Thread: Lab sort of problems

So I have this new 3 year lab Bitch Black smallish frame good breeding apparently She’s from Croftsway sold to buyers who thought she would not require attention just lie on the deck and be cool spayed and signed agreement not to leave nz or go to dog shows wtf.
So her three years she’s had two extend eye opening ops plus spent a heap of time in doggie jail IE the odd two to three months at the kennels in a row

Anyway she’s clever. One afternoon she’s shaking hands high five in rolling over and behaving very well.
Taken walking every night and behaves well. She’s my first female dog.
My problem is she finds a dead bird a 20 year old skeleton it’s all over
Will not come back ignores the whistle that without the food interference has been so awesome

She is gentle as and an awesome dog. I m lacking in trying to tie her to me
My 14 year old lab I just look at him and he’s beside me Click my tongue he’s running at me
Any help be welcome no interference I can stop walking hide and she comes to find me so quickly it’s not funny
Hid in a barn she got 250 mtrs ahead and just sat Barely poked my head out and she’s doing 100 mph coming back

She is so clever I need some tips. If she doesn’t come back do what .? Ifs she’s been naughty and then finally lets you catch up do what

Any ideas or help welcome. She’s a lovely girl

Whilst she is mis behaving there is no chance of getting near her to Put lead on She keeps just out of range so well cheeky bitch

Had a foxie and had a real long line on him . about a twenty meter cord. would call him once, 2nd time would call him and give the cord a good jerk. He work it out

you said dead bird or 20 year old skeleton...me thinks you have a GREAT ASSET in the making....she already "birdie" and prooving she has a "nose" two things plurry hard to train in......much better to have then in spades and work out how to work with them.
she wont come back.......dont let her go.
trick with long line is DONT put it in your hands...let it drag and then innocently stand on it. dog comes to screaming halt...turns around and thinks" how the begesus did he do that??...
dont do it too often or she will twig.
been naughty and finnaly lets you catch up......walk her down,and keep going and going and going,give shake up when get a hold of her then take back to where you started and carry on. basically dont let bad behaviour be its own reward is my thoughts on it.
if nightly walkies is where issue pops up...you COULD try old shepherds trick and tie both dogs together...she cant bugger off unless she can drag the old boy along too,he will get exercise but wont let her drag him off and you tell him to sit and she has no choice but to stop.
hope that helps....Ruff where are you bud????

Will follow with interest,Im in a similar boat with a rescue dog, lovely nature and awesome nose very high energy bitch, when the nose turns on the ears turn off.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Will follow with interest,Im in a similar boat with a rescue dog, lovely nature and awesome nose very high energy bitch, when the nose turns on the ears turn off.

I’m sure that there is an answer to this VC. It won’t be @Gibo one though

Poor dog, id run away too

Originally Posted by Gibo

Poor dog, id run away too

Helpful as usual Thanks for that. Should have asked you first sorry for not getting clearance

Must be hard knowing every thing

Always good asking for unashamedly help here Hope some @ dog trainers reply Cheers team

Originally Posted by Happy

Helpful as usual Thanks for that. Should have asked you first sorry for not getting clearance

Must be hard knowing every thing

Always good asking for unashamedly help here Hope some @ dog trainers reply Cheers team

Don't be a sook mate, you can dish it out just as well It was in jest I did not mean to upset you

Will she feel that not allowed in side to be part of the family that night means anything or is that waste of time

Originally Posted by Happy

Will she feel that not allowed in side to be part of the family that night means anything or is that waste of time

Im am no dog trainer by any stretch but I figure there is no point in punishing later that day/they will just wonder why you are being a prick.
Immediate reward or punishment they understand what they are doing is right or wrong.

Sounds like she is self-hunting. What do you do when she takes off? do you repeatedly call her name/whistle? do you run off after her? Also do you hunt with her or plan to hunt with her? If so what sort of hunting? Will you be running her just as a retriever, or will she hunt and you shoot over her?

Originally Posted by Hautapu

Sounds like she is self-hunting. What do you do when she takes off? do you repeatedly call her name/whistle? do you run off after her? Also do you hunt with her or plan to hunt with her? If so what sort of hunting? Will you be running her just as a retriever, or will she hunt and you shoot over her?

She will be retrieving from ponds etc. when she gets wind of food there’s no calling her back Tried whistling her and calling no way she’s not interested I don’t run after her. She won’t get shot over as it’s all mai mai shooting and we stop shooting to do a retreive Be ducks only

Originally Posted by Happy

She will be retrieving from ponds etc. when she gets wind of food there’s no calling her back Tried whistling her and calling no way she’s not interested I don’t run after her. She won’t get shot over as it’s all mai mai shooting and we stop shooting to do a retreive Be ducks only

I have had to train mine to walk on a lead and sit and, well everything basicly totally untrained when we got her.
Found tonight by keeping her on a lead for a start till the excitement levels dropped a bit I could let her range out a couple hundred meters and call her back (in a howling wind too!) so definitely making progress....also have a solid sit when inrange so have found that good to enforce the come here or she comes here and runs past at 70kph and keeps going lol She is just full of beans and will run flat stick in big circles if not controlled(must be the greyhound in her)

Originally Posted by Happy

She will be retrieving from ponds etc. when she gets wind of food there’s no calling her back Tried whistling her and calling no way she’s not interested I don’t run after her. She won’t get shot over as it’s all mai mai shooting and we stop shooting to do a retreive Be ducks only

It sounds like she is self-hunting. That is not her fault as it is something that she has been allowed to do, but it is now your problem and it is not easy to correct. My suggestion would be to go right back to basics and then build her up again. I would start with a whistle (Acme 210, 210.5 or 211.5). She needs to learn two whistle commands. First is recall, which is 3 peeps. Second is a stop command, that is one blast.

With the recall command, start off using it at home to call her for her food. Even if she is already there, walk around the yard and do a couple calls holding her food bowl with her following. Then transfer this to the park. What you want to do is get into her head. Let her go hunt and then go hide somewhere with a vantage point. What you want to do is make her think that she is lost. You want to make her anxious. You will see her looking around, ears back and running to try and find you. After she has been anxious for a while call her (three peeps). She will then start to equate the whistle as something positive. It has provided her with relief and recall will become a positive thing. But don’t over do it. Only do it once or twice a walk and don’t let her panic. Another trick is when she is at a distance, blow the recall whistle and when she looks up, run in the opposite direct as fast as you can. This will start to teach her if she does not come, she will be left behind.

With the stop command, ask her to sit and then immediately blow your whistle once. Over time she will equate the single blast with sit and stop. Then once she understands that you need to extend it out so that you can stop her at a distance. This is handy when you are hunting. One exercise I will do with my dogs is to send one out and then when they are at a distance I will stop him/her. Then I will throw a couple dummies either side. Then make them wait before directing them to a particular dummy. I will then send the other dog sitting beside me to the other dummy. This reinforces the stop whistle, steadiness and hand signals.

Dogs respond to direct stimulus. So timing is critical. If your dog takes off and does not come back to you the time to tell it off is not when it finally comes back to you. It will not equate the telling off with the failure to come back straight away, it will equate the telling off with coming back to you. So what do you do if she does not come back after you call her. Easy, get after her and sneak up on her, give her a fright and yell and run in the opposite direction. This will help to teach her that you are omnipresent.

The reason that I asked what sort of hunting you do is because that has implications for the training. I use my labs as retrievers, particularly when hunting waterfowl. But I also hunt over them when I am rough shooting or shooting walked-up. But if you are just shooting ducks you only need a non-slip retriever. She does not need to hunt. She only needs to retrieve shot game. So another option for you is to make her walk to heel all the time. Let her run free for a couple mins at the start, but then for the rest of your walk make her heel. Eventually you will modify her behaviour so that she stays close all the time. Which is good if you end up shooting upland game. A dog hunting at 5m, will be at 10m when it smells the pheasant and 15m when it flushes, so if your dog is already working at 25m you are going to have trouble making that shot.

Another option is try and desensitizer her and teach her that hunting for her is not going off by herself. For this she needs to stay beside you while being exposed to birds. That is not easy to arrange. So one option is to approach one of the upland game preserves to see if they have any openings for beaters. There are two near you in Hamilton. Tui Ridge in Raglan and Leigh Barton in Cambridge. They will be looking for people at the moment. Basically you will walk with a bunch of people in a line flushing pheasants over the guns. There may be some opportunities to work your dog, but it will be a good opportunity for her to be exposed to game without being asked to do anything.

I have never used a shock collar. I approach training on the basis that I want the dog to work for me because they want to, not because of a negative consequence. I have friends that do use them and all the dogs seem to learn is that the collar can shock. So when they don’t have the collar they tend to revert back.

Finally, sorry about the long post.