Help with dog training

[Rosekitten]

So I have a nearly 1-year old Lab-retriever. Whatever else she is mixed with we are not sure as she was a shelter rescue. I've had her most of her life but she has been a nightmare trying to train her. I have had dogs most of my life and never had problems. My biggest concern is trying to train her how to behave near the chickens. As much as I'd love to let her run around out back I cannot. I have thought of letting her run around in the evenings and just closing the coop once the chickens roost but then we have a rabbit that stays in the yard and I don't want her chasing him around (it was a breeding rabbit of my housemates that got out and we haven't bothered to put him back as he's so tame).

Is there any tips people can offer on how to work with training my pup? I'm still in the process of getting her to understand listening while she is outside so I know it will not happen over night. She is just so full of energy I don't want her to hurt any of the chickens or herself.

 

[Duckstail]

Yes there is a lot you can do!!!

But before we get there. What method are you using? How much exercise does your dog get a day? And what type of commands do they already know?

 

[Rosekitten]

They've been a bit cooped up recently due to the floors of rain but generally they get as much exercise as I can muster (not sure how to actually put a time on it as I have two kids so it's throughout the day..). They know sit and home in the house. Granted sit is slowly getting better outside. Methods atm are leash with treats. I'm looking into getting a clicker as I heard that may work better for dogs who have a hard time focusing and have high energy. She's been hard to teach anything to due to her lack of focus no matter what I do. The only time I can somewhat get her focused is when food is involved and even that is fleeting at best.

 

[dainerra]

if you have a hard time juggling multiple objects, use a voice marker (I use YES!) instead of a clicker. I could never master having my finger on the button at the exact second that I needed to mark a behavior and timing is everything with any marker method.

Work on a strong "leave it" command. Make sure that she has zero access to the chickens in the meantime until you are sure that her recall is going to be 100%. Otherwise, she will learn that chasing chickens is fun. Same goes for the bunny. Work on teaching her to ignore them at a distance on leash - far enough away that she knows that the birds are there but she can still keep her mind on you. Then slowly move closer, still on leash. Then work on keeping her attention off-leash but still at a distance. Then slowly move closer again.

At a year old, she is mentally still a puppy. Labs don't get their brains until around 2 years old. Plus, she is a breed intended to be very bird-focused.

 

[Rosekitten]

Well I have tried the voice commands but I am not a very loud person apparently and she seems to ignore me unless I am talking almost in a yell at her. Maybe because she's use to me yelling at my kids or something? Dunno haha... I already knew she was gonna be pup for a while but she needs some basic commands or I can't even begin to work with her. At the moment sit and look at me are the main two I'm focused on. Potty training is just a wip that goes fine till that one second I take my eye off her in the house. I've looked into clicker training mainly because of her high energy and I think maybe I'm just too slow to react to her doing things when they are good for her to pick up that I liked what she did. Between animals, kids and her I think most of my high energy moments are well gone two hours into the day heh.

The bird focused is why I know it'll be a long haul for training. Leave is... well working on it. She does fairly well in the house if the kids drop something or she picks up a stuff animal that isn't hers and I can tell her to leave it (drop never worked). As far as keeping her away from chickens .. that's easy as she's always on a leash. I keep it a short leash till I figure out where the rabbit is hanging out at. Now finding the distance where she's not excited around the chickens. I may have to start outside of my yard and in the neighbor's yard for that... x.x She is instantly excited and trying to dart away from me as soon as she sees the chickens. Granted across the yard they aren't paying her any mind but still.. She did as a pup get away from me once and one of the poor hens lost a few tail feathers.. she's still ok though (my puppy was the runt so finding a harness and collar to fit when she was younger was a nightmare!).

At the least I can draw the chickens in the coop some days with treats and close the coop so she can get a good run of the yard and then put her back on the leash to try training afterwards. I figure maybe wearing her out may prove more useful where she is still a lot of puppy.

 

[Lifeiseasy]

You could try professional off-leash training if you’re not against an electrical collar. Most of them are NOT shock collars, they’re more of a “twitch” collar. As in, if you place it on your hand and turn it up and hit the button it feels like you’re twiching. If it is turned up too high, it can hurt. But you also have to remember that dogs have some pretty protective fur on them. It’s nothing more than “I need your attention, you should look at me and do this command” and then slightly stronger each time it is turned up. I have one on my purebred Siberian Husky whose only ten months old and he is PERFECT around my birds now as long as nobody tries to peck or bite him.

If you are against that, you could try sticking a harness on her and tying her to something sturdy, like a tree, near the birds while they’re in their coop with her being 100% supervised and wait for her to calm down. You could probably go about your business with the birds to show her it’s a calm situation, that might help her understand a little bit better. I have never tried this method but in theory and depending on your dog and you it might work.

 

[aligarysmom]

So we have a dog that never steps off the curb. We did this really easily my husband put a long rope on her and let her walk around the yard. When she steps off the curb he would quickly grab the rope and pull well yelling come! Two days and she had it.

So I would let her out with a very long rope and when she sees the rabbits or chickens and starts after them. Pull her all the way to your side and yell leave it.

Mines a lab as well

 

[Rosekitten]

I was looking to getting her a harness just because she gets so excited and pulls so badly that I'm worried she'll really hurt her neck. She literally will choke herself trying to get to people or whatever she is after. I just need to talk my husband into buying a 30$ harness to help with pulling haha.

Yeah I'm use to labs quickly getting training, this is the first one that hasn't really taken to much of anything. I've tried various methods over months so. I think maybe the chickens are a huge distraction for one... But I need to find something that for sure grabs her attention, even yanking and raising my voice is a hit and miss of getting her attention.

 

[Duckstail]

I was looking to getting her a harness just because she gets so excited and pulls so badly that I'm worried she'll really hurt her neck. She literally will choke herself trying to get to people or whatever she is after. I just need to talk my husband into buying a 30$ harness to help with pulling haha.

Yeah I'm use to labs quickly getting training, this is the first one that hasn't really taken to much of anything. I've tried various methods over months so. I think maybe the chickens are a huge distraction for one... But I need to find something that for sure grabs her attention, even yanking and raising my voice is a hit and miss of getting her attention.

If you're thinking of getting a harness because you're afraid of the dog's neck you have a lot of dog training to learn!!

Harnesses are for sled dogs. unless you plan on having your dog pull you on Rollerblades you should never have a harness, i will be making your life miserable the dog will pull you three or four times as hard. Yank your arm out.

I sent you a Private message. I highly suggest you follow it because you have a lot of work!!!

 

[Rosekitten]

You say I shouldn't worry about her neck when she is pulling to the point she is wheezing? I dunno about you but yes I do worry about the safety of my dog. Also no not all harnesses are made for sled dogs as you say. I understand what you have linked me and I have tried his methods already for most of my dogs life thus far, and with her just no luck. Like I said I have had dogs throughout my life, helped train most of them and almost all of them have been labs. This is the first one where my normal training methods are not working.

I was not planning to get a sled harness obviously for dog training, there are pull harnesses to help pull the dog back to focusing on you (mainly the front clip harnesses). My pup has a terrible habit no matter what I have tried with her to pull and tug to try and greet someone or chase other animals that she pulls on her collar to the point she makes herself wheeze. I've never had a god do this over and over and I even used a choke collar for a short while but when that made no difference to her I took and went back to the normal collar out of worrying she was really going to choke herself and get hurt.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with his methods of training but for this pup it has not helped in the slightest and I've had better luck with doing other trainer's advice. A pull harness was suggested as the one I am looking has both the front and back clips. Front to help train her to revert her attention to me if she pulls away and will be use with both verbal commands and some aid of a clicker/treats.

She is a very smart dog, understands her training inside. As I have said I have tried the whole dominance training method and it just doesn't click with her. I have used his methods on past dogs and it worked fine but with her