Our Labrador pups in training at Susana Labradors have been working on sit; lay down, stay, crate training, come, and leash walking. We also begin working on high 5 and potty training. They're just about ready for you to continue their training; some of our pups come to you fully trained in every way. These pups have been on field trips in puppy safe places to gain exposure to new beginnings. I tell everyone that it is just like bringing a baby home from the hospital. You need to watch them and take care of them and make sure they are always safe. It can be work, so don’t kid yourself. But it is very rewarding and we feel the house is not a home without a furry friend bounding about.
The Labrador pups in training are puppy’s we select, and at about 6 weeks of age, begin working with them on how to behave.
With any puppy or young adult, remember you have to continue their training in everything you do. If you don’t want them jumping on you, do not ever let them do that. Warn them first anticipating that they might jump out of excitement. Then give them a correction if they fail. I have found that a jumping dog is just excited, and wants a little attention, and they cannot resist a jump up. Keep the energy level low. Isolate yourself with your new best friend away from children and other pets when you train. One on one is the best until you really get to know him. Speak slowly and clearly and in a clam manner. Pets can get over stimulated by tone of voice alone. Lots of times, your dog will respond to the word “gentle” or “settle”. He will almost crumble to the ground and submissively lay on his back for a belly scratch.
I recently took in a lab male rescue. The owners said the dog was incorrigible, and wouldn’t learn or behave or give eye contact. Isn’t potty trained, very hyper, will not settle down is dog aggressive, etc. etc. So you have to analyze what was his living condition before? Was he allowed to come in the house often? When in the house was he left to roam and do whatever he thought best? Who was his role model? Another dog, perhaps that is unmannered, untrained, or aggressive with him? Or another dog, that the family favored, and the new dog was thrown outside or basically ignored. Was the training one on one? Was he allowed to be worked with alone while indoors? Was he the first dog, and once the new puppy came in, was he then thrown outside? The couple told me they had another dog, which was a well mannered pit bull, a real good dog, they conveyed. While I am not too familiar with other breeds, I think pits are animal aggressive, but I could be wrong. Could it be possible the pitt was aggressive towards the lab? Could that be why they told me he was aggressive…standing up for himself perhaps? Maybe that dog was allowed to come in. Since the lab was ill behaved the couple felt discouraged, gave up, so the dog was never worked with one on one, so he would be a nice house dog once inside. Imagine living with a brother or sister who was a straight A student, and you are just getting by…the honor student gets many more privileges than you, naturally…therefore, it may make you try harder in school, but, if you don’t understand the material, and have no guidance, or help, you will never be able to comprehend, thus, you remain a kid just getting by with D’s…instead you rebel against your sibling, act out negatively for attention, as you have been basically cast aside, and some attention is better than nothing at all. Imagine how that must feel? Someone other than you being favored. Sometimes these facts are not conveyed to you when bringing in a dog or a rescue, and you have to start at square one and do the math…figure him out, so to speak. Pretend that you have just adopted a child from another country who doesn’t speak our language and vice versa. The entire relationship is going to be about trying to communicate and figure each other out. Observe him, give him some guidance, set up some ground rules, and let him know it is going to be your way..Not his. There is only one big dog. That needs to be you. It takes time, and patience. But they are all worth it in the end. Believe me, they are individuals, and each is different; like children, but all worthy of appreciation and with a few tricks which I will convey, you can, with time bring a dog around.
One day in the infancy of my training, I cooked a nice dinner for my husband and family. It was homemade lasagna, I worked hard on it all day, and the meal was sure to be a success. We all sat down to eat, and under my arm, was the ill mannered family pet. Looking for a head scratch and table hand out. He kept knocking my arm off the table so it would fall on his head. I remember to this day saying “put him out, were eating!!” My husband said “no, he needs to learn how to behave while we eat, and if you throw him out, he will never learn” While he was right and It made perfect sense, it was a bit of an inconvenience, I agreed and we endured. From then on, I now train all my pups and dogs to wait on a pillow. The pillow can moved from room to room, and set next to the kitchen table a distance away. The dog can lie on the pillow, and wait while we eat not bothering us. You need to throw him a treat from time to time and say “Good Wait”. We have done this for others that come here for training and the new owners are amazed at how nice this is.
Of course, everyone knows you don’t feed him from the table or he will assume this is the way he is to behave. Begging for handouts.
We believe you need to be firm, but come from love. And hey, a few dog bones and yummy treats along the way for good behavior, really work. Yellow Labradors, Black Labradors, fox red Labradors are all the same when it comes to training, really food motivated, like a man, and a way to his heart is through his stomach.
He came to me with dirty teeth, a gnarly ear infection, and was obese. I mean really fat. It looked like he ate their other dog!! We run our Susana Labradors pretty lean, and I remember him when he was first here, and he was a gorgeous chocolate Labrador with a waistline. This doesn’t even look like the same dog. So, think of it….a dog that doesn’t feel good can be ornery. This is attributed to part of his problem by my assessment. Poor thing. Plus, when your fat, and we all have our fat days..we feel sluggish, bored, and tired. I know last month, when I had a tooth ache, my whole head felt like it was exploding, and for days I was cranky. The littlest interruptions unglued me… until the problem cleared up, I then returned to myself again. In the 4 days I have had him, the dog is working with me at my side, with treats, and ball playing, swimming after the tennis ball, and love and attention. He has lost 3 lbs, on my diet and exercise program already. Geez, that is almost a pound a day…(wish it worked like that for humans) He probably felt fat and dumpy, sluggish, and therefore wasn’t getting the proper exercise he needed as he just couldn’t keep up. A dog without exercise, and fresh air, becomes a behavioral problem. Caser Milan is a big advocate of exercise, rest, discipline. I tend to agree. No wonder they said he was aggressive…he wasn’t exercised enough, and was pent up. A tired dog is a lazy happy dog, with all the piss and vinegar worked out of him. When my daughter has emotional flare ups, being a teen, I tell her not to bash a hole in the wall, go for a jog, run as fast as you can for as long as you can. Get it out of your system. Same with a dog.
This dog swims in the pool daily, and exercises in the yard with a ball and a few other dogs. Man, he jumps in the water from the side of the pool and sticks his head under to get the ball. I know he loves it and makes him feel accomplished, when I say “Atta boy” Good job!!!
He is living with a female and 2 male Labradors of mine, one, of which is un-neutered. Both young dogs, but I have not seen any aggression in him at all and I believe it is because he is happy and taken care of. At first, my boy was a little snarly at the presence of this new male and they had a small standoff with hair sticking up, me supervising, but I corrected them both, petted each of them in front of each other, swam them together in the pool, and loved and scratched them both so that they didn’t feel slided with my love and attention and all was well and has been well since. He is rewarded when he does well, and disciplined when he does wrong. It is that simple. Just like a child. You wouldn’t let your 3 year old walk up to someone and kick them in the leg. Although very amusing, it is bad behavior. You would scold him, tell him to say he is sorry, and give him some consequences to face. This is the same with any dog. Young or old, trained somewhat or fully trained. A fully trained Labrador would have already learned right from wrong by living with me and my host of trainers, from the beginning, but you still have to remind them if they falter. So don’t ever buy a trained dog and expect it to be 100% from the beginning. Remember, any dog needs to learn it YOUR way. Your life, rules, consequences are different than mine. The dog needs a firm trainer.
Always.
We are working on his dirty ears daily. I use a commercial ear cleaner every day with a baby wipe, and every other day I use a mixture of my special blend. I use ¼ white vinegar, with 2 drops of tea tree oil, the rest is water, a touch of antibacterial liquid soap, and a splash of alcohol. I flush his ear canal, with a generous amount of the solution, massage the outside of his ears, one by one, and use a baby wipe wrapped around my index finger. After he shakes his head I can remove the black junk out of his ears. With ear cleaning it is not an easy fix…it is something you have to plan on doing every day and believe me, they do not like it. I think he appreciates it, trusts me, and knows I am trying to help him. In no time I feel I will be able to make this miserable dog who is suffering, a happy healthy and sound good boy. I scaled his teeth with my dental tool, while he lay down in my lap I re-enforced him that he was safe. “Gentle, settle, good boy” In a soft smooth voice. Spend some time, nothing happens fast. He will feel uncomfortable if you rush. I brushed his teeth with my dog tooth paste and that took care of that. One down! It took forever, but I was not giving up. I am the only one now in his world that has not given up on him…and I will not let that happen to him again. He is a great project dog, who needs me, and I feel good every day I wake up and look at his adorable face, and know that because of me, I will have made a dramatic difference in this dog’s life.
The dog is very responsive to my tone of voice and knows that with a treat he is ready to behave. He has come to trust me, love me, and generally wants to behave. He just needs guidance and direction and place to belong where he won’t be ignored. Once inside the home he lifted his leg and peeded on my shelf where my cook books are kept. This happened when I wasn’t watching. Because I didn’t see him do it, it was really my fault. Sure, he should know better, and that was one of our lessons, mine and his. For me, I should have been watching him to observe what he was doing, and if I saw him lift his leg even a tiny bit, I could have reminded him to get outside for that. Because I discovered this later, I still brought him over to the pee spot and showed it to him scolded him in a very disapproving voice, and put him straight outside…reinforcing the phrase “We go potty outside! “ To date, he has not since peed in the house. But I am watching him every minute, confining him and me to one room at a time, and sitting with him by the sofa while he lies at my feet on a short leash. This way I am always in control. I take him out often and am constantly offering him a chance to eliminate outside every hour to every two hours now. Eventually, I will be able to read him and he will let me know when he needs to go outside. This will come in time. We are still getting to know each other.
He does all his tricks for treats with me perfectly. Like my physical trainer at the gym once said “muscles in our bodies never forget”; I believe the same goes for dogs. If they know something, they will repeat it for you if you ask them to do so with a reward at hand. You have to make it fun for them. He was trained in the beginning, he just was obviously ignored, and the training started was taken for granted. A dog will test you once home, so you have to be ready for that. Dogs need love and attention and constant reminding and supervision, at first until they can be trusted. I suggest keeping them confined to one room at a time. Give them a blanket or dog bed with a toy or a bone, something to do while you are busy. Watch them, and when they stand up, bring them outside, and do this often. Eventually, they will get it. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you just throw them outside, and leave them, it will never happen. This is a neglected dog that just needed an up-do on his behavioral skills. Remember, there are no bad dogs, just bad trainers. You don’t have to be a trainer to have success with your pooch. You need a general understanding of dogs, and tons of patience to get results. Remember, nothing good happens overnight. If you love someone bad enough, you will forgive them; not give up on them, correct them, so they can please you. A lover in your bed cannot please you without getting to know what you like. This needs to be communicated. Great lovers are not born; they are taught. This is the same way for a friendship, or any relationship, and the same with a dog. Communication is the key. The dogs generally do not want to do wrong. They want to please you, but again, they need guidance. If you don’t have the time to put into a dog, even a fully trained dog, then you should refrain from getting one at all. It is a shame that there are so many great dogs in the world that have been taken for granted, and basically ignored. Realize it is a commitment. In this case, the owners being ignorant could have had a really great dog, if they would have contacted a trainer, read a book, or just did a few simple things as I have done here. But to assume the dog is good to go…in your home is a huge understatement. My home is different from yours and the sights and sounds are completely my own. So with any dog there is an adjustment period, of at least 2 weeks to a month. Depending on what the dog previously knows and has been taught or gone through. Slow introduction, to the house, making it less confusing for him to find the appropriate door to go to let you know he has to go out is one thing. I try to make it as simple as possible adding new avenues and challenges slowly along the way. Each day and week, we add a few more things. This is the only way they grow into new endeavors. They need to be exposed, slowly. With time and patience, a loving and understanding heart, you can do it….here is a photo of this wonderful dog who will be up for adoption soon. Let us know if you like him and would like to consider him as a potential family member in your home. I advise that he be the only dog right now, as too many other distractions will just detour what skills I have managed to teach him.
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