Help, I'm starting to hate my dog!

Non-Phish General
#1

We got a 4 year old female lab 2.5 weeks ago and I’m about ready to send her to the sausage factory!

She can be such a cool, chill dog sometimes who just lies in the floor but sometimes (more often than not the past week), she is the most obnoxious, bothersome, STUBBORN dog that ever lived.

She rarely answers to her name and only if you call her several times.

She’s getting increasingly worse about sitting when you tell her to. If there’s anything else going on that might distract her, forget it. She’s not sitting.

“Stay” is pretty much out the window because the minute you aren’t looking her in the eye, she’s up and going.

When we try to throw the tennis ball so she can retrieve it, more times than not she just walks right past it like she isn’t even interested, but sometimes she’s gung ho and really enjoys it…for about 5 minutes before she’s over it. What lab doesn’t geek over a tennis ball??

We have had the HARDEST time trying to contain her while we’re at work. We bought a kennel, but she keeps breaking out. I’ve had to leave work TWICE this week because neighbors called me to come get her. Not to mention she FIGHTS me with everything she has when I try to walk her up the hill to get in the kennel. I’m worried she’s going to break her own neck. I hate to leave her in a crate all day, but when we tried to leave her loose in the house, she ate my bamboo blinds. I think that was because she was pissed though. I came home to let her out to pee and both dog and house were fine. I left to get back to work and then when Holt came home 2 hours later and she had done her deeds.

I don’t know what to do as I’m not an experienced dog owner. My husband thinks he knows everything about dogs because he had labs growing up, but even he doesn’t know what to do with her and it ready to give her back to the lady we got her from. My daughter cries croccodile tears everytime taking her back gets brought up, so there has to be a way to correct this dog. She’s JUST a dog right?

I would be oh so grateful for any helpful hints, suggestions, directions to the middle of nowhere…wait, did I say that out loud? But seriously, I need the dog whisperer or something. There has to be a way to correct all these behaviors. I would love your .02!!!

#2

#3

Give it time… did you throw Mackenzie out after two weeks of 3AM feedings?

#4

Liver treats, liver treats, liver treats. Go get massive quantities of liver treats from the local pet store. Then…

Start simple. Training works best if the dog’s a little hungry, so the couple hours after she eats might not be as effective. When you’re in the house and she isn’t paying attention to you, get a liver treat and call her name until she comes. Reward her with the treat and affection and then go back to whatever you were doing. Wait a couple minutes after she wanders off and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. The key is that she needs to disengage before you call her and reward her again. Once she’s doing this on the first call, begin doing it outside as well. When she’s just sniffing around the yard, call her, treat her, love her, then act uninterested. If you precede calling her name with a characteristic clapping pattern, whistle or both, she’ll learn to come to these things too. (My dog comes to five claps… this comes in very handy when she takes herself on walks around the neighborhood because the claps carry farther than my voice.)

Only after she’s really solid on coming when called would I begin to work on anything else. My advice would be to teach her to go potty on command next. Every fifteen minutes, take her outside and tell her to go potty a couple of times. If she doesn’t do it within a minute or so, bring her back inside. (with a liver treat for coming when called of course) If she does, immediately give her a treat and love, then bring her back inside.

By the time she’s learned how to do these things easily, she’ll pretty much think you’re the coolest thing in the world. From there, sit and stay should be much more accessible. The key (besides the liver treats) is to have a multitude of micro-training sessions all day long.

But seriously… dogs LOVE liver treats.

#5

Hey Ollie, a new dog can be a challenge. Sounds like she’s displaying some alpha behaviors. In a nutshell:

Labs are part of the working dog group. They need to be challenged a lot! You need to teach her tricks, take her for long walks and give her lots of attention! She doesn’t understand the word ‘sit’, but she does know if you say that and she plants her butt on the ground, she’ll get a treat and lots of praise (see, now you actually have to DO that…) She’ll start to respond. Honest! You may want to consider a dog training class too.

She’s tearing up your house b/c she’s in a new environment and isn’t used to it yet. Again, make sure you give her plenty of hugs and attention. She will calm down. Honest!

Be patient! Things will improve!

More later when I have some time!

#6

Hahaha, this one I can relate to. I have a Golden Retriever for god’s sake, and the damn thing won’t fetch a ball worth a shit. Like you said, she’ll either walk past it and start eating grass, or she’ll play really well for 5-10 minutes before deciding that she’s tired of it. One of her few shortcomings, so we love her anyway.

Here’s the deal: labs are fucking STUPID. Great dogs, but they’re dumb as a brick (most of em, at least). So when you train them, it’s going to take some time to fix the dog’s behavior. You or Holt (preferably both of you) should spend as much time as possible teaching her things, and just be as patient as you can. It’s hard for a dog to learn shit overnight, especially if she’s already 4 years old. I’m not surprised it doesn’t know its name yet; you just got it, so she has only spent 2 weeks of her entire life being called whatever you named her. I agree with Will really, it’s time that will fix your dog.

As for chewing up things in the house, that’s REALLY bad, because some dogs straight up know what they can chew up and bother the hell out of you. I don’t really know how to correct that other than to show the dog what she chewed up and then show your disapproval. I’m not much of a dog trainer, but my friends out in Leicester have this little mutt/pit bull/mystery genetics dog that I have been working with some, and it’s been a pretty positive experience. Hopefully, over time, your dog will adjust to her new surroundings and start behaving like I know it can.

EDIT: Well, I see that two much more experienced dog owners have posted in the time that it took me to write this, so yeah, pay attention to them, they know more than me. That’s some great advice there Rasta, especially about teaching the dog to come when it’s called.

#7

Some good suggestions so far. Please keep them coming.

LOL, Brady and Will. I don’t want to get rid of her, so that’s why I’m asking for advice. She can be super cool sometimes and other times, not so much.

Ship, I didn’t change her name, so I don’t know why she won’t respond. Sometimes she will and other times it’s like she’s deaf. Except I know she isn’t because everytime I take a step, there she is. I always heard how smart labs are. That’s funny that you say that they are stupid. Maybe you’re right, lol.

I wonder how she would do with the treat thing. I have some treats I got from Pet Smart (not liver treats, just the tartar treats that help with dental health) that I give her a couple of times a day and let me tell you, she doesn’t hear ANYTHING you say as long as you have that treat in your hand. All she wants is that treat. She jumps up, follows you, and/or whines until you give it to her. I tried making her sit first. That was laughable. She just looks at you as if she’s saying, “Yeah right, bitch. Now give me that fucking treat!”

I think maybe a class would be a good idea because I’m ignorant on dogs. I need to know what works and what doesn’t. The only thing I can think to do is to treat her like a toddler: be firm but loving, scold for bad behavior, and be consistent with my corrections. It seemed to work beautifully at first, but not so much anymore.

Maybe I just need to walk her more. I was taking her on a 30-45 minute walk each morning for the first week and the first weekend we took her out 3 or 4 times to walk, but it’s been raining and I haven’t been doing that the past few days. This weekend she was in a car for 8 hours on Saturday (with a 5 hour break in between) and 4 hours on Sunday because of holiday travels. FYI, she travels SOOOO well. She just sleeps the whole time. She doesn’t like curves though.

I know she has the potential to be a great dog.

#8

I got room on my wall at my cabin… :wink:

:wtf:

:laughing:

:frowning:

:cry:

:neutral_face:

:blush:

:question:

#9

BBQ?

#10

There is your problem right there…

I know very little about dogs, but it would seem like a BIG CHALLENGE to train what is essentially an adult dog.

My roommate just got an Aussie Shepperd 3 months ago (its only 4 months old) and she spends all her time training the shit out of this animal and it’s still a challenge even with a puppy, I cannot imagine trying to train an adult dog…

If i were in your situation, I would let the pro’s handle it and take it to a Doggy Training Class…

Or find this man:

#11

maybe get a runner for her so she can walk around the yard instead of being in the kennel.

#12

The key is to arm yourself with the treat when she isn’t looking. Liver treats are great because they are instant gratification- they’re only about the size of a pencil eraser so it’s quick. Also, if they come in crinkly plastic packaging, it can be a good idea to transfer them to something a bit more stealth. The purpose is entirely defeated if she knows you have the treat. Making the verbal and physical praise concurrent with the treat is also crucial- all three forms of reward will become intertwined in her brain, and after a couple of months, she won’t even notice if the treat isn’t there, because the verbal and physical still are.

Expressed as a setlist, the process would be:

Ignore dog, Dog wanders Off, Silently grab liver treat->Move away from treat stash, Call dog > Dog comes -> Administer Treat -> Exaggerated flurry of praise > Resume prior activity, Ignore Dog reprise

#13

Put Dog Whisperer in your Netflix queue. Cesar is the man. We have always taken on shelter dogs that usually have a good amount of baggage, but with some calm, assertive leadership they come along nicely. Exercise, Discipline, Affection (in that order) goes a long way.

#14

Get her a cat…

#15

AWWWWW!!!

Seriously, DON’T give away the dog. As long as he’s not attacking people and creating brutal wounds, you shouldn’t give up an animal just because of some behavior issues. There are too many dogs in shelters and such that are there because owners just didn’t want to put in the time to fix these issues.

I’m no dog expert but rather than take a dog back, try getting some classes…there are behavior schools and such and they really work wonders. Another thing is really try to bang home the point of who the boss is…it sounds mean at times but a dog won’t respect you if it’s not worried about not doing things. And yeah, try out watching that Dog Whisperer show to maybe pick up a few tricks…he’s got a few books and videos out there too (maybe find them at the local library)…that Cesar guy is a whiz with that stuff.

#16

Don’t worry, we aren’t taking her back. The past few days have been MUCH better, actually. She is still stubborn as shit, but she is definitely listening more. Right now she is lying peacefully between my room and my daughter’s room. I will just have to be more patient with her, I suppose.

#17

either the dog whisperer or maybe you can get on it’s me or the dog. that british lady knows how to get doggy shit done.