If at all? The reason for asking is that I have had my lowest day every with my 8 month old lab. I sat in the car crying after our walk today so please be gentle!
Our lab is wonderful in so many ways except that she is obsessed with finding and playing with every dog she meets. This means she will start straining on the lead to get to every dog we come across (which is a lot) even if they're at a distance and even to the point of choking herself on the collar. Sometimes other dog owners see this and, maybe thinking she's reactive or aggressive, will cross to avoid us. My lab in frustration will then start demand barking which makes it worse. She just looks barmy and out of control. Distraction doesn't work. She is literally obsessed.
We have invested so much time in training her starting from the day she came to us at 8 weeks. This is not for lack of training. We are on the Dog Training group on FB (which has brilliant advice) and we have worked super hard on making her more dog neutral. But it feels like we're getting nowhere.
To be clear, she does get to play with other dogs. We do regular doggy dates with her friends. We let her sniff and greet other dogs (after checking with the owner) but not every single dog and I'm not going to cross roads or go out of my way to let her greet a dog she's spotted. We are training so that it's on our terms. It's also not practical to let her greet every dog as sometimes we need to get from A to B and don't have time for this.
We use lots of positive reinforcement and high value treats. We also use a long line. But progress feels so slow or sometimes non existent.
Today I took her to the woods and thought as there were no dogs around, she could go off lead. Usually, I see or hear other dogs, I put her back on the lead. Today, she must have smelled them because she ran off. I did find her. She had smelled another dog and found him. He didn't want to play and made it clear. Before I could get the lead on, she then bolted again through the woods and I found her with several other dogs. Her recall is fab when other dogs aren't there. She becomes deaf if there are other dogs. It was a nightmare getting her back on lead. None of the other dogs wanted to play. A couple tried to dominate her grabbing her by the neck with their teeth then pinning her down. She doesn't get the message. She keeps going back for more and one day she may run up to the wrong dog. The other dogs all had great recall. It was only my dog running round, being annoying and ignoring me. I felt like a useless dog owner. One owner commented "You're clearly not as fun as the other dogs" (said it as a joke) but I felt terrible. I do try to be more fun! I once made myself more fun than another dog by playing chase with her and fell and hit my head. She came over and started to eat the treats that were in my pocket as I lay hurt on the floor. Another low moment. She isn't into balls, toys or games. She will even ignore her most favourite treats - chicken or cheese - to get to another dog. She is obsessed with them. I saw all these other dogs off lead, listening to their owners, able to sniff and greet other dogs then move on. Then there was my barmy lab. I felt so sad.
She is otherwise a relatively calm and placid puppy but in the last two weeks, she has been really jumpy (constantly jumping on me when we walk) as well as being a nightmare on the lead. She used to walk to heel relatively well. So walks on the lead haven't been fun either.
Today was a super low point. The obsession with dogs is one thing but combined with the recent jumping and pulling, it's not enjoyable taking her out for walks. The training is relentless (or feels like it) and I just for ONCE want to be one of those dog owners I see who go for lovely walks and their dogs behave nicely off lead. If there are no other dogs, she's amazing off lead. Always checks in and reliable recall. But she turns into this mad lab if there are other dogs around and we can't avoid this.
Sorry for the long lost. I'm venting. I've never cried before after a dog walk but I do feel so dispirited today. I know they say 8 months is the adolescence and regression stage but I am so tired. I know she's still a puppy. But today was exhausting and I feel like a useless dog owner. We aren't going to get a trainer as we're already doing exactly as they suggest but, as I said, it seems that progress is so slow.
I need to know she won't be like this forever. Please, if your dogs were ever like this, when did the obsession ease off? I want her to remain sociable but there's a thin line between this and being obsessed. On a recent camping trip, she was asleep tied to the stake. She heard another dog and the next minute, she was up and managed to drag the stake out - a metal stake ended up snapping in half - and after her as she made a beeline for the other dog in their tent. We just can't relax with her if other dogs are around.
To end on a positive, she is a fab sleeper, was quick to toilet train, is bomb proof in new situations, great with the kids, loves all people and is usually chilled and mellow at home.
Sorry again for the lengthy post and thanks for reading.