New Puppy - training questions

[Anonymous]

We have a 10 week old lab mix and she is great! BUT she is like a little jumpy land shark when she gets going, usually after naps. How do we correct this behavior? She jumps and nips at our kids (who are young) and they aren't able to redirect her very well.

Also she isn't great on walks - how do I get her to leash train?

We have had a dog before but that dog wasn't very high energy and was pretty lazy.

[Anonymous]

I recommend sighing up for Baxter and Bella. Tons of training videos, training exercises, and you can get free 1-on-1 calls with trainers. Their videos encompass traditional training (sit, down, etc) as well as behavioral training like jumping, counter surfing, barking etc. Highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

Lots of chew toys and redirection when nipping. My 6 month old now rarely nips because she's lost all of the baby shark teeth.

[Anonymous]

I would also advise a harness for walks. Labs are really strong and can pull hard. If you use a leash that has two clips, one for the harness and one for a martingale collar, the dog won’t be able to back out of either one. Before ours was fully trained she could back out of many harnesses and non-martingale collars.

[Anonymous]

When our puppy was high energy we ran him in the yard, chasing balls before taking him for a walk. OR we took him for longer walks (when he was older). He'd try pulling at the start, we'd correct him, and after about 20 mins he'd get the hang of it. It's about practice as much as anything.

don't let the dog take you for a walk, you keep them at your side and if they want to go sniff / pee you say "wait" and when you get to the next tree you say "okay" and loosen the leash and they go to it" and you say "come on" and it's time to leave

training 101

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When our puppy was high energy we ran him in the yard, chasing balls before taking him for a walk. OR we took him for longer walks (when he was older). He'd try pulling at the start, we'd correct him, and after about 20 mins he'd get the hang of it. It's about practice as much as anything.

don't let the dog take you for a walk, you keep them at your side and if they want to go sniff / pee you say "wait" and when you get to the next tree you say "okay" and loosen the leash and they go to it" and you say "come on" and it's time to leave

training 101

OP here - dog doesn't pull me, rather I have to pull her. She just sits and doesn't move. How do I get her to move on a walk? I bring treats but it doesn't motivate her much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a 10 week old lab mix and she is great! BUT she is like a little jumpy land shark when she gets going, usually after naps. How do we correct this behavior? She jumps and nips at our kids (who are young) and they aren't able to redirect her very well.

Also she isn't great on walks - how do I get her to leash train?

We have had a dog before but that dog wasn't very high energy and was pretty lazy.

Get her into puppy training classes. There are lots of places. We’ve been doing it at Dogizone in Rockville. They do puppy training until 20 weeks and then you can send them to a training “camp” where you board them for a week, they learn all sorts of commands, and then they have a session with you where they teach you how to execute the commands.

The classes have been helpful for us.

In the meantime, I suggest LOTS of toys with varied textures. When she does nip, make a loud yip sound and walk away quickly from her. Disengage so she learns she won’t get playtime if she nips.

As for leash behavior: she’s way too young to expect that she won’t pull. That’s a behavior that’s trained much later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of chew toys and redirection when nipping. My 6 month old now rarely nips because she's lost all of the baby shark teeth.

Our lab is 4 months old and I hope that’s in our future!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our puppy was high energy we ran him in the yard, chasing balls before taking him for a walk. OR we took him for longer walks (when he was older). He'd try pulling at the start, we'd correct him, and after about 20 mins he'd get the hang of it. It's about practice as much as anything.

don't let the dog take you for a walk, you keep them at your side and if they want to go sniff / pee you say "wait" and when you get to the next tree you say "okay" and loosen the leash and they go to it" and you say "come on" and it's time to leave

training 101

OP here - dog doesn't pull me, rather I have to pull her. She just sits and doesn't move. How do I get her to move on a walk? I bring treats but it doesn't motivate her much.

Oh I'm the PP you're responding to. We had this rarely, we just said "come along" and kept walking and he'd eventually follow. I know some breeds are more stubborn and I've seen Boston Terriers who just lay down in the street and refuse to get up, so I am guessing someone who knows more about this will come along and help. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our puppy was high energy we ran him in the yard, chasing balls before taking him for a walk. OR we took him for longer walks (when he was older). He'd try pulling at the start, we'd correct him, and after about 20 mins he'd get the hang of it. It's about practice as much as anything.

don't let the dog take you for a walk, you keep them at your side and if they want to go sniff / pee you say "wait" and when you get to the next tree you say "okay" and loosen the leash and they go to it" and you say "come on" and it's time to leave

training 101

OP here - dog doesn't pull me, rather I have to pull her. She just sits and doesn't move. How do I get her to move on a walk? I bring treats but it doesn't motivate her much.

1) Maybe bring higher value treats like pieces of hot dog or something. 2) Does you dog need to be walked? Do you have a fenced yard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our puppy was high energy we ran him in the yard, chasing balls before taking him for a walk. OR we took him for longer walks (when he was older). He'd try pulling at the start, we'd correct him, and after about 20 mins he'd get the hang of it. It's about practice as much as anything.

don't let the dog take you for a walk, you keep them at your side and if they want to go sniff / pee you say "wait" and when you get to the next tree you say "okay" and loosen the leash and they go to it" and you say "come on" and it's time to leave

training 101

OP here - dog doesn't pull me, rather I have to pull her. She just sits and doesn't move. How do I get her to move on a walk? I bring treats but it doesn't motivate her much.

She's probably too little for walks if she's not willing to walk. She'll walk when she's ready.

For nipping, with our puppy we'd put a small toy in her mouth so it wasn't as tempting to chew on us. Lots of saying "no" or "uh uh" and redirecting with a toy.