Need help with puppy training?? Advice PLEASE!!!

Training collars work wonders while training lab pups! They are not physically damaging and can be set at a low voltage... Labs can be hard willed and hard headed! The collar has a warning "beep" that lets hard head know that they are gonna get shocked if they don't obey commands! TSC sells a variety of makes and styles and expences... can be found on ebay, amazon and so on, well worth the investment for training!

 

Labs are chewers. Get a bunch of kongs and keep it busy. Put some hot sauce on the baseboard she is chewing, she will leave it alone.

 

Quote:favorite squeak toy.
for some reason some dogs will call back to a squeak faster than voice or clicker.
My Mal will basically ignore you telling him to come back but you squeak that favorite toy and he is right there.

table and counter surfing scat mats, non electrical but cause a static charge when touched by their feet.

chewing thats a hard one, I have tried everything and refuse to go muzzle. It would be an easy solution but I just cant do it. too many things can go wrong using them.

Mine doesn't steal towels or such , but socks! everyone has to put socks in a closed bucket so he cant gt at them.

Concidering her age you have made wonderfull strides with her.please keep in mind she is still a baby yet and is still learning.
I have to keep reminding myself even though the Beast is a huge puppy he is just that, a puppy.
Even though he can walk up and put his chin firmly onthe table top with out even having to lift his head.

 

For the chewing they sell this sour or bitter spray you can spray on things. Dogs hate it.


For the stay just sit there with her. Have her lay down and tell her stay. After a few seconds tell her good dog!!! After a few times of you being right next to her start moving away 1 step at a time..

 

Sit and stay are handled for short periods for pups. You really need to get the come command down and cemented. Your pups attention span is very short and only repition of all commands will be successful. When you do the stay pick a spot with no distractions. Set the dog give the command and only move away facing her. If she moves stop and place her back in the same spot teliing her NO!! STAY!! It will take time some dogs get it faster than others. You leghthen the area after she starts doing the task. Always praise when the task is done correctly never when she fails. My lab never chewed. Attention is what they crave. We gave him a beanie duck when he was little and he never chewed when we thought he was we just corrected him saying NO!! You have started a little late with this dog but nothing is not handled with time and patience. Labs love to please their masters. All people dealing with your pup need to reinforce your rules as well. Good Luck.
MHO Master of a Chocolate Lab Troubles Tug Of War.

 

First of all, use the crate.

Get some Kongs. Make up some loaded kongs filled with a dog biscuit, some kibble, some peanut butter (just enough to hold things together and smell tasty), carrot shavings, bits of bread, whatever is a good treat. Put in a ziploc bag, and throw it in the freezer. When the pup goes in the crate, the pup gets a frozen kong. This will give her a chewing outlet and the crate will also become fun time.

Make sure your pup gets a lot of exercise. A lot of bad pup behaviors start with boredom. Play fetch several times a day until she is worn out.

Here's my fetch training:

- Use two balls, not one. If you use a single ball, once the pup has it, fetch turns to chase, and you are the one getting trained.

- Start with making the pup sit. Throw the ball a short distance, and release the pup with "OK!"
- Once the pup has the ball, take out ball #2. Start tossing it a foot or so in the air and catching it. You are having a good time, you have the fun ball. Turn your back to the pup if you must, to reinforce this. The pup will want the ball you have ... call her to you, don't over do it, use the ball as the bait.
- Make her sit, toss the ball, release with "OK!", and get ball #1 while she chases ball #2.

Don't overdo the length of your throws here ... keep them short or she will get too spun up to train. Save some long tosses for the end, after training.

Once you have this down, start calling "Fetch!" as she goes for the ball. She's gonna go get it anyway, but now she'll assoicate the command. Do the rest of the game as above.

Eventually, she'll be coming back with ball #1 in her mouth, and will eventually drop it near you. Praise her, make her sit, cover the dropped ball with your foot, and toss ball #2 with "OK!" and send her off after it. Soon you can work "Droppit!" into the routine; it helps if she's going to anyway and you just anticipate a few times to start with.

When she is doing this reliably, call "Bring!" as soon as she gets the ball in mouth.

You should eventually get to "Sit!" ... throw ... OK! Fetch! .... Bring! ... Droppit! ... Sit! .... (repeat)

The above helps in two ways. It gets her tired out, and it starts laying down some basic obedience.

You can start working on the sit/stay with the ball, once she has "sit" down to get the ball, make her sit longer before you throw. If she breaks sit too soon, just say "No!" and turn away. Slowly make her hold the sit longer to earn a toss.

You can also work on sit/stay or down/stay with food. I cut hot dogs into "chips", cutting small round slices. Microwave on a paper towel until they are bubbling, to cook some of the fat and moisture out. You should end up with round wafers of slighjtly dried/cooked hotdog. These will keep for quite a while in a jar in the 'fridge. You can use a pocketfull of these for training rewards. Food training helps with excitable pups, it is more calm than using the ball. Some of each generally works well, just not back-to-back!

Make her sit. If you have issues with this, hold a closed fist with a hotdog chip in it, and move it above her head, moving backwards. The head goes up, the butt goes down. She sits. Praise her, "Good! GOod Sit!" and give her the chip. Make her hold sits longer to get the reward. If she breaks sit, say "No!" and simply start over.

Once this is working reliably, make her hold sit while you slowly walk around her. If she holds, reward. If she breaks, say "No!" and make her start over. Eventually, you should be able to get her to hold a sit while you walk away, and then while you step out of sight behind a shrub or whatever.

You can do the same with "down" ... hold the closed fist with the chip inside below nose level from a sit, and gently repeat "down" while coaxing her to go into a down position to get to sniff the fist with the chip inside. Praise her when she gets all the way to down, let her eat the chip from your hand while in the down position. You can then start working the down/stay like the sit/stay.

Well trained dogs can hold a long down with the handler out of sight for 45 minutes!

In all your training, keep it fun, and always quit while you are ahead. The key is successful repetition, and if you push on for too long, and she loses interest and slips back a bit, you're undoing quite a bit of your work. Be patient, do some each day.

Hope this all helps!

 

Oh ... for your come on command ....

Once you get the sit/stay working with ball training, walk away from her.

Call "HERE!" and show the ball, and she'll come running. Give it a very short toss ... 3' at most, as she approaches. Praise her. Get out ball #2, get her to give up #1 with "droppit!" and start another sit/stay.

Walk away, stop, turn to her, repeat above.

Once you have that working, call her when showing the ball, but don't toss it. As she approaches, command "SIT!" and make her sit in front of you. Praise "Good sit!", then toss the ball a short distance ... "OK!" ...

and use ball #2, repeat as usual ...

After that, it is on to using the ball or hotdog chips to work on walking at close heal.

 

get an excersize pen and keep her in it when you can't give her your undivided attention

remove the opportunity