Help with my Lab (dog)

[Grange]

Stubborn and bone-headed, but loyal and listens great when he's willing to.

To me that means he doesn't listen well at all. You're giving a dog a command, whether it's come (or here), sit, stay, etc. you are not asking the dog. The dog needs to learn some obedience. As far as the stealing food thing again it comes down to obedience. When training my dogs setter liked to bark when I was in the field with another dog and she was on the chain gang. To break her of that I used my e-collar and nicked her with continuous stimulation until she stopped barking. I was not by her she didn't associated the shock with me and quickly made the connection that barking leads to a shock.

[iceman]

"continuous stimulation" sounds like it should be fun.

[liv2ski]

^^^Apparently not when Grange is at the controls.

[Grange]

"continuous stimulation" sounds like it should be fun.

It's not, and that is why the dog doesn't bark when waiting for her turn in the field.

[hutash]

Mouse traps will work for that shit too.

Did you leave any mouse traps on the buffet table?

You know, just in case some neighborhood dogs were loose.

[hutash]

"continuous stimulation" sounds like it should be fun.

It's not, and that is why the dog doesn't bark when waiting for her turn in the field.

That's not what your wife says.

[irul&ublo]

That's not what your wife says.

Or your's.

[Mustonen]

Or your's.

I don't get it. Was the errant apostrophe part of the joke?

[OldLarry]

OL, try a gentle leader.

Attachment 104686

My wife's lab pulls really bad w/out this. He looks so pissed when he has to wear it, but too bad. Yes, people get it confused with a muzzle and think you have a vicious dog.

Yeah tried one of those- still pulls like there's a bear chasing her. Ridic. Actually couldn't find her leash this morning for the run and ended up using one of those loops they give you @ the vet, so when she pulled it got tighter around her neck, plus she was forced to stay much closer to me. Seemed to help.

Also remembered about the dominant dog always leading thing and did my best to keep her behind me, which I suspect helped also.

Then my flashlight broke, so I had that going for me.

[irul&ublo]

I don't get it. Was the errant apostrophe part of the joke?

No...just an AKPM moment

[SuperChief]

Didn't read it, but maybe this will help. The site has a ton of books to look at.

http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB1224

[stuckathuntermtn]

Don't know what to tell you about the food.

The separation anxiety could get better on it's own.

The aggressive on a leash thing is common, especially when other dogs are off the leash. They feel a bit cornered and can be nervous. Make sure you are calm and not yanking him along. He'll learn.

[Danno]

When I was a kid the neighbors down the street were hosting their daughter's wedding. Our lab roamed the neighborhood and I came around the corner to see the whole buffet set up in the front yard - ham, roast beef, shrimp, the WEDDING CAKE and no one around except our lab, on the table, scarfing everything in sight including huge bites of the cake. I just grabbed the dog and ran, never told them who it was, there was no way to fix that shit.

best thing I will read today, thanks ice.

To the OP, I always suggest this book, especially to people who are somewhat new to dogs: How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend by the Monks of New Skete. It will help you understand the psychology, give you tricks to establish dominance (and remember, your wife needs to be on board with this too, it will suck if doggie thinks you're alpha but he's above your wife in the hierarchy).

And once you establish something -- a command, a rule, a training -- be 100% consistent!

[pointemstraight]

Screw the gentle leaders or the BDSM leash dominance that Flyover posted. Get yourself a prong collar and be the boss. Teach him to heel, and anything out of line is corrected with a firm yank. He'll get the idea quickly. Remember, you're walking the dog, not the other way around.

My lab knows that any food, anywhere, is not his business. I could literally throw a roast on the kitchen floor and leave the house. When I got back, the dog would be standing there looking at it, salivating like a motherfucker, but he wouldn't have touched it.

To teach this, I used the "leave it" command. Start with a treat your hand and as he tries to grab it, give the "Leave it" while keeping it from him. Move from that to a treat on the floor - use the leash with a prong collar for correction the second he makes a motion for it. That should correspond to dinner too. When you feed him, he's not allowed to eat until you release him to do so with an "Okay" (or whatever command you choose) to do so. He basically learns that any food anywhere is not his unless you release him.

A shock collar will also work wonders for other training items, but not necessary. A prong collar and a leash or check cord will allow you to do 99% of what you need to.

Finally, CONSISTENCY. YOU are the boss. ALWAYS.

[::: :::]

the corollary to consistency as mentioned above:
dont give him a command you don't plan on following through on

you will both be happier

[hutash]

Screw the gentle leaders or the BDSM leash dominance that Flyover posted. Get yourself a prong collar and be the boss.
A shock collar will also work wonders for other training items, but not necessary. A prong collar and a leash or check cord will allow you to do 99% of what you need to.

Finally, CONSISTENCY. YOU are the boss. ALWAYS.

Some real bad advice, and some real good advice. If you need a pinch collar you are doing it wrong (with 99% of dogs, there are the rare few that truly need a pinch collar.) Gentle leaders are great, but a little trickier to use the choke or pinch collars. They will work better then anything else in almost every dog if use correctly (for obedience, thinks like field training are different.) Using pinch collars and shock collars is like teach your lids algebra by beating. See the kid beating/spanking thread.

The one thing that is 100% correct is the consistency statement, but even that has caveats. Like gambling, intermittent reward works best, so a little inconsistent consistency is correct.

[jerlane]

There have been a lot of good suggestions so far. If you can somehow find the funds, classes really are the best way to go. Here is a link to an on-line resource and a lot of the things he has to say are the things we have done in obedience classes. I haven't subscribed to his site, but his free info has been helpful.

http://www.amazingdogtrainingman.com/

[rather ripped]

Don't use treats to train him. Give him a snuggle, but not on the head. Chest works great.

Practice commands a lot. No getting in the car without a command, same with in and out of the house. I use our picnic table. We go to the table, "sit" then "load up".

Work with him off leash a lot. Hand commands - sit, stay, down - they are natural hand commands, work with them. Sit is right hand over heart, stay is hand in front of face and down is 2 fingers in a 'v' motioning down. They love it.

Heal without a leash, just keep practicing. Make em do it and be firm - hands on! No sloppy compliance. Your dogs will bond with you and look to you for adventure and fun.

[RockBoy]

To bagtagly...

e-collar is the way to go. But before you go out and spend $200 on a kick ass Dogtra collar (www.dogtra.com), you gotta learn how to train your dog and how to use the e-collar appropriately to maximize your dog's results. You can't just read a book, buy a collar and expect that the dog now knows what he is supposed to do. Constant repition of commands, consistancy in training, and time is what will help. You can't teach something one day for 15 minutes and expect him to remember it for the rest of his life. You gotta hammer that shit into his head by giving him the commands on a daily basis over and over and over again. The more consistent you are with him, and the more time you spend working on the commands, the more he will learn. I had a trainer tell me that when my dog is learning a new command, he should hear it and do it 50 times a day so it begins to become second nature to him. (50 times is a little ridiculous, but you get the point - practice makes perfect).

A beginner dog class at PetsMart will help in teaching you the basics of training your dog (they are cheap), but these classes are not private, so if he is aggressive to others than this may not be possible in the beginning. I would also recommend a book titled "Good Owners Great Pets". Shake cans, loud open hand smacks on the wall, etc. are all ways to teach your dog what is not allowed. The trick to all of it is doing it secretly so that the dog thinks, "Holy ! When I grab food off the counter bad shit happens and loud noises occurr, and I don't like that". You can't have the dog know that you are the one pulling all the strings or else he'll learn that when you are gone it is a free for all.

A dog's obedience behavior is a direct reflection of the amount of time and energy an owner has put into training the animal. Put in the time and in a few months, you'll both be way happier. Also its pretty fun to have other dog owners compliment you on how well behaved your pooch is. Kind of an ego boost for a job well done.

Also, don't forget that you have a gun dog who was bread for high energy and long days in the field. He needs some serious excercise each day as well as a lot of mental stimulation (training).

[hutash]

Save yourself $200, better send $190 and spend $10 on a gentle leader. You do not need an electric shock collar.

What is needed is basic obedience training which is not difficult nor expensive.