Hello everyone, I'm new to posting on here, although I read the threads really often and find them great for hints and tips (and sometimes just to know I'm not the only one with a slightly less-than-perfect pup!). I would now really appreciate some advice on my lovely lab (sorry, long post coming...) Our gorgeous girl Pepper is 15 months old and very well behaved in the house. We have worked really hard on getting her to walk nicely to heel when on the lead, which she now does about 95% of the time. But here's the catch... she is SO EXCITED ABOUT DOGS. I hoped that she would just grow out of this and that is was typical labrador pup behaviour, but although it has improved slightly with rigorous training, we are still having to work really hard at getting her past another dog without her leaping on them. As soon as I spot a dog on the street, I ask Pepper to look at me. Click and treat when she does. She then knows that she will get a click and treat every time she looks at me once she's spotted the dog (this alone has taken a LOT of training just to get her to look at me at all once she's seen a dog!), and I just keep this up at quite a rapid pace until we get past the dog. I'd say she gets past about 50% of dogs with this approach, and the other 50% she just leaps on. It is 100% with love, I really don't think Peps has an aggressive bone in her body as all she wants to do is be everyone's best friend. But obviously with a big bouncy 30kg labrador this can be a bit much for some dogs and their owners! I also do not want my arm to be ripped out of its socket. The other thing is that she is still jumping up on people, which is absolutely not OK. This is proving difficult to train, because she has learned not to jump on my husband or I, but she hasn't generalised this to other people. I am finding it really difficult to get people to consistently respond in the way we taught her not to jump on me and my husband (sit to say hello), as most people just say "oh I don't mind!!!" and encourage her to leap all over them. Any advice on this would be gratefully received, as I'm starting to worry that this isn't just puppy behaviour... this is just how she'll be forever :S Thanks! Fran
I shall be no help at all apart from to say Ripple is 14 months old and behaves almost exactly the same - he just LOVES everybody and all dogs (even when they make it quite clear they don't love him). We met a lady on Saturday who asked if she could say hello as she had lost her dog last year - I said 'yes, but I don't want him to jump on you' - she said 'oh no I'd like him to jump up so he can smell me' - guess there's no answer to that , so you can imagine Ripple's joy
Ah yes I get that sort of thing all the time! This morning Pepper took a real shine to two people just standing on the pavement ignoring her, so one of them came over to say hello to Peps. I could tell she was going to jump all over him so had to ask him not to come any closer and he obviously thought I was being a bit off
It does sound from your post that he is getting to 50% of the dogs. So in 50% of cases, he is reinforced by getting to the other dog. If this is happening (it might not be, but it seems so from your post) then the reinforcement of getting to the other dog is probably very powerful. You need to remove that reinforcement so the only good choice is to stay with you and not lunge to the other dog. If a dog lunges and is successful in getting what he wants, then he is going to keep doing that because it works. 50% chance of getting what you want is really, really worth a try.
With other people, stop as they approach you and put your foot on the lead. Don't have it so tight that you're pulling on her neck, but with no slack, so she can't jump up and jerk her neck. She'll very quickly learn that she physically can't jump, so what's the point in trying? This worked wonders with my two.
I need to work on my "foot on lead" technique, as last time I tried it, Tara jumped so hard she flipped me onto my back! Helps to have a reasonably long lead as well, I suppose? Her latest trick is to respond to anyone talking on a mobile phone, as she thinks they are talking to her, and she will try to drag me across the road to get to them.
Thanks for the foot on lead advice - I'll have a think about how I can do this as my lead is long enough to do this in theory but I have it doubled up to walk Pepper Re: the 50% leaping at other dogs, I should clarify that she will leap at them about 50% of the time, and then maybe only 25% of the time in those instances does she actually get to them (obviously I try to stop her from getting to them so she's not rewarded for leaping! Sometimes I feel like the only person without a perfectly behaved labrador so it's helpful to know other people might have slightly similar things with theirs
15 months is still young (and immature) don't worry. Try to prevent self rewarding as Julie said and hang in there on the training, it'll come right
I have a 2m Halti lead for each of my dogs (yet another purchase that @JulieT forced me to make - you have to watch her) and that is doubled up most of the time to make a shorter lead. I just drop the lower half of the loop and stand in that, so it goes from collar to foot to hand and back to collar in a circle. If yours is similar, you could try that. Bwahahahaha! Nope, not just you!
Yes, I've got a halti lead too - good tips, thanks all! I am feeling much less worried now... Still lots to work on though. Just out of interest, does anyone else's lab seem to recognise other labs? Pepper loves all dogs, but she really, REALLY loves labradors and golden retrievers!!
We are having this with 8 month old Jessie . We had a 1:1 with our trainer on Saturday and she suggested a big handful of treats on the floor in front of Jessie when we see a dog. Very early days, but I've tried it every day since and it has worked like a dream, loads of treats has so far top trumped the other dogs! Good luck!
Yes, I sometimes play 'find it' with Peps if she gets fixated on a dog (i.e. chucking a treat in the opposite direction) but never sure if this is the right thing to do or not...
Chucking treats is fine - whatever you have got to do to get your dog to ignore other dogs. The aim is to not let your dog get reinforced by the other dog. Just keep chucking the treats, dancing, singing, getting by however you can, and eventually your dog stops trying to get to the other dogs. It can take a while.... I think during this time, it's best to have a 'no contact with other dogs while on lead' rule. I think some people train say hello and move on, but the risk with that with over enthusiastic young Labradors is that they still drag you over with the strength of a cart horse just for the initial hello even if that's all they get. Once your dog can ignore other dogs on lead, you can then relax the rule a bit.
We have stopped her meeting other dogs on the lead, as it just drives her crazy. If we walk past she gets over the excitement much faster and we can continue on our way and continue training.
Pongo has a passion for labradors, retrievers, and almost any type of spaniel. (Not sure what that spaniel thing is about....)
Thanks also for the recommendation to prevent on-lead greeting, that sounds sensible. I do generally try to avoid this (providing I'm not being literally dragged along the road against my will!!) But will step my efforts up a notch
