Dog/Lab Questions

[Bauer]

I could use some dog owner help as I am a first timer!
I have a 14mo old Fox Red Lab named Ruckus, we got him on black friday of last November and have grown to love him more than I ever expected. He has been great since we got him, very smart and took quickly to the rules of our home. Great with crate training, only a few minor accidents in the home and now grabs our attention to go out to go potty without issue. But as of the last 2 months, say as the weather has turned, he has developed some traits I am struggling to overcome with him.

A: While playing fetch, I had taught him to retrieve to my hand and all summer he was excellent at it, never faulting unless he wanted to lay in the grass with it to catch a breath and cool off. As of late, he wont retrieve to my hand any longer, unless maybe the first few throws of the ball. After the first few, he will start going behind me and laying down and "maybe" lay the ball on the ground by my feet. Forcibly trying to get the ball back of course seemed to encourage him so I obviously quit that right away. I presume it is because he has learned eventually it gets taken away when we are done playing but I cant seem to do anything to get past this. He treats that ball as though it is the greatest treat, there is nothing else we do that gets him more excited than to play fetch with the chuck-it. If we play with any toys in the home, he retrieves to the hand flawlessly, sits patiently and wont go until his name is called but once outside with his ball, he looses his damn mind and forgets it all.

B: He has started grunting or growling to try to gain our attention, he will stand in the living room and do this until we finally relent and do something with him. This can happen even after we spend some serious time playing with him to occupy him. I understand his energy levels, but we can play with him to the point where he is breathing heavy and 5 minutes later he's at it again, finally about 9pm he will relax and chill out.

C: while letting him out of the house to go to the bathroom after dark, he has developed a trait where he will sit on the step of the deck 20' away and watch me but wont come to me to re-enter the house. His recall has become quite questionable at times. Even coming from the garage into the home he will sit and tuck his ears/tail and not come to the door. Other times he enters just fine! If I walk up to him, its like a light bulb clicks and he runs happily into the house.

All of you lab owners, please help me with my "terrible twos" situation I have going on. Is it time to break out the heavyweight treats for the next few months to snap him back in line?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

A. Check cord to reiterate what is desired. Start to finish.
B. Kennel up boy. That behavior is not to be tolerated
C. Shock collar

 

[eyexer]

keep him in the garage. get a wireless fence and install a doggie door so he can go in and out. right now it seems he is trying to call the shots

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yes def shock collar

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Have you used a check cord or shock collar for training? If not, proper implementation is necessary.

 

[riverview]

sounds like he is getting you trained pretty well. I wont bring a tennis ball near my labs they are like crack.

 

[bucksnbears]

In his mind , he's the boss.
Best overcome that asap by whatever means necessary!

 

[Kickemup]

Sounds like he is at the age where he is trying to be the leader instead of you. Dont let him get away with it and he will come back around. A leash when playing catch helps alot.

 

[tikkalover]

That was the question I had, do you have a shock collar? On the issue of a shock collar, I understand (and respect) that some dog owners don't like to use them. Roll up a newspaper and tape the ends and use that. Its like collars, some people don't like a chocker\pinch collar, but I wouldn't own a dog without one.

A. If he doesn't do what you want, use the check cord or give him a light zap. If that doesn't work put the ball away.

B. Make him lay down, if that doesn't work give him a zap or use the rolled up newspaper, or put him in his kennel.

C. Shock collar or discipline him when he gets into the house.

When I first had a dog and shock collar, I asked the local dog trainer that I knew, to teach me how to use it on the dog, as you can over use them. With most dogs after using the shock collar after a period of time, you don't actually even need to turn it on, as they learn to listen better when you just put it on them.
As stated above, you need to be the master/dominant one. Don't let him be the dominant one or you will have nothing but trouble.

 

[Petras]

Yup, sounds to me like he thinks he is the boss... better nip that in the bud right away...

 

[Kurtr]

Yep he thinks he is the alpha and all your questions have been answered the collar and check cord will fix the problems

 

[Kentucky Windage]

I think a dog should love you and fear you at the same time. Be the king

 

[eyexer]

What’s cool is I have a wireless fence. It beeps to warn them of the boundary. My shock collar has a beeper too. If the dog gets too far ahead hunting I beep her and she turns around immediately in comes back towards me to the correct distance and continues to hunt. Rarely have to actually shock her

 

[Bauer]

Thank you all.

I do have an underground fence, but he still has 1.5acre to work with. He does know when the collar is on vs off and is a different dog respectively. I dont care to deal with the dog door/mouse entrance/loss of heat situation so he is in the house, crate trained to be in it while we are gone and at night while sleeping.

I do have a shock collar, also an attitude adjuster when it is on vs off. I have had good luck with it with all aspects except the ball issue. I will just have be more consistent with using it now that I know I am on the right track. Any nicks/zaps with the ball involved doesn't induce a change, just a tighter grip on the ball. I may have to go to the check cord for that. Taking away the ball doesnt seem to be an eye opener for him.
Does anyone have any recommendations on how to use the collar properly with the ball to get more direct results? Do I attempt to remove it from his mouth while shocking him? etc?
Also, when taking away the ball, do I just muscle it out of his jaw and put it away or do I follow a process to get it away without him thinking we are still playing.

Thank you again, some very helpful tips re-enforcing what I was afraid of.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

? 1. As I said before, check cord. I think that is the most repetitive way to train the same thing over and over again.

?2. When I wanted my labs to drop something, I’d grab their lip, fold it over their canine and pinch their lip on the tooth and As hard as necessary too.

 

[Petras]

One other thing that I think should be mentioned which may pertain to your issues with playing fetch is when training a dog, you always want to leave them wanting more and always end on a high note. In your case, that would mean that if your dog is properly fetching and retrieving for 8-10 throws, stop throwing it for them after the 5th or 6th throw. As days and weeks go by, you can up the number of throws and eventually it will be a non-issue. I had the same problems with my old wirehair, and once I started using the technique I outlined, things got much better.


https://animals.mom.me/how-to-train-hunting-dogs-to-soft-mouth-12294059.html


Another thing that might be helpful for ya is to look into teaching your dog to have a soft mouth. This website has a decent gameplan you can follow.

 

[Kickemup]

When I trained my dogs to drop something I would grab the ball with one hand and stick my thumb from the other and push down on there tounge. Did take them very many times of that to figure out it hurts and I better listen. I actually trained my GPS to drop things using a cheese burger from McDonald's. To this day if she has something in her mouth even half way down and I tell her to drop it it will come back out most of the time.

 

[shorthairsrus]

I would flip that sob on his back hold him to the ground tell him your boss.

 

[NDSportsman]

Time to force fetch him.

 

[shorthairsrus]

Run em like a shorthair. Run him every night behind your truck if u have to. That eleminates a lot of bull shit

Retrieve. I would only practice retrieves in training. That's probably the gsp in me

 

[Up Y'oars]

A. Do not stop with the commands to bring the ball. When my dog alters his strategy (getting tired and just drops ball 1/2-way back to me) I just say "noooo, bring it here" and he will turn around and go back to retrieve. I always use reinforcement, good or bad, after every retrieve, no matter what. I reward him on that final retrieve when he hands me the ball/dummy by "good boy". He needs to know that his going back and getting that ball, even when he didn't really want to, is worth that warm fuzzy.

I also tell my friends in training their dog "90% is failing". In other words, you cannot do it some times and not do it other times. Stick to the line because a dog doesn't comprehend that you meant to tell him "good boy" and didn't. ALWAYS go through those training commands and you will always have a well-trained dog! Your kids may also be working against those training commands by letting him drop the ball and they go pick it up to throw it again. He is now understanding that he doesn't HAVE to hand the ball over. There again, 90% is failure. He's adapting to both structures and you should keep him on that narrow path to hunting dog success with owner commands. At least, it has paid off for me. My dog is now over 9yo and I rarely have to alter my commands because he knows there isn't a 10% adjustment anywhere along his fun with me. When I notice he's tired we are done with tossing the ball, but I'll also go lay in the grass and have 'other' types of fun with him, too.

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B. I see these similar behaviors with my dog "whining" rather than barking, growling, etc. I, again, always address those behaviors and say "no" or "knock it off" and my dog will 99% of the time stop it. He knows that I'm the alpha and it isn't a welcomed behavior. You also should get into that habit. It may be, once more, than the children are accepting of that behavior and it goes against how you work with your dog. Eventually, your dog will learn and adapt to what things you want over time. Be patient and in a year or two you will only have to have those reactions randomly here or there.