3 Year Old Puppy

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rachel540
Posts: 515
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:31 am
Location: West Yorkshire

3 Year Old Puppy

Post by rachel540 »

Hello! Not been on for ages and i have lots of catching up to do but i need your help with something.

Pepper is 3years old and still has the manners of a puppy, and its starting to p*ss off other dogs, she prances around and darts about so frantically fast the dog starts growling or most recently going for her - i assume to tell her off in some sort of way??

It all happens so fast i find it hard to prevent and just seem to react which I instantly take her to one side ask for a sit and wait for the other dog to pass while she calms down, i dont shout or fuss but just have a little timeout.

Is there anything i can do to teach her how to behave appropriately?

At a distance she is very calm and sits or lies down to watch dogs, but its hard to practise calm behaviour up close. If on lead she starts pulling which looks like shes just desperate to get past, when off lead she usually runs past at full speed but cicles back to greet the dog then she zooms around. Shes so fast!! I cant tell if shes scared, anxious or desperate to play chase. She does play bow alot. And shes a tease when playing chase, usually with puppies or other labs as they seem to be the only daft ones to tolerate her!

Help!
Pictures of Pepper viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14364
gwd
Posts: 1958
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:33 pm

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by gwd »

rachel540 wrote: And shes a tease when playing chase, usually with puppies or other labs as they seem to be the only daft ones to tolerate her!

Help!
You're absolutely correct. Many dogs do NOT appreciate labs at all.......I know mine do not. They are way more physical with their greetings and try and pull 3rd date stuff on the initial meeting.

Usually other labs are totally fine with it because they have the same wiring ........to them it seems normal. To other dogs it comes off as rude.

You're also correct in that it seems puppy-ish I think other dogs tolerate it more when the labs are youngish but when they get older, the other dogs no longer feel like they have to grant puppy privilege and begin to tell the lab that they are unappreciative of the antics.

There really isn't any reason she needs to play with other dogs.......... perhaps if she's on-lead just call her to heel......... or if she's not at that level of training, clip her leash back on her around other dogs.
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rachel540
Posts: 515
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:31 am
Location: West Yorkshire

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by rachel540 »

Thanks! You are right she doesn't need to play with dogs and I don't encourage it, but these little meetings just happen on walks. As she has so little interaction with dogs I wondered if that was the cause of her lack of manners, i hate calling it typical Lab behaviour haha. Would it be appropriate for a 10second sniff and walk away? Or just not bother? Her call to heel is goodish but as we start to pass someone or a dog she cant keep it, so lead on from now on and i suppose use the opportunity to practise heelwork.

Ok thanks, its good to know im not messing things up and all is normal :)
Pictures of Pepper viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14364
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Nettle
Posts: 10753
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:40 pm

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by Nettle »

gwd wrote:They are way more physical with their greetings and try and pull 3rd date stuff on the initial meeting.
Oh this says it ALL :lol: in one succinct phrase. May I steal that for the future, gwd?

Well done Rachel for flagging this one up, and I hope a lot of other labrador owners read it too. Lab on lab, the rugby-player tactics don't offend, but a lot of other dogs find them threatening or just plain rude. Gently controlling Pepper's social life will be very good for her etiquette skills.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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WufWuf
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Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 7:53 am

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by WufWuf »

rachel540 wrote:As she has so little interaction with dogs I wondered if that was the cause of her lack of manners,
It seems counter intuitive that keeping them away from other dogs will give them better dog skills and it took me some time to get on board with this idea but when I did Honey got MUCH better at her interactions with dogs. I gave her a fairly long break (months) from dog interactions (this was from dogs she actually got on with and played with not just scary strange dogs) and her reactivity level dropped and she became much more polite and less Jackerish in her greetings.

She stopped trying to play with dogs too and now only very rarely (every few months) has a brief bomb around with a couple of the small ones. She is however becoming really wonderful at her dog dog communication skills and there's a few younger females that I have no doubt she would have fought with back in the day who she has VERY politely told that she's not up for those kind of shenanagians :D I love love love that she can now not overreact if a dog does something rude and she gives much clearer warnings without telling them she will rip their faces off :P .

There is so much value in taking this kind of a break and there's every chance that if you do she will become less of a bulldozer and less over excited in general about dogs. It does mean avoiding people who you may have once been happy to walk with and lots of ducking and diving but if you can give it a shot it shouldn't be forever.

She will still be a lab (which is wonderful right? there's nothing wrong with her she is who she is) so not all dogs will be able to cope but if she can get a bit more brain action going she should do much better with the ones who can :D .
Operant conditioning rocks but classical conditioning rules
gwd
Posts: 1958
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:33 pm

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by gwd »

Nettle wrote:
gwd wrote:They are way more physical with their greetings and try and pull 3rd date stuff on the initial meeting.
May I steal that for the future, gwd?
Of course you may.......... :)
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Nettle
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Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by Nettle »

Thank you! :)
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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ClareMarsh
Posts: 2008
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:11 am
Location: London, UK

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by ClareMarsh »

WufWuf wrote:
rachel540 wrote:As she has so little interaction with dogs I wondered if that was the cause of her lack of manners,
It seems counter intuitive that keeping them away from other dogs will give them better dog skills and it took me some time to get on board with this idea but when I did Honey got MUCH better at her interactions with dogs. I gave her a fairly long break (months) from dog interactions (this was from dogs she actually got on with and played with not just scary strange dogs) and her reactivity level dropped and she became much more polite and less Jackerish in her greetings.
I wonder whether this is more about which dogs a dog interacts with than not having any interaction at all. Let me try to explain :roll: , I think when we say keep away from all dogs for a while it's because we can't control which other dogs we run into when out and about. If we could only meet that well mannered lurcher boy or that very clear in her communication collie b tch then maybe we'd be saying stick to those dogs that your own dog can learn from? Am I making any sense? It's not so much the break from other dogs as the break from dubious dog interactions that helps I think :D

Pepper just sounds like a typical lab to me, I've wrestled a few in my time who've had clueless owners or who Ted has decided he must say hello to and then become overwhelmed because he doesn't want to wrestle 50lbs of wet dog :shock: In fact this morning we met a little 5 month old lab girl and after the initial "hello, i'm not threat at all" I took over as she really wanted to wrestle :lol: Then I passed her back to her owner :wink: I do enjoy seeing labs play together, it looks so joyful.
Proud owner of Ted and baby Ella
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rachel540
Posts: 515
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:31 am
Location: West Yorkshire

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by rachel540 »

Thanks for all the support, it wasnt just her behaviour but the impact that it had on the other dog. I will limit interactions, keep up the puppy work and treat calm behaviour. So far we're both getting the hang of it, its good for practising recall, practising heelwork and encouraging the calm behaviour that earns her a treat, something we had let slack. One thing ive learnt about Labs is that you need to keep up that impulse control!

Labs playing together is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. She has had a couple of romps around with some labs at the reservoir and the funny thing is, they are sadly flabradors and cant keep up! Pepper has much quicker reactions and general speed and flexibility - its quite a sight! But im bragging :lol:
Pictures of Pepper viewtopic.php?f=31&t=14364
Laure
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:50 am

Re: 3 Year Old Puppy

Post by Laure »

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for posting this, I have just posted about my one year old lab/springer cross and judging by the responses we are experiencing similar issues with Rudy (guess he gets that from his lab half)... I have no help to offer just sympathy :)

He's very boisterous when meeting other dogs... goes for 0 to 60 is 1/2 sec: starts off with approaching dogs fairly nervously by crawling on his tummy (which can put some dogs off straight away) to jumping right into their faces. Doesn't at all seem to take cues from dogs that are not that into him... :lol:

Consequently we tend to keep hold of the other end of the long lead and prevent Rudy from approaching other dog unless we know them and know they are comfortable with his ways. Sadly his recall around other dogs is non existent so recalling is not an option and we often find ourselves looking completely stupid with a dog who goes into a down position and refused to move at the mere sight of other another dog... Guess you need a good sense of humour owning a dog right?!

I have often wondered if we were making things worse by not letting him meet every other dog but it sounds like we are actually doing the right thing. Although reading that Pepper is 3 and still going through this is slightly depressing :? .

We certainly keep the local dog walkers amused with Rudy's antics and our use of of a training lead (no-one round here seems to have ever seen such a thing!).

Good luck and thanks for posting this. If nothing else it makes me feel better that we are not the only ones going through this!!

Laure
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