I am curious on what the average Lab owner things is the hardest thing for their dog to master. Walking without pulling is a big one, although can be reduced or has been with mine getting a harness, easy walk one. There's still some pulling, but it's greatly reduced and actually somewhat manageable. Not jumping is probably most common I would guess - jumping with strangers. You can't tell every stranger to turn their back! Stepping on the leash helps. Of all these commands, I feel probably the most important one and hardest one is "stay" command. Let me add that my dog has all the traits of a dog that could participate in agility.
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? Too much variable in dog personalities and training focuses and age of the dog in question to give you a definitive answer really.... In my young boisterous 6 month old darling....I think the most difficult thing we fight in training is just her young boisterous nature...call it calmness, call it a stay, call it focus, call it patience, call it whatever you want....but she's just a young boisterous lab, so we work within that parameter and figure in another couple years she'll calm down a bit. Maybe :
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? None of that is terribly hard for us until you add another dog into the mix when the simplest things become difficult and durations get incredibly short ;D
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? [quote author=bbrown link=topic=10214.msg149891#msg149891 date=1426522540] None of that is terribly hard for us until you add another dog into the mix when the simplest things become difficult and durations get incredibly short ;D [/quote] Really? Stay seems difficult, I mean if they see a squirrel or rabbit, my dog goes nuts. The stay command is important to me mostly in case of an emergency - such as she escapes the backyard. She has escaped a few times early on when we got her. It was extremely scary. Yelling, talking nicely, was hard to get her to stop. One of the times I cornered her in a neighbor's backyard and got her. Another time, a neighbor lady my dog ran into her arms and got her.
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? That's what's known as proofing and is the hard part. So, like Barbara said, it may be another dog that distracts yours or, as you said, it could be a squirrel or rabbit. So it's a case of training in more and more distracting situations. Here's an article which may help explain: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/proofing-an-essential-part-of-labrador-training/
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? [quote author=nkzelda link=topic=10214.msg149968#msg149968 date=1426531621] Really? Stay seems difficult, I mean if they see a squirrel or rabbit, my dog goes nuts. The stay command is important to me mostly in case of an emergency - such as she escapes the backyard. She has escaped a few times early on when we got her. It was extremely scary. Yelling, talking nicely, was hard to get her to stop. One of the times I cornered her in a neighbor's backyard and got her. Another time, a neighbor lady my dog ran into her arms and got her. [/quote] It's pretty difficult to use a stay command to get a dog not to leave a garden (yard). How long did you expect her to stay for? Leaving things like that aside, nothing much has been difficult for Charlie to master as a straightforward cue on its own (some have been difficult for me though ), but proofing things has been difficult - and different things are difficult for different dogs. I can stop him instantly if he runs toward a bird, rabbit or squirrel - but a football is a different matter entirely. I've hardly even bothered to train it really, but if he runs toward a rabbit on the Common and starts to run, more often then not he'll turn round and sit. But getting him to do the same running towards a tennis ball has taken months...
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? [quote author=nkzelda link=topic=10214.msg149968#msg149968 date=1426531621] [quote author=bbrown link=topic=10214.msg149891#msg149891 date=1426522540] None of that is terribly hard for us until you add another dog into the mix when the simplest things become difficult and durations get incredibly short ;D [/quote] Really? Stay seems difficult, I mean if they see a squirrel or rabbit, my dog goes nuts. The stay command is important to me mostly in case of an emergency - such as she escapes the backyard. She has escaped a few times early on when we got her. It was extremely scary. Yelling, talking nicely, was hard to get her to stop. One of the times I cornered her in a neighbor's backyard and got her. Another time, a neighbor lady my dog ran into her arms and got her. [/quote] Yup really.....squirrels and rabbits hold no allure for my labrador. I'm going to hazard a guess that will definitely not be the case for my spaniel lol
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? Heal has been a tricky one for us. But we have made a lot of progress recently. He now walks nicely on the lead on the pavement when walking away from the park. But still pulls a lot.
Re: What is the hardest command/thing usually for Labs to master? [quote author=JulieT link=topic=10214.msg149979#msg149979 date=1426533193] [quote author=nkzelda link=topic=10214.msg149968#msg149968 date=1426531621] Really? Stay seems difficult, I mean if they see a squirrel or rabbit, my dog goes nuts. The stay command is important to me mostly in case of an emergency - such as she escapes the backyard. She has escaped a few times early on when we got her. It was extremely scary. Yelling, talking nicely, was hard to get her to stop. One of the times I cornered her in a neighbor's backyard and got her. Another time, a neighbor lady my dog ran into her arms and got her. [/quote] It's pretty difficult to use a stay command to get a dog not to leave a garden (yard). How long did you expect her to stay for? Leaving things like that aside, nothing much has been difficult for Charlie to master as a straightforward cue on its own (some have been difficult for me though ), but proofing things has been difficult - and different things are difficult for different dogs. I can stop him instantly if he runs toward a bird, rabbit or squirrel - but a football is a different matter entirely. I've hardly even bothered to train it really, but if he runs toward a rabbit on the Common and starts to run, more often then not he'll turn round and sit. But getting him to do the same running towards a tennis ball has taken months... [/quote] Actually, my dog and several others are runners - they love to explore and will take off. How long for her to stay? If there's an emergency such as the electric company does maintenance and leaves the yard gate open (did happen but luckily i noticed it before letting Zelda out) it'd be nice to get her to stay say....15 seconds for me to run and shut the gate is all. As far as "leave it" is concerned, cigarette butts on the sidewalk was something early on I feel i was successful in getting her to stop picking up. I'm pretty sure food is more likely for them to listen versus an animal like a wild squirrel.
