Today I was that Labrador owner who everyone dreads

[Bethanemethane]

Hiya,

Any advice for my 8 month old Labrador please? She is our first dog and an exuberant character but today we really messed up.

We did puppy classes with her and since then I have worked on her recall a lot. We live somewhere where I can walk her daily and she can be off - lead (but on a long recall lead) and I regularly call her in to me and reward with cheese/sausage. She has been really quite good with this.

This morning my husband, two boys and I were walking her over a mountain path. She was on the long recall line and she was staying quite close. She saw a mum and son (age 8 ish so similar to our youngest) ahead and when we called her she looked at us and ran towards these people. The boy was understandably scared and my dog was jumping all over him.

My husband ran and grabbed the recall line and apologised hugely. No “harm” was done except for upsetting the boy and I am furious with the pup for not listening when we’ve worked so hard with this, and furious at myself for letting this happen. Needless to say she stayed on a close lead for the rest of the walk.

Obviously I need to keep working on her recall but I just felt she ignored us completely and it really upset us all.

Any advice or do I just keep going with the recall work?

She is one of those dogs who is over excited with all other dogs but usually ok with people. I’m working on keeping her focus on me but high reward treats don’t work.

@DiabeticFirstBaby hmm that's an interesting comment from your trainer. I'd say dogs are never too young to learn, as would the behaviouralists that I've worked with .

As long as they aren't stressed or over threshold then learning from a young age, building from basics, and shaping behaviour so that undesirable behaviours are not practised (eg chasing birds) is the way forward.

It's not a good idea to leave things too late. Although there is often an element of maturity naturally bringing better behaviour in lots of dogs, not least labradors!

Ok, I HATE dogs running up to me, however an owner who immediately tries to call the dog back, and grabs as soon as possible, and is apologetic isnt awful in my book.
The owners who laugh, say it wont bite, or that it's just a puppy and carry on make me cross, and even more wary of other dogs I come across.

@Bethanemethane - I'm sorry, but you're obviously lying. That adorable animal couldn't possibly misbehave.

I got menaced once by 2 labradors with lips curled back to show fangs, they didn't desist until a car came along to distract them...

Getting jumped on is not so bad.

@Bethanemethane as a dog professional I can tell from the photo that she really is the Goodest girl and he is veeeery sorry!

Sorry but you need to develop more resilience . I appreciate it's distressing but it's an animal they are unpredictable

Look up Southend Dog training ... they are huge on insta and do an online training community and school

[quote Chaotic45]@Bethanemethane as a dog professional I can tell from the photo that she really is the Goodest girl and he is veeeery sorry! [/quote]
As a fellow dog professional I have to agree

She is clearly the best girl!

I am sorry, but that must have been a case of mistaken identity, OP! She simply would not have done what you are claiming, as she is clearly a Very Good Girl (oh yes she is!).

I was so hoping this thread would end up with pictures of the offender! She’s gorgeous! Persevere she’ll get it eventually!

I know a mum in my local community with a Labrador who let him jump up at me when I was out walking, stopped to chat a bit etc. I was really annoyed and felt since he is 2yo he really should have mastered the basics by now, with some training classes. It is the owner who is responsible for this obviously. She apologised and laughed it off as if Labradors are family dogs, and use that as an excuse to get away with jumping up at people As a dog owner, it's your responsibility to train your dog. I will know soon enough as I will be an owner to a St Bernard puppy next week and there is no room for error in training with a dog breed like this. They have to get the basics down early. A Lab can easily knock over a small child or elderly person.

@stevalnamechanger

Sorry but you need to develop more resilience . I appreciate it's distressing but it's an animal they are unpredictable

Look up Southend Dog training ... they are huge on insta and do an online training community and school

Southend dog training use e collars. I would avoid, unless you take delight in hurting your dog.

blowinahoolie you are of course absolutely right that allowing you dog to do this consistently is out of order and a real pain in the bum and that you really need to work on training early on. But dogs are animals and by their very nature occasionally do unexpected things. As a one off with a clearly mortified owner it’s totally forgivable. I know lots of very well trained dogs (I also lots very poorly trained but lovely dogs) and even they do the unexpected. One recently nearly ran into a road and she is usually impressively trained.

OP, our Lab is generally pretty good on recall. She spends a lot of time off lead, whenever I see something I think will prove irresistible I pop her back on the lead. I do have to constantly be on alert. I have made the occasional cock up though when I have been distracted by the kids. You can only be sincerely apologetic and try your best not to allow it to happen again. Don’t beat yourself up. Oh and that is one beautiful doggy.

Honestly op I wouldn't worry too much, I had a similar incident with our puppy when he was that age and I was also mortified. My pup absolutely loves kids above almost anything else so we had to work on keeping his attention whenever children were about.

However he's now 18 months old and he has already calmed down a lot, he tends to ignore kids and other people on walks now (unless he knows them!)

Your girl looks gorgeous 😍

I realise that Getitdonesharpush it can happen to anyone even those who regularly train their dogs like OP is doing. The woman I met with the lab locally said she has never attended puppy classes with her dog. Whereas I am anxiously trying to get my new pup booked in for this month or next with a local class.

Cute puppy OP🥰

As PP jave mentioned, this book is supposed to be brilliant for recall training- especially for gundogs.
amazon.co.uk/dp/1846891493/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_wy47FbDQHS63C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1]]

Sorry - correct link amazon.co.uk/dp/1846891493/]]

Same happened to me last week with my 11 month old lab..... has been consistently brilliant with recall for months but decided to ignore me in favour of another, older lab who was not amused. My lab went and jumped on him, I got him back almost immediately and apologised to the owners but was yelled at very loudly by the owners. It knocked my confidence a bit tbh.

This thread has actually restored my faith in dog owners!

Looking forward to being “wagged to death” by one of your well-trained dogs soon :)