Kayla is overly excited....help!

[rickjs]

Is your dog a field Lab? It sounds like she needs a job. Field Labs, especially, are bred to work. Even if you don't plan on doing performance work with her, you can do obedience or at least learn the exercises or do things like free-shaping. During this time, she will also learn to focus on you. You'll need a trainer or, if you are handy with learning online you could do that as well. All of the other advice is right-on.

Nope. Complete English style. Very, very strong pedigree.

[Labradorks]

Nope. Complete English style. Very, very strong pedigree.

I would say pretty much the same thing then, and add that she needs to learn how to handle herself and be taught in a positive manner. Start slow, use food, lots of exercise, mental stimulation, and be gentle and positive. If you are hard on her, it will just make her nervous.

[rickjs]

Everything is always positive (or, at least 99.9999%). I'm never hard on her. How could I? One look at that face and I melt.

[Meeps83]

Everything is always positive (or, at least 99.9999%). I'm never hard on her. How could I? One look at that face and I melt.

That's how they get you

[MightyThor]

Oh I know exactly what you're going through. My almost 13 month old has been that way since about 8 months old and it's the hardest thing we've had to work on with training. He still gets overstimulated with pure joy at anything - person, dog, squirrel, blade of grass - but it's much better than it used to be.

What I have been doing is taking him to a local park with dog friendly, WIDE trails. The first few times he was impossible. We didn't get 1/4 mile before I gave up and took him home. But slowly it started coming together and now I can take him hiking with me easily.

The key was to get his attention BEFORE he started pulling or getting excited about another dog/person. Once his attention is gone it was GONE. We'd go to this park and walk down the trail. As soon as I saw or heard another person, even way off in the distance, I'd take Thor off to the side of the trail and start doing a round of simple tricks - puppy pushups (sit, down, sit, down, etc), shake, whatever, treating like crazy. This would keep his attention on me as the person/dog walked by. I'd give him high value treats right at the moment the person/dog walked by as long as his attention was on me. The key is to not give him an opportunity to break that attention away so it was just trick trick trick.

He still will get super excited and pull if I don't catch it ahead of time, but it is so much better than it used to be and it's improving every time we're out.

[Labradorks]

One of my dogs was like this when he was younger and, of course, he is ginormous. 100 lbs at a year old. I did end up getting him a gentle leader or halti, can't remember which, for safety's sake as he could pull me across a street or into a lake (that really happened), even though he is well-trained. We worked a lot on attention and like someone else said, getting his attention before the excitement happened. We worked very hard, every day, and we went to classes. He is four now and still has his moments, but I do love his zest for life!

[doubledip1]

I would do exactly as Rebecca (MightyThor) posted. Treat, treat, treat when attention is on you.

Luna was the WORST between 9-13 months. It's usually the naughty teenager stage.

[rickjs]

Thanks all for some nice responses. I appreciate the effort.

Some don't fit my situation. Very small mountain town. I live in a small development beside a 20 mile long lake. Small roads in our development but there are cars that come and go although nothing like living in a city. Woods throughout the development but roads still close enough that I am afraid to off leash her.These suggestions about grabbing her attention worked well with cars going by. Initially, she wanted to try to chase every car. Now she will sit or stand quietly when they go by. Except for the mail truck and the UPS truck. No idea why. Both drive her nuts even though she sees them most every day. Who can figure out her mind?!

We don't have any dog parks or other parks where I can walk her. The one, large, municipal park does not allow animals. We have numerous different areas we walk and on each occasionally will run into a person walking a dog. The suggestions would work in that situation. Most situations though involve a free running dog in the neighborhood who comes up to her and nothing is going to stop her from getting excited.

Also, my primary concern is not when I want her to avoid people. It is when I want her to meet people and not be a monster. I'd like to try a dog park in South Florida when there on a visit but I dread thinking of how she will act off leash...or even on leash.

I suppose I could try to go very deep into the mountains/woods where I'm not worried about her not listening off leash and potentially getting hit by a car. We certainly have those areas in the North Georgia mountains. It is mostly just lakes, mountains and forests.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the obedience class and, given it is such a small area, I'm not sure I can find a different class anywhere reasonably close.

Kayla and I will keep plugging along. I started reading this board at least a year before I got her to try to learn how to deal with issues. I know that most of this is just time.....she needs to grow up and finally figure out she can't act like a 12 week old puppy.

Her behavior yesterday just caused my frustration level to boil over. She's currently just resting on the floor by my feet while I am on the computer. The nicest, sweetest, calmest dog you would ever want to find. That is until the next event sends her into a frenzy.

[doubledip1]

Her behavior yesterday just caused my frustration level to boil over. She's currently just resting on the floor by my feet while I am on the computer. The nicest, sweetest, calmest dog you would ever want to find. That is until the next event sends her into a frenzy.

We have ALL had those moments! Trust me, we've all had moments where we could just kill our dogs and then the next moment they are precious little angels.

I find it helps tremendously to come here and post about all the crazy antics.

Somebody here once posted about their Lab jumping on top of the counter at the vet's office and knocking everything over and the owner was horrified and amused. If I recall correctly, it was Bobby or Thor, but I can't remember. I'm pretty sure it was a younger yellow.

Luna once jumped off a cliff after a possum skull.

It gets better. I promise. Sometimes, you need to treat treat treat, sometimes it's a phase they'll grow out of.

[OHfemail]

Thanks for giving a clearer picture of your area! It sounds like you've developed some good things with other people/cars. The loose dogs are such an annoyance, and it's going to be a real process to deal with that. I guess the stand on the leash and try to calmly maintain attention on you - pretty challenging when another dog is leaping around you. As for the off leash, I wouldn't let her off leash at all until you've got a great "return" command going. You can practice with a long lead, a special word, and lots of praise when Kayla does come to you. I use "far enough" or "come" for normal off leash walks. One of the great ideas I learned on this board is to have what I call an emergency word. It means no nonsense and get back to me RIGHT NOW. I use "touch" in a firm voice, and Gabby knows that means she'd better get back to me and touch my hand immediately. It's amazing the stuff you learn here, and it's fun to practice and watch them learn.