Hello!

MellowYellow

MellowYellow

Hi and welcome from me, Poppy (9) and Merlin (4).

Poppy was quite a sensitive soul when young and was very wary of strangers and would bark and growl at anyone who stared into her eyes. She would also bark at strangers on walks. We found that encouraging interaction with us and building a strong bond, as well as rewarding her with cheese and sausage (!) when she came back to us instead of barking, worked. She is very steady now!
 
Parodius

Parodius

Great to learn about everyones pooches. We have had the barking at strangers phase too but thankfully that seems to have passed in the most part, unless they are wearing something bizarre. It has now been replaced with a barking at sounds and reflections in the house and garden phase which is ongoing and quite trying at times. We have done puppy classes at the vets to try and build a positive association with going there🤞, further puppy classes and have adolescence ones booked to start later this month. The groups are small with only 3 other dogs so am hoping this will help his confidence grow without being too overwhelmed. We currently use dog pate for some of his training treats and we are gradually working our way through the different flavours to find his favourite, in typical lab fashion we are yet to find one he doesn’t like! 😂
 
M

M.F.

Granca said:
‘Forget the caviar, dogs are just as happy with the cheapest treats‘. That certainly seems to apply to most labs!
Click to expand...
Welcome from me and Snowie, who will be 10 years old on 11 Jan. He’s a yellow (white, really) intact male Lab. He’s bomb proof so I have no experience to share at all. But I can talk about treats!! Snowie is fed a variety of raw meat and raw meaty bones plus lots of fresh fruit and veg (the humans are vegan). And yet… he loooooves kibble!! Especially the neighbour’s cat food—always tests her gate and makes a dash for it if it opens. We have just stayed at a dog-friendly holiday house. Very thoughtfully included several stainless steel dog bowls. And a huge bag of ordinary kibble! Unfortunately the garden wasn’t secured (no fence at all) so we didn’t allow Snowie to be outside alone. Sometimes he didn’t want to come back inside. But the promise of “treats!!!” and the knowledge that those treats was the kibble, well that got him racing inside!! Too funny!!

Having said that, if I were training him for a difficult behavior, I’d be using roast chicken or… wait for it… bread! His favourite food in the whole world is bread! 🤷‍♀️
 
Emily_Babbelhund

Emily_Babbelhund

Mama Red HOT Pepper
Location
Regensburg, Germany
Welcome @Parodius from me and my Spanish Gentleman Labrador, SeĂąor CarbĂłn. :hi:

Carbon is pretty bomb-proof (not any of my doing as he was done with puppy age when he found me), but my last dog was the king of weird phobias as a puppy. And they changed often! It was trash cans for a while, then baby strollers, then bicycles...he even had a "trees with lemons in them are terrifying" phase. Really no rhyme or reason. It got to where I just had to laugh at it and keep moving. He eventually got past all his fears except for loud noises, but that one arrived later in life (7 years) because of a specific incident so wasn't a puppy thing.
 
Joy

Joy

Location
East Sussex
Hi and welcome from me and Molly.

As regards reactions to sounds and reflections indoors, I'd suggest a mixture of management and training. By management I mean trying to block out surfaces in which Neo sees reflections where this is possible (draw curtains, move furniture, cover items with cloths etc.) Training would be counter-conditioning, so when Neo barks you would feed a treat. I know this sounds as if you are rewarding the barking but this isn't the case - the barking is an instinctive emotional response, so you are building a new emotional association between the thing he perceives as disturbing and something nice. If it's something like the hoover, washing machine etc where you can predict that Neo is going to react then you can get the treat in before the bark. You would be at a distance from the sound, switch it on and as soon as he hears it feed a treat. (If you are concerned at using too many treats then it can be part of his daily food allowance - it just needs to be something he likes.)
There are some good Kikopup videos on You Tube that might help. Here's one:


I have been an IMDT qualified trainer, though allowed my membership to lapse now.
 
Parodius

Parodius

Neo is yet to partake in the wonders of bread, I used to love sharing my toast corners with my previous girl Billie but am making a real effort this time around not to make a link between ‘our food’ and ‘his food’. Billie used to drool all over herself waiting for her bit at the end of meals, it was like torture for her! I’m sure I will cave at some point, he’s already overcome the no dogs on the sofa rule, I lasted a month and even ended up buying little steps so he could get up and down without stressing his joints, it’s possible I’m a bit of a pushover.
Thanks for the ideas on the noises and reflections, will take a look and give it a go. It’s tricky as I don’t always know what has set him off but will try with things I know he is triggered by and see how we get on. It’s funny what can worry them at times, Billie used to hate hot air balloons and snowmen!
 
JES72

JES72

Location
SW London UK
Parodius said:
Neo is yet to partake in the wonders of bread, I used to love sharing my toast corners with my previous girl Billie but am making a real effort this time around not to make a link between ‘our food’ and ‘his food’.
Click to expand...
We had a 'No human food' rule for Homer as a pup and then began to relax a little with only giving him scraps with his own dinner or in his bowl, more recently we have been spoiling him a lot more and he gets the top crust and the corners of my toast every morning. I find myself saving the last piece for him, I feel a little guilty finishing off my biscuit of muffin, even when he's not there. Problem is he does now expect more treats.
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Kipper shares my toast in the morning, and gets small pieces of biscuits/cake if they're dog-friendly (i.e. don't have raisins/chocolate in them). I'm fully surrendering to the 'share and share alike' approach and it also makes me very aware of my biscuit consumption :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top