Dog Training Help

[PhillipV]

Hello,

We have a 6 y.o. yellow lab named Disney. We have a difficult time keeping her calm whenever someone knocks at our door. Let's face it... we have a difficult time keeping her calm... period. She's very intelligent & loving, but she is (after all) a yellow lab. This is one thing we haven't been able to handle. Does anyone have any success stories training their dogs? Can you recommend a book, video, gun shop (just kidding), that might help us control her?

Thanks,
Phillip

 

[HGD24]

We rescued our dog when she was 2.5. After almost a year of trying to do work on this very same thing on our own, we paid $65 to the local Animal Welfare Society and took her to dog obedience. It was the best $65 and 6 weeks we ever spent on anything! I was amazed at how obedient our dog was with the trainer and how naughty she was with me or DH when the trainer handed the leash back to us. It's all about your attitude, your state of mind, your ability to be the boss. They actually trained us, not the dog. It took a good 6-9 months or so for our dog to competely stop jumping and barking wildly when someone came to the door. She still barks once or twice (it's been over 7 years) to let us know there's someone there, but she's much more calm and welcoming.

We showed some friends of ours who had a lab what we were taught and after a couple of months of working with their lab, they made lots of progress too.

I highly recommend going to an obedience class or at least getting a couple of private lessons from a professional who can show you how it's done rather than trying to do it on your own by trying to figure out what people are explaining via the internet.

 

[Nutsoverdisney]

I am having the same problem with my black lab. She is 1. We have talked to 3 different dog trainers each charging $75 an hour with no results. Our Bella jumps on people non stop if they come in the house. She loves people but won't stop jumping, it's not a normal jump..she will jump up then cup her paws to hold onto them. She has jumped non stop for an hour. The 3 trainers gave us different advice. One said to put her leash on and when someone comes to the door stand on the leash, giving her enough leash so she can only get her feet off the floor a few inches. Another, use choker collar and keep correcting her as she jumps. The last one said have the leash one and when she starts to jumps remove her, when she is calm bring her back in, again if she can't control herself remove her til she's calm. Again none of these heve worked for us. Hope they might work for you.

 

[LindaR]

I highly second the obedience suggestion! You get trained, you train the dog, then you enforce (retrain constantly for the rest of his life).

You would want to put the dog in a "sit" and "stay" before answering the door, btw. That takes obedience training!

 

[HGD24]

You get trained, you train the dog, then you enforce (retrain constantly for the rest of his life).

Agreed! Here we are over 7 years later and we still have to remind our dog of the no barking rule Thankfully, the jumping has completely stopped.

 

[PhillipV]

Animal welfare offers training classes?

 

[HGD24]

Animal welfare offers training classes?

Ours does. They also talked us through some other issues over the phone, free of charge before we took classes. We didn't rescue our dog from there, but they were very friendly and when I asked what the charge was for a phone consult, they said there wasn't one.

 

[rottiemom]

Ask your vet to recommend a GOOD trainer & take your dog to obedience school. Our Amber started out as a completely untrained mess when we adopted her at 2yo. Good training has made all of the difference. Her training has all been positive reinforcement & food rewards. She has turned into an awesome dog.

By the dog not being calm...do you mean that she barks when someone's at the door or tries to jump on people when they come in? Amber was a jumper. Imagine 75 pounds of rottweiler leaping up to greet you? What worked is "4 on the floor or all fun stops" . Basically Amber would be leashed & brought to the door & put into a sit/stay (or stand/stay as she got better at this). The guest would bend down to pet her but AS SOON as she started to rear up the petting would stop & arms were folded. This would be repeated, over & over, until she would stand calmly & be petted (and praised for staying on all 4 paws). When to comes to training you HAVE to be consistent. Amber's problem was that, as a puppy, she was obiously allowed to jump & climb because it was "cute". We had to teach her that it wasn't acceptable behaviour. Your dog wants to please you...praise them for the good behaviour & do not let the bad behaviour continue.

But get to a good trainer & they will show you what will work for your dog. 4 on the floor worked for Amber because if we stopped petting her that was enough to get her back down onto the floor. Your dog (most dogs) may be more determined .

Good luck! Labs are wonderful but they can be super high energy.

 

[Lanie]

I have an 18 months retriever/german shepherd mix, and we had tried everything to get him to stop jumping (no attention, turning around, knee in the stomach, choker...) The only thing that worked is pennied in a soda can, and we shake it when he jumps on us... It took 1 day!!!!!

Now, if only I could find something to make him stop barking...