Questions on 10 month old

When does one go from large puppy food to adult .

She is great on the easy walk harness but on a flat collar she chokes and my shoulder blades and arms are in pain today after 2 miles. Thinking of Don Sullivan collar ...Any input .

She get very excited and very vocal when I am playing with the kids or today my 9 yr old was arguing with me. she did not feel good to goto school,but wanted her tablet and not cancel trips over the weekend or see the doctor.. Gigi got very talkative, she sat next to my daughter on her bed and kept talking as my daughter was calling us the worst parents in the world ....[emoji10] ... It's like she is supporting my daughter .

She also grabs my son's feet when I am carrying him around .To pull him away.
Ofcourse my son is laughing loud.

We feel she thinks I am hurting them .
She is very protective of kids and among strangers , she always is between kids and them .
Should/how to correct this atleast with me?.

She does not understand aggressive dogs.she thinks they all want to play. What do I do about that.

She barks at people in the dark . Walking or approaching us .Wife says that's good but I am not sure . Last night we were out for a walk and she barks at a guy coming to get his mail as we walk by this drive way. We do camp in some areas where we appreciate her watchdog tendency .Should I be worried.

Thanks
Satz



Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

I switched from puppy to adult food at about 5 months of age for both my pups. Their breeders said 4 months was an OK time to switch. If you got her from a breeder, you could ask the breeder. My vet also said at 4 months a straight up adult food was fine. Many foods are All Life Stages foods, so if you switch to one that's an ALS food, then both puppies and adults can eat it anyway.

I don't have suggestions for Gigi and the 9 year old, just that I remember those days well. In her eyes, we just got dumber and dumber the older the kid got until about college age, probably after college. All of a sudden they decided we weren't as dumb as they thought.

My main thought would be, in the house anyway, to have a spot that is her "place", a bed or rug or towel, and when she starts "intervening" in your actions, stop, have her go to her place and stay while you continue whatever you were doing. Remove her from the immediate action. Gigi, this does not concern you, go lie down.

On walks I've tried taking along yummy treats and if the dog starts getting all riled up, I tell them to "watch me" and give them a treat when they turn to me. If I have treats with me, I can get them to ignore the other person until they pass. It takes a lot of practice and I have not been consistent enough with my training for it to always work. (True Confessions) If I don't have any sort of treat, they don't watch me for long! :rolleyes:

To try and answer some of your questions ....

When does one go from large puppy food to adult . You can switch to most adult formulas at around 4-5 months, certainly at 10 months it would be fine.

She is great on the easy walk harness but on a flat collar she chokes and my shoulder blades and arms are in pain today after 2 miles. Thinking of Don Sullivan collar ...Any input . Never heard of a Don Sullivan collar, but all of these things (easy walk harnesses, special collars, etc) are just training tools that allow you to get the behavior you desire from the dog. They need to be paired with teaching what you want (i.e. praise/rewards for walking nicely, a correction of some sort - even if just a verbal “no”, when the dog is pulling). Otherwise, all it knows is it can’t pull with the harness on, not that you don’t want it to pull at all.

She get very excited and very vocal when I am playing with the kids or today my 9 yr old was arguing with me. she did not feel good to goto school,but wanted her tablet and not cancel trips over the weekend or see the doctor.. Gigi got very talkative, she sat next to my daughter on her bed and kept talking as my daughter was calling us the worst parents in the world ....[emoji10] ... It’s like she is supporting my daughter . She probably just got excited and wanted to participate - I wouldn’t read too much into which side of the argument she is supporting. If you don’t like it (I would probably find it funny), then Smartrock’s idea of teaching place is a good one.

She also grabs my son's feet when I am carrying him around .To pull him away.
Ofcourse my son is laughing loud. Most likely she’s just trying to play, but I would discourage this behavior as any kind of biting/mouthing has the potential to escalate and someone can get hurt even if the dog is not deliberately being aggressive.

We feel she thinks I am hurting them .
She is very protective of kids and among strangers , she always is between kids and them .
Should/how to correct this at least with me?. Do you mean she gets between you and them? Or are you referring to the other behaviors you described? In general, if she is blocking the kids from other people and you don’t want her too, then teach her where she should be (i.e. either “place” or by your side). The best way to get rid of unwanted behavior is to replace it with something better.

She does not understand aggressive dogs.she thinks they all want to play. What do I do about that. Teach her “leave it” and don’t let her interact with another dog unless you know it is friendly AND you have given permission for her to do so. My dogs are all trained to ignore strange dogs when out and about. Just safer that way.

She barks at people in the dark . Walking or approaching us .Wife says that's good but I am not sure . Last night we were out for a walk and she barks at a guy coming to get his mail as we walk by this drive way. We do camp in some areas where we appreciate her watchdog tendency .Should I be worried. As long as all she is doing is alert barking (not growling or lunging) I wouldn’t worry too much, and would probably allow the behavior to continue. Just make sure she stops when you tell her to - you can use a treat to distract her. Tell her “enough” and then ask her for a trick she knows, like SIT or something that you can then reward.

Thanks
Satz

Thanks for the input.

I will restart leash training again. She is better on any harness .Just flat collars she goes bananas.its hard as we walk mostly on side walks were most tools of side walking is tough due to all the obstacles . She usually walks in front.

She has grabbed my son hard once or twice and he has cried .I will try to simulate and see if I can do her place bed. This is unacceptable as she is a animal and he is my son.

Thanks

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Hey there!

I'm not sure what a Don Sullivan collar is, but from my personal experience a front-walking harness is a miracle worker!

A collar and a regular harness (where the leash attaches anywhere on the back), allow a strong dog like a lab to put their full force into pulling. Because of this, a collar chokes them (and I don't want to even think of the damage it could do to their throat), and a regular harness basically gives them full back/torso power to pull you.

My sister uses a front-attaching harness on her beagle/walker-hound, and I've started training my 4-month old chocolate lab, Lucy, with one. And again, it's a miracle worker! Basically, when the dog pulls, a front attaching harness corrects them by directing the full force of their pull so they turn back towards you.

The few times Lucy has pulled with the front-walking harness, she's been re-directed back to me, and I use that moment to train heeling and sitting. But seriously, it's only been a few times she's pulled with that harness, and our walks have been super enjoyable ever since!

Best of luck! :)


**Added note** Well, play me for the fool. I think the easy-walk harness you're referring to is the front-attaching harness I was talking about! C'est la vie! lol

She is starting training again. Spoke to her trainer. Prong or e collar ... Any recommendations.

Leash walking .Flat collar.

Excited behavior when we dog sit dogs and our old rehomed dog stays with us .He bites people and cannot be boarded so we dog sit him when they travel .she gets a little rough .He is 10lbs and she is 70 now.

Jumping on people who think it's cute ...Like my MIL.



Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk