Hi, I have a 4 month old working-line puppy and finding it quite overwhelming. We have just finished his weekly one hour puppy classes. He was very over-threshold during the classes because of the proximity of other dogs, and also because the trainers sometimes used high squeaky voices and wandered around giving him high value treats when we were trying to work with him. I got quite upset at puppy school - other puppies did so well and Monty just couldn't concentrate which was really stressful. One of the trainers just looked at him and said 'he's very...err...excitable isn't he' - as though there was something wrong with him. We're continuing his training every day at home (most of his food is fed as rewards), but progress is slow. My questions are: 1) How do I best follow on from this early experience - with another obedience class where he'll be with other dogs and still be over threshold, or with 121 training? We are continuing his training at home, but feel we need support. 2) do trainers usually excite puppies at classes (ie should I be looking for another puppy school or is this 'normal'?). The trainers are accredited/members of IMDT and APDT.
Hi Monty's human, I have raised a couple of puppies and three of them graduated as assistance or guide dogs. I would have them until 14-16 months old at which stage they'd enter professional training. In my experience 121 with a positive reinforcement trainer works best. Once a week, meet up, agree a training plan and go at Monty's pace. He can still be around other dogs/ distractions with you, where you decide on his threshold there and then. Every pup is individual, don't compare. You are doing great. He's only 4 months. Enjoy him and his puppy crazies. Let him explore the world and build up resilience. Training will come. And you know yourself labs take a while to grow pup. Building a bond with Monty and figuring out what he likes/ dislikes is more important than obedience at this stage. Hope this helps. Just an opinion.
I guess it depends on the training group. My over bouncy, boisterous lab went to Kennel club obedience classes for her first year. Each week there were different dogs to be distracted with. She started off worst in the class, but with patience and perseverance she passed her bronze and silver obedience awards on her 1st birthday. The silver includes a 2 minute stay whilst in a room of other dogs. She is an amazing calm dog with a super sharp recall and a easy manner with other dogs. I really believe training around distractions was the making of her.
Thanks for your response Katrin, it's really useful to hear the experience of others, especially as this is our first puppy/dog. I saw a guide dog in training in a pharmacy a few weeks ago...she was so beautifully behaved, I didn't realise that professional training didn't start until 14-16 months. There is time for Monty yet!
Thanks EDP - it's good to hear that others have boisterous labs too - everyone who lives by me seems to have had a very docile lab puppy - or perhaps they just have a selective memory! Perhaps we'll stick with the classes but mix it up with some 121 work too...perhaps more for me than for Monty!
Our 2 1/2 year old Scout sounds a lot like Monty. He, also was the "worst" in puppy class. We would look around the room and wonder why our little guy wasn't sitting nicely like all of the others. Since then, we have recognized that our boy simply has a temperament which is a bit more "high strung." We have recently been involved in group dog walks in our community. We gather in a circle first, and work on several exercises with the pups geared to help them pay attention. Scout does much better with this than he used to, but is always the one looking around at the other dogs instead of focusing on my face (or my husband's, whoever is holding the leash.) We probably haven't worked with Scout as much as we should (life sometimes gets in the way) but we will be starting a series of Manners classes with him in a few weeks, and will get back into training mode. It takes a long time with some "over the top" dogs.
Thanks LynnNoelle. On EDP's advice we enrolled Monty at Kennel Club classes and at 7 months he is about to finish puppy school. We did an assessment last night and he was good at everything except calmly meeting another person and another dog - he just boings up on the lead. They have suggested we get friends round to our house who ignore him until he is calm. We tried that at the weekend when we visited the in-laws, and after 4 1/2 hours he still wasn't calm - panting, pulling on lead, jumping if people got too close. Perhaps he just needs time (like years)? Passing puppy class isn't a pre-requisite for going on to the bronze award classes so we intend to do that as we have seen a lot of progress with Monty over the last month or so, and the support has been fantastic. How do you find Scout off lead/around other humans/dogs - does he recall?
