written Dexter's biography! He would be a right pain if he was left to his own devices ,as he's my first dog there was a period when I spent a lot of time pouring over articles and videos of doggie play ......Dexter has never learned polite approach manners and with so few off lead opportunities I haven't had much chance to help him with this. He doesn't read calming signals from other dogs so well at the point of introduction either so I have to interrupt if he's being a bother ........it takes about 3 off lead meetings and play sessions with a new dog before he works out what is appropriate.....it is horrible thinking your dog is a bully and maybe I am too hard on him ( many an owner has told me 'just let them play') but I never want to be an owner that turns a blind eye to their dog being hectic........
I like the article, but Jo does say she is struggling to find a description, and 'bully' doesn't quite fit - I think it's quite a harsh description. If I had to choose a word, I think it would be 'insensitive' rather than 'bullying' - young Labradors are often insensitive.
Dexter appreciates that and wants to convey he's not a bad lad really ! He's got a lot of friends ,I've made it our business to make them and give him as many opportunities as I can to learn how to behave ..... Chris says he's socially ''inept' in that it just takes him time to work out what is appropriate,he never gets is straight away,but he does get it.I don't feel he is able to manage meetings without supervision from me or a lesson from the dog he is interacting with.....nothing that is ever terrible but he does get told off and it can take a couple of tellings sometimes ...this whole interaction thing is a worry to me.I have to be honest and say we are bothered by dogs far more 'intrusive' than Dexter and owners seem oblivious...Dexter can get himself out of trouble through speed and his fitness but his back end will be down and he's worried .....I would have him under control and by my side immediately if he ever had that effect on another dog......interesting reading for sure x
I think if you live somewhere that you don't meet a lot of dogs it's very difficult for dog and owner. I live in the countryside and I can honestly go a whole week without meeting another dog unless I arrange to meet up with a friend. I don't worry about Hattie's interaction as she is a star but I do a little with Charlie as he is a little dim and doesn't always get it either also spending over 3 years on a long lead didn't help. I count my lucky stars that he is not that bothered about other dogs unless they are small or a Spaniel! As long as we always work on interaction/socialisation hopefully it can only improve. xxx
My Milo fits this description in that if he spots a dog off lead he can tend to race towards it in gay abandon. Once there he rolls straight on to his back as he is very submissive and wouldnt hurt a fly. I don't want him to be a nuisance to other people or dogs though especially as I had a cocker who wasn't keen on other dogs and we often had other larger dogs off lead racing up to us. I'm very aware seeing a large brown dog hurtling towards you can be pretty off putting so tend to put him back on lead if I spot another dog. Just lately we have gone back to using a longline where we are likely to meet other dogs so he has a certain amount of freedom but we can step on or grab the line if necessary. Unfortunately he doesn't have the opportunity to socialise with friends dogs and he is so exuberant and doesn't seem to pick up on other dogs body language. Maybe he is a bit socially inept or got a touch of canine austism.
This is Coco. To a tee. Coco races to any dog when he's off lead, and so far has a good play ( which encourages it ). Last 2 weeks at training we've been kind of addressing it when ON lead, but not enough. Nowhere near enough. ...so Coco is usually on lead because of this and it is REALLY slowing progress. I wish all our socially inept dogs could get together....and we wouldn't care..."if wishes were horses..." as my old mum used to say.
I think we might have coined a phrase here.....' Socially inept' I' m pretty sure we can and do help them,it's just really taking advantage of every opportunity you can to practice so it can be slow progress if you don't come across a lot of opportunities. We have signed up for yet another Obedience Course.( it will be our 4th!) Dexter will be able to do all the excercises but it's such a valuable opportunity for me to train around other new dogs in a controlled environment ..there aren't many other choices of Training here so I take what I can...4 hours of behaving around new dogs is worth It having to practice our sits and stays again!
Homer is the opposite, he vary rarely goes up to play with other dogs, and dislikes bouncy puppies dogs that come bounding up to him. He will give a warning growl then move himself off away from the bouncy dog. I'm trying to train him out of this and treat him when he walks past without a growl. He takes his time to get used to new unfamiliar dogs, but has his friends at his dog walker. He's been to his dag walker from a young age so although he's from a single dog family at home, with his dog walker, who he goes to most days a week he is part of a bigger dog family.
This is one of those articles that was very difficult to title. One of the things we have learnt to consider on our publishing journey with the Labrador Site, is the terminology that people are using to search the internet. The problem with using the correct or best language from a writers point of view, is that if the articles do not contain (in titles and subtitles) the terms that people with the problem the article addresses are using to search for a solution, google simply won't show the article to anyone. And it gets effectively buried. So sometimes titles (and subtitles) will reflect those 'search terms' as much as the actual correct language to describe what is going on. And they will not always be the same titles and subtitles that the original author used before the article was edited. In this case, I think the title of Jo's article may have been substantially changed from her original. But hopefully it will be reaching those that need it. I hope that makes sense
Yep, that's my boy. Exactly. I've gone back to walking him on a long line as his recall is non-existent where other dogs are concerned. He wants to play with each and every dog he meets, especially spaniels. This is definitely a case of 'Push, Stick, Drop' for us; back to square one until the recall is firmly fixed in his flightly brain!
I've had a journey with Charlie - he started off being the world's worst Labrador for running up (but never rough play, and he would always leave quickly if the other dog wasn't up for playing). He was always reasonably good at spotting 'go away' signals - for a Labrador, anyway. After his first cruciate op, and isolation from other dogs for 9 months, running over was much, much worse and I had a real struggle on my hands to train stay close. I did manage it though, and we returned to a happier state. After his second cruciate op, Charlie was himself nervous of other dogs that might be too rough, and I found myself on the other side of all those bouncy Labradors although to be fair, I didn't find Labradors the worst at least as far as Charlie was concerned. I found other breeds, sighthounds in particular, would genuinely seem to want to 'pick on' a nervous dog and chase them. I never found that with Labradors, they mostly just wanted to play and were a bit block headed about taking no for an answer. Charlie did get fed up with some young Labradors at this point, and because he is very, very tolerant, did find myself saying things like "your dog has been jumping at my dog's face for 15 minutes now, he's had enough!". These days, I'm pretty happy with Charlie. He will sometimes run over to another dog, but usually one that is also giving off 'I want to play' signals, and he's good at leaving a dog alone that doesn't want to play. The more excited he is the more likely it is he'll make an error though. He's also still very gentle in play, and is good at encouraging younger girls and puppies that are likely to suit his games. He can still, not very often, appear nervous himself and I do think this brings out the worst in some dogs. The more confident he appears, the less of a problem he has.
The best thing I did (unintentionally -- it was out of necessity as I work) was to put Snowie in doggy daycare once a week. The woman who ran it was trained in dog behaviour and she assessed all dogs and decided who could come to her daycare (so all the dogs were friendly). Snowie went from three months till he was six months (no unneutered dogs allowed after six months) and I do believe he learned how to be polite to older dogs from being at this daycare. He does things like lie down when an older dog approaches him. I didn't teach him this. He also lies down when a small, seemingly frightened dog approaches him. He will also not approach a dog that seems aggressive or unfriendly. But he does race up -- in true Labrador style -- to friendly dogs, screeches to a halt when he reaches them. Thankfully not many people seem to mind, and I must say, if I had a small Yorkie or similar, I would be frightened of this big dog racing up (on occasion a person will pick up their small dog). We have plenty of opportunities to meet off-leash dogs and I think on the whole most people and dogs in our area are used to all types. When he was a puppy, still learning how to interact with the rest of the world, there was a woman with a big, old dog (suffering heart failure) who came to the park often. She would get very upset when Snowie came racing up to her dog. I could not understand it -- he was just a friendly puppy with good intentions and he idolised this old dog, got super excited when he saw him. However, now that Snowie is older and has a back problem, I do not like it when big, heavy puppies bash into him, and I now understand more than ever how that woman felt about her old dog. Snowie will never tell off a puppy but I remove him from the situation, and he always obliges, seems happy that we're leaving an annoying puppy.
