Labrador cross German Sheperd - Few Pointers Needed

michdee

Hi all, I am wondering if any of you would be able to give me a few pointers to a couple of things with our pup. He will be roughly 4 mths now the end of this wk. So far he is very good and one of the easiest dogs I've had to train. Really cant believe how well things are going for us. But I've noticed in recent days he's starting to get stubborn, as in Id call him but he wouldn't come straight away like before. If I call him again he will.....
Also two things I def want to get nipped in the bud is in the last few days, if we meet somebody or somebody comes to the house, he just jumps all over them. I know its excitement, but how do I go about correcting this while he's still young and not make it an issue.
The other thing, in the last couple of days, he's getting alot more excited around other dogs, we'd have him down the fields off the lead and he'd be playing away with our farm dog but yesterday whatever reason they took to growling at each other. They were fine then after a few minutes. Today then on a walk on the lead every dog we passed that barked he barked or growled or would try pull into them. Now probably this is normal but I want to try and address it early so that it doesn't become an issue, so any pointers would be great.
I don't want him growing up thinking when he sees a dog he can growl and bark and start an argument, because it just gets into a dangerous situation then for all involved.
Thanks in advance

Ashbx

In terms of calling him, how many times do you call him? Dogs get accustomed to our "nagging". Call him once. Do not call him 4 times and when he finally comes on the fourth time, you praise him. This is teaching the dog that its ok not to come the first time I call you....you can wait till the fourth time. Go back to basic recall training as you did at the start (treats etc) and make such a big fuss when he does come to you first time called.

In terms of meeting people, the best advice I can give is ignore them! As soon as they start jumping, turn your back to them and pay them no attention whatsoever. As soon as they calm down, then shower them with praise. You need to do this with EVERY SINGLE guest that comes into your house. Slowly your dog will learn that they will not get attention if they are jumping at people and will do if they are calm. I think the main thing with this is to get them calm BEFORE your guests arrive. When the doorbell rings, I try get my two to sit at the sitting room door as I open the front door to greet my guests. My dogs do still kind of jump as they enter the sitting room but I have taught them not to ambush people as soon as they walk in the door! Baby steps!!

Alternatively, you could put them in a crate until they are calm and let them out to greet visitors then. I don't have my dogs crate trained so I cant really advise on this unfortunately!

Lastly....the walks! I have this issue with my border terrier and have done for a few years. We have our good and bad days! In my case, its usually on the start of a walk when my dog is most excited. And again in my case, Its not aggression the dog has. I think its pure frustration that my dog cannot get to the other dog which leads to the lunging and barking etc. What I have done over the years is if I see a dog coming towards me, I pull in somewhere (usually up a road slightly or into someones driveway) and we watch the other dog pass. I ask my own dog to sit and if she lunges, barks or growls, I walk the opposite direction (i.e. take her away from what she wants to get to). If shes good, we stay and watch the dog pass, slowly walk towards them as they pass and reward for the calm behaviour when the dog has gone. If the dog is walking away from us (i.e. we are following them), I follow for as long as I can until my dog has pretty much ignored the dog infront (usually only takes a minute or two). As soon as my dog is completely calm, I usually try overtake the dog if I can. I feel like this is a small reward for my dog because she finally gets to greet the dog infront. And by the time we get there (after following for a few minutes), she is so calm that she basically ignores the dog rather than lunging and growling etc.

Its tough work and I feel training dogs is an ongoing exercise. But best of luck! I hope you get some pointers to try out!

deadlybuzzman

I wonder would the growling thing be similar to a situation a guy was telling me about that he had with his akita pup. There came a stage where as the pup got older it started getting in fights with their older dog until the older dog started giving in to the younger dog

michdee

That's great thanks so much for that. Yeah we have our pup in a pen in the utility when inside. He is out most of the day now esp in this fab weather. Will keep at it def thanks and good idea about the dog steeping in. If I was sure the dogs we meet def cant get out I'd let him watch the dog if he behaves. If not I try to keep talking to him as we're passing and try keep my tone normal and not stressed.

michdee

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

I wonder would the growling thing be similar to a situation a guy was telling me about that he had with his akita pup. There came a stage where as the pup got older it started getting in fights with their older dog until the older dog started giving in to the younger dog

The farm dog lives on the farm at my parents in law where they are just down the lane slightly, so he's never with him all the time. It is just the other day this happened so I must let them keep meeting and try suss out the situation more and see why its happening etc. That's interesting tho about the akita