Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I hope someone can help us. My parents (in their early 70s) took in my ill uncle's untrained lab pup this last spring. This dog, now approx one year old is smart, quick to please, and ENTHUSIASTIC. This high energy pup goes ballistic with happiness when attention is paid to him. In short, however, he is way too much dog for my poor parents who are now in love with him and will keep him. My role now is to help them train the dog.

They brought the pup to a family gathering with six children ages 6 months to 11 years old, lots of food, cat smells, and older folks. We could not let the dog run around because he is like a bull in a china shop and no one is safe. So we put him on a lead just close enough that he could be near us outside. This did not work because everytime a kid would get near,the dog would tackle him. So we moved him a bit away from the outdoor party where he could see us but could not mingle. We gave him bones, chew toys, food, and lots of calm attention, etc. He was very unhappy, began digging, and whining. Eventually he began shaking. Our hearts were breaking from the beginning but the shaking did us in. What can we do with him short of boarding him in a kennel during parties?

During small dinners with calm, older folks, we have trained the dog to stay on his pillow. But the combination of excitable kids and food was too much for him. Does anyone have advice on how to train this happy dog? Thanks so much for any help!!

>>During small dinners with calm, older folks, we have trained the dog to stay on his pillow. But the combination of excitable kids and food was too much for him. Does anyone have advice on how to train this happy dog? Thanks so much for any help!!

This sounds like a major case of over stimulation. Part of the problem is that he is still a puppy and will be so for at least 2 years. Has he had any formal obedience work? Training in home is great when you do it, but the classwork helps with socialization. Being out in the public does a lot for desensitizing. Taking your parents on trips to local pet stores where the dog will encounter a lot of unusual smells is a great help. Also a few tricks that can work are a sit stay. Have people greet the dog with a treat. Treat is given when dog stays seated. Same with meeting the dog. Large parties like this are often times a downfall for many dogs. Children run, dog gives chase, child gets hurt, dog gets blame.

I think from what I understood that this party was not at your parents, but someone else's home. There is also the option of leaving the dog at home when visiting. This also gives a great out at family gatherings to get you home early.
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Cindy & the bully boys
CGC Brutus the bullheaded bulldoggie
CGC Caesar the fabulous pittie

im kinda having the same problem with my 7month old ab. he walks excellent on leash with me and ignores people far away but if someone comes say within 10 feet of us he just get so excited and starts bouncing and jumping and pulling to get to them. not in an aggressive way but he really wants to get some love. it probably wouldnt be so bad if he didnt jump like 4 ft in the air, or directly into ur chest, which could easily knock someone down. ive tried every kind of collar possible and head harnesses and everything. doesnt even phase him. prong works for just about everything else but doesnt affect him jumping. i usually ask the person if they could spare ten mins and just have him sit next to me with the person in front of us about 5ft away and he usually will calm down enough to sit there while they slowly get closer but as soon as the person goes to pet him or say shake my hand or anything hes bouncing all over the place again.

How are you training? Positive or correction? What kind of collar are you using?
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Cindy & the bully boys
CGC Brutus the bullheaded bulldoggie
CGC Caesar the fabulous pittie

i try positive as much as i can but my pup isnt very food motivated, i also tried his fav toy but once he has the toy he doesnt give it back anytime soon. so probably more corrective when tryin to get him not to jump up on people. oh and i use a prong collar hardly ever have to make corrections but when i do its the only thing he responds to. like i said anything else i do with him hes excellent heels perfect without any corrections. sits when i stop and sits before crossing the road without being told to. after we pass somebody its like nothing happened and he goes back to a heel and stays there. very smart dog he just gets SOOO excited when he sees people.

I can only tell you what I would do in this situation. I am good with training and working with bullies, so I will address this specifically.

Since he is not food motivated, HOWEVER I am quite sure he is daddy motivated you can try this.

When walking and you see someone approaching, put him in a sit/stay off the side walk. I usually sit my AB on the grass. If you have trained him to eye contact (with a look command) give him that command. As the person approaches keep issuing look command. If be breaks correct. If not reward with head scratches. Once the person passes, give MASS LOVES!!!! In the face kisses, snuggles, full body scratches.

This is what we have done very successfully with brutus. He gets a little butt twitch when the people are close, but rarely breaks away attention because he knows the minute they pass he will get to dance, kiss, and get that sweet spot scratched. So I look a little goofy on a busy street rolling around with my dog. People are free to comfortably walk past.

With the prong corrections should be light. This is a gentle reminder not to do it. This is not a correction on the come to jesus meeting level. Public corrections should be as minimal as possible to get point across.

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Cindy & the bully boys
CGC Brutus the bullheaded bulldoggie
CGC Caesar the fabulous pittie

no i havent traind eye contact as i wasnt sure the best way to go about it. maybe i should get that down before i start with other things

Teaching a dog to give eye contact is easy. You can do it while watching TV- I do it in commercial breaks or when washing dishes.

I say the dog's name and hold a treat at eye level. They inevitably follow the movement of my hand with the treat in it. I then give them a verbal praise (I use marker words or a clicker) and then give them the treat. 5 or 6 repetions every day for a week doign it this way will get you the behavior easily. I then start adding distractions. Ask for it while on a walk- same way. remove the treats from your hand as soon as possible, but use it when needed if you've increased the distraction level. Say dog's name, they look at you, give marker word and treat. You can build duration the same way. Go slow and steady, it works great.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

thanks for the advise,will give it a try. i dont know if u read the other posts, but my dog isnt really food motivated any other way to get him to focus on my hand but not with food, would be great. again thanks for the tips i surely will give it a try.

>>thanks for the advise,will give it a try. i dont know if u read the other posts, but my dog isnt really food motivated any other way to get him to focus on my hand but not with food, would be great. again thanks for the tips i surely will give it a try.

With a bully lots of praise. When he looks, cuddle.
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Cindy & the bully boys
CGC Brutus the bullheaded bulldoggie
CGC Caesar the fabulous pittie

Toys work, releases to go outside an play work, their meals (you'd be surprised how food motivated a previously unfood motivated dog becomes once he has to earn his meals), a nice walk. All these things can be used as rewards. Instead of food brought to your face to elicit attention, you can just use a noise that is attractive to the dog to get them to make eye contact. One of my favorite wasy to "proof" the eye contact is on walks with my dogs. I put my dog in heel position and ask for a "watch me" when I get that, I release them from heel position to sniff and be a bit more relaxed. After 300 yards or so, the dog is put back into heel position for a few steps, depending on how easily he came back into heel, I may release back to sniffing or he must look at me before I release. I also reward automatic looking back at me and not always on command. I want my dogs checking in with me with distractions around.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

>>Teaching a dog to give eye contact is easy. You can do it while watching TV- I do it in commercial breaks or when washing dishes.
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>>I say the dog's name and hold a treat at eye level. They inevitably follow the movement of my hand with the treat in it. I then give them a verbal praise (I use marker words or a clicker) and then give them the treat. 5 or 6 repetions every day for a week doign it this way will get you the behavior easily. I then start adding distractions. Ask for it while on a walk- same way. remove the treats from your hand as soon as possible, but use it when needed if you've increased the distraction level. Say dog's name, they look at you, give marker word and treat. You can build duration the same way. Go slow and steady, it works great.
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That was exactly what we did. Our marker word is look and both dogs learned it in less than an hour. Now when we want their attention it is look, with a single finger in front of our eyes.
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Cindy & the bully boys
CGC Brutus the bullheaded bulldoggie
CGC Caesar the fabulous pittie

thanks everyone i think hes getting it down. ive been using his tug for motivation and hes seems to catch on rather quickly. so again thank for the help it is greatly appreciated. will keep it up and see how it goes.

we havent been walkin cuz the other day i was letting him offleash to run in the corn field and so on and he came out with a big cut on his front "ankle" and was limpin pretty good. poor guy is so accident prone its unreal. he just got healed up from his last big cut like 2 days before that and now he hurt again. geez. kinda makes it hard to take him somewere without people thinkin i beat him or something. but he is def catching on to the look command. the way things are going right now i bet before the week is over he will have it down pat. thanks for the suggestions everyone.