Very overexcited dog

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easilyconfused
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Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by easilyconfused »

Thought I'd pipe up with some advice, as I normally just lurk on the internet reading peoples opinions on subjects and finding my own middle ground, but I couldn't resist as I love my labs to much lol.
About the working/show breed question, post a photo of your dog and I'll see if I can tell you. The face and body shape are quite different and I often get asked what my working labs are crossed with. Generally show dogs have shorter muzzles, squarer faces, a rounder body shape (read fat lol) and a shorter fatter tail. This is due to breed standards and show rings but that's a whole other minefield. Working labs tend to have thinner, longer faces smaller bodies and longer tails. That being said, like all animals, no two ever look completely alike, my current pup (9 months now) has a working lines father and a show lines mother and is the best dog I have ever owned. She is incredibly intelligent, and will blind retrieve in a forest in less than a minute and wet retrieve for hours from lakes, yet is still happy curled up on the beanbag in our lounge snoozing with my wife's sheepdog for the majority of the day.

OK, getting your dog to listen on a greet. This takes time, patience and consistency.
My general rule for meeting other dogs is if they are off lead I let my dog greet, if they are on lead I don't.
To start with work on a heel command in the house, I'm sure there are a million guides on the net of how to do this. I use the wave food in its face and walk away technique :). Then when I am outside I have the dog on a long leash and when another dog approaches call it to heel. If it doesn't listen and pulls towards the other dog (usually when I haven't spotted it coming before my dog has) I turn and walk the other way and shorten the dogs leash to heel. As soon as the dog stops looking the other way and looses interest I treat and praise it for a good heel. I then turn around and start again.
So, I am stood with my dog at heel, strange dog approaching. i then decide if I should let them greet or not. If I am going to I get the dog to sit, unclip the lead and say my go play command. The dog will instantly charge in, sniffing, greeting etc. Small chat to owner of other dog, we both walk away. At this point a good recall and timing is important to get the dog to return as the play slows for a moment. That or if the dog is too excitable I clip the lead on again and walk away still using my recall command and treat/praising when the dog loses its focus behind us.
If I don't want them to greet I walk the dog past the opposite side to the other dog than me, so my body is blocking direct contact. Praising a good heel when its not pulling. If it pulls towards the other dog I turn the other direction until it looses interest, praise/treat and try again. This can be slow work, other dog owners often think your mad ( but they often are being dragged towards you by their dog) and it never goes as smoothly as you would like. But with patience and consistency the dog learns that it gets to either greet the other dog when you say it can, it gets lots of good things if it doesn't get to greet and if it pulls towards the other dog it gets walked off the other way and neither happen. My 9 month old lab now looks back at me when it sees another dog coming waiting to be told if it gets to play with it or not and will sit/stay behind me while I try and teach our new puppy the same rules. I then say either say "go play" or "heel" and it will either run up and say hello or walk past and catch up with me.
This takes a while, you will probably get red faced at first, think you will never get anywhere but as long as you keep up the consistency and don't get mad one day the lightbulb will go on in its head and your dog will work it out. It's a lab after all :) gl
Labsrule
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Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 5:01 pm

Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by Labsrule »

Hello again Maxine, if you look at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers website:- http://www.apdt.co.uk/index.asp, you can find positive trainers by location and hopefully one who runs a class near you. As your boy is working bred, have you considered a bit of gun dog training? You certainly don't have to shoot or even be the least bit interested in it but it is a very good way of training, teaching steady behaviour, obedience and lots of high energy stuff too. There are some very good trainers who only practise positive reward based training about now, I go to one and have had very good results with my mad youngster. I possibly live not too far from you (Herts) and would be happy to meet up with you and your boy if it helps you at all. Sue.
sarged76
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Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 2:30 pm

Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by sarged76 »

So I have been working diligently over the past few weeks. Mongo LOVES his 20 foot lead and the ability to sniff and explore, and he whenever he stops and looks back he gets treated, petted, etc. Now he almost always comes back when called. I say almost because we are still working on other dogs. He still whines, gets piloerected and pulls on the leash when other dogs come. We are continually working on this. I have seen some improvement and know that this is a very slow process. We also have not been to a dog park in about 3 weeks, so maybe that is helping also. We will keep working and I will keep everyone posted. I have also attached a picture of Mongo.

Also I was using a tug rope to get his attention or to play when he came back and he is no longer very interested, he is also not the most food motivated lab around. Any other suggestions for making him really want to come back to me, especially when there is other dogs around.

Dan
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Mongo
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jacksdad
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Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by jacksdad »

awesome stuff Sarged76.

yes it can be a "long" slow process. But the calmer you can keep mongo over all, the "faster" progress will happen. There will be ups and downs, 3 steps forward 1 back etc. it's a process. But sounds like you and mongo are working it out.

regaining your dogs attention from their primary trigger is always hard, even for food motivated dogs. Jack is probably about as food motivated as they come. But even with Jack if he crosses over his threshold because we get to close on an off day or it's a dog that is giving him the eye or lunging at him or some other cause from him to become aroused there is a very brief window to capture his attention and then all you can do is move for distance if you miss it. sometimes even when you do catch his attention you have to then quickly move for distance or he will lose it.

before you write off your current distraction tools, back off some extra distance from other dogs and see if he regains his interest. you might just be too close. IF turns out your not to close I guess it will be brain storming time. I have gotten lucky and have been lucky in that I only have to chose a good treat, so maybe others can chime in with ideas for distractions for a possibly non food motivated dog. Have you also tried something he can lick verse something he eats?

oh and thanks for posting a picture of Mongo. he's a good looking dog. those eyes...

mongo??? from blazing saddles?
maxine 23
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Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 6:09 am

Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by maxine 23 »

Hi
On reading the other posts I now am beginning to wonder if it is such a good idea letting my dog have a run around with other dogs in the park a couple of times a week. After seeing how overexcited he got today. He was shaking with anticipation and it took ages for him to calm down when we got home. I think it was me feeling guilty that he wasnt running around and mixing with other dogs, so I will go back to the long lead and treats where there is little or no distraction. Dan do you find that keeping your dog as calm a s possible helps,and if so how do you manage when there are other dogs around ?
Maxine
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Noobs
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Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by Noobs »

It seems very common to think that dogs NEED to run around with other dogs as much as possible to tire them out. It resulted in my dog being over-stimulated and tough to settle at home sometimes. Luckily for me my dog park is 2 miles away from my house so I would run my dog to the park while on my bike both ways. He got sufficiently tired, but then it became harder to tire him out without going to the dog park. Also sometimes we would run for 3 miles and he'd come home and STILL get the zoomies!

Don't underestimate the importance of quiet time and calm training periods. They do make a difference in the overall temperament of the dog. Now I walk my dog to the dog park once or twice a month and only go in if there are two dogs or less. Any more than that and we don't go in. Better yet if there's no one there and we're alone for Murphy to have the zoomies by himself. :D
sarged76
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Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 2:30 pm

Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by sarged76 »

I found a dog park by my house and there is never anyone there. What a great place for my dogs to go and run off steam with no distractions! We can work on recall etc, and not have to worry. And to think I drive by it everyday on my way to work and have not noticed it. :mrgreen:
maxine 23
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Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 6:09 am

Re: Very overexcited dog

Post by maxine 23 »

sounds absolutely great to have the park to yourself! Around where I live there are a few good parks but unfortunately quite a few dogs although during the week it is a little quieter. I think I will still continue with the long lead however until my dog is a bit more reliable.
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