Reply With QuoteMore exercise and obedience training.
Obedience training, at least a couple months of it, will teach her the discipline required. She will thank you for it!
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hey everyone. im really getting desperate when it comes to my problem. i have a two year old female lab that weighs about 54 pounds. unfortunately, i didnt have her as a puppy. i got her when she was about 7 months old. i basically saved this dog because the guy that owned her before worked offshore. the wife was scared of the dog, and it wasnt let out of the pen for 3 months. basically, i think that is the cause of my problem; abby wasnt brought up in an orthodox way. right off the bat, i saw the was wild and constantly excited. i thought that would just wear off in time. i sent her to a trainer for six months to become a bird dog, and he said she was a tough dog to train. she has more drive than any dog ive ever been around, however. she has shown no signs of growing out of her wild stage. shes constantly jumping up on me, running around, and is only attentive when she wants to be. its really hard to describe accurately how wild she is, but im sure you can all imagine. as far as hunting goes, shes stellar. she's not very good at blind retrieves because its so hard to work her when we arent hunting because when we arent, shes the same wild dog. im really getting frustrated and im feeling hopeless. especially when i see 8 month old labs act more mature that her. im really concerned because i would love to make her into a fine tuned bird dog for doves and ducks, but im crippled when it comes to training because of this problem. please help. any advice, questions, or comments would be greatly appreciated. thanks.
More exercise and obedience training.
Obedience training, at least a couple months of it, will teach her the discipline required. She will thank you for it!
Second what xracer suggested also I would do NiLF training Google it. It has worked wonders for my new rescue who sounds kind of like your girl. He was a 1 year old stray. He had no house manners and could care less about me. I basically controlled everything and all attention was earned. He has now learned to focus on me for direction. I make him sit and wait for food, wait at doors, sit before I throw a ball or toy and lots of mental training and obedience. He is now a pretty good dog. He still has his moments but weve come along way in the 3 months I've had him. Good luck.
so you've had this dog...10 months or so? if she was around 7 months when you got her and she spent 6 months with a trainer? I think a lot of it relied on developping a relationship with her. after the training, did you work with teh trainer how to train her? did he give you tips and things to do? was she left in a pen with him or part of the household?
She may be 2 years of age but you can't compare her to a well bred and raised dog that started off on the right foot on training. Especially if she was in a pen with the trainer that means she hasn't been a true "indoor dog" for long at all really (assuming she is an indoor dog with you).
I recommend some basic obedience classes for both of you and setting boundaries and ensuring she doesn't "get what she wants" until she calms down. this requires TONS of patience and waiting it out and ignore (and setting her up to succeed too!)
Last edited by Tanya; 02-11-2015 at 11:04 AM.
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sheltieluver (02-11-2015)
Cabo was 13 months when I got him, and he’d been kept on a tie-out most of his life. He was headed to the pound and I feel like he either would not have been adopted b/c people would be turned off by all his nervous energy, or would have been adopted and then sent back. He was a bit of a handful the first few months, and he is still a work in progress in some areas. I agree that you really need to work to create the bond between the two of you, do obedience training as a way to bond. Go to classes, and then work on things at home. She probably needs more exercise as well, and that is another moment to bond with her, whether you do more walks or off leash work. Mental activities will also help wear down extra energy.
yes good point - how much daily exercise does she get? (how long and what kind?) at that age with that energy she may need over an hour offleash running and palying daily.
If she is good when working - use that to your advantage. You can give her tons of "jobs" around the house. jobs can be games and just basic obedience and expecations. a dog that wants to work is a good thing when you can harness that into the rigth activity. work her brain daily with obedience training, trick training, brain games, working for her food (stuff like kongs, puzzles, etc.)
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You didn't mention if you had previous experience as a dog owner. I sure didn't. When I adopted Shadow at 10 mos, he couldn't even look at me. He liked me but couldn't look me in the eye . I didn't realize this avoidance issue was going on but when I finally found a good trainer -- who I met while getting dragged thru the neighborhood -- the first thing she had me work on was "look at me". It took a long time of holding a treat by my eyes and clicking before he could do it. Then we worked on his name and then on more bonding activities. We both had to learn our training together. We took 2 training classes a week for several months. One set of programs thru the City (with the above trainer who also did one-on-one home visits) and one thru our local animal welfare league. Both programs were clicker-training, positive reinforcement...they complimented and reinforced each other. Then, we got into experimenting with the sports - agility, conformation, rally, nose work, etc.
I also spent time with Shadow at the dog park in off-hours working on recall with high-value treats...by the time other dogs arrived, we'd be running out of treats so I wouldn't be bombarded by the other dogs but still have enough for him to determine if it was better to respond to me or go greet the other dog. He learned it was better to wait until verbally released. We also practiced recall "check-ins" after which he was sent back to play -- rather than leaving.
FYI -- Shadow was and still is very high energy...20 minute walk in the a.m. 1-2.5 hours at the dog park after work, 45 minute walk in the evening. More on the weekends. Still plays like a puppy at 6.5 years. He needed to be exercised before training.
I'm no expert but it sounds like a field stock lab that needs more exercise and a job. My current black gal, Sunshine, was a wild child as a pup. At 12 weeks old she NEEDED 2 to 3 hours a day of off leash run like a nut exercise. Soon after she NEEDED 4 to 5 hours a day of the same; rain or shine, light, dark... After a short nap she required more inside attention. And the inside games were not formal training on how to roll over, sit pretty... She needed active games! Hide and seek, find the named item... And mind game puzzles also. Take a can, stuff a treat or small toy in it, jam something in the end and hand it to her. She has to figure out how to get the blockage out to get the item and bring it to me. Single piece of kibble in a plastic bottle, screw the cap on, she has to get the cap off, tip the bottle up to get the treat... The harder it is, and the more it challenges her, the more she loves them!
She is three now and I was able to start to get control of her high energy and drive at about two years old. But I got her as a pup so spent two years to get to that point! It was a horrible two years too, she wore my butt out!!!
Our off leash time is not wasted time either, she is not allowed to just run wild and free. I am with her and am constantly talking to her, directing her actions. She is able to let off steam while learning to watch and listen to me. Her JOB is to listen and find/retrieve whatever item I ask for. Practice, left, right, stop, closer, keep going... Make it a 'hunting trip' only she is hunting whatever item you choose. For Sunshine, I sent her to hunt up sticks. When she found one, she would pick it up and l@@k at me. I would say to bring it home or that is not the one I'm looking for, find a bigger one, smaller one... Direct her, left, right... And I hear you on the 'drive' part!! Sunshine is doing better now but a year ago... I was constantly worried she was going to get seriously injured all the time. There was only one way to retrieve an item, STRAIGHT for it at full throttle. Didn't matter what was in her way, she went through it.
She sounds like she is just going to take a major time investment now, it will pay off huge benefits in the future! Sunshine is the best companion now. The only thing she couldn't do is hunt from a blind. Outside, she can't sit still for more than a minute or two without whining and fidgeting. She NEEDS to be doing something.
Charlotte K. (02-12-2015)
wow guys, i was not expecting this kind of feedback. as you can see, im new to the site. anyway, everything makes sense. after she went to school for bird dog training, i worked with her as much as i could. she is obedient with sit, heel, and stay. like i said, she does great in a duck blind or on a dove field. you guys are right about her needing to be out more. im at school seven hours a day and at baseball practice for 3 hours. i let her out in between to go to the bathroom and to throw the bumper for her a few times. as you all can understand, she looks up to me and we have a great bond. after practice and whatnot, i tend to have her out for an hour or so, but that sounds like it isnt enough with her age, etc. i guess i was kind of expecting a training tool to be made evident when i make this thread even though i knew i needed to have her out more. thanks for all of the feedback. i guess i just needed more second opinions to really get me convinced on what i had to do. to have patience, i need confidence and turning to everyone here and hearing the same things has given me that. thanks a bunch.
Dogs bond by spending time wtih you and interacting with you. If she is running around an hour play fetch and other fun games wtih you that's good, add some walks and stimluation to her day as well (like, 45-60 minutes off leash playing, then a good walk wtih some training). The walk is good for structured light exercise adn mental stimulation.Originally Posted by bigev6
By "let her out" do you mean you leave her loose in the yard to play? that isn't exercise, you need to be interacting with her or she needs to be playing with another dog or something (play date). Dog's don't "exerciset hemselves".
Remember you are the dogs ENTIRE world. And labs are SOCIAL social dogs, not solitaire creatures one bit.
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Charlotte K. (02-12-2015), sheltieluver (02-13-2015), Woodrow_Woodchuck (02-12-2015)
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