[Guest]

Hello..... I was wondering if it was to early to start training my 4 month old English Lab, who is a male. I got him when he was two month old, from a guy who said that the dog was hard to deal with and very stubborn. I have gotten him use to wearing a e-collar, now for two weeks he sits for about 30 seconds than he breaks for me. He will not turn and face me all he does is look behind him when I tell him to stay, should I not try to teach him to sit and stay so soon or wait. Can any one tell me what to do Kinsman

 

[matt ottaberry]

I would definitely be training him now. You need to be working on sit, stay, and here. Retrieving should be for fun right now, This is the time to make him crazy for the retrieve. When sit, stay and here are coming along well, then start teaching the whistle.

 

[Mistyriver]

Hopefully you are not using that e-collar!! :sad:

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Kins, Matt and Misty are inline with my thoughts.

It is time to take a deep breath, relax, and put together a calmly thought out, logical training progression.

It sounds like you are just putting your head down and charging at it without much of a plan. A trained dog is a lot like a granite sculpture. It takes an artist time and a plan to sculpt something worthwhile. You don't always know exactly how or when you will do it several steps down the line, but you need to start off with a solid foundation and build from there.

Please tell us what books, videos, or DVD's you are using right now. RTF and internet boards are a good support mechanism for training advice, but they cannot take the place of solid training methodology.

Four months is too young to tell much of anything about a pup's abilities. Your brit pup may well have lots and lots of potential, but please do both you and pup a favor and study up on some methods and processes.

My apologies if you are doing this. Your post doesn't give much info so it is tough for others to share much back to help.

Hang in there...and keep that transmitter in a drawer in the kitchen....for now.

Chris

 

[George C. Tull]

Sounds like you just need to be working on basic OB right now.......'Here' & 'Sit'. Just get him learning that right now. Put that E collar up for now till he's got those commands down pat!!! Then you can CC him to the learned commands.

 

[Angie B]

Look up a local obedience club and enter puppy obedience classes. That will get you off to the right start.

Angie

 

[DarrinGreene]

I dunno who you got him from but I have never seen a stubborn 8 wk oldl puppy. Maybe he is abit independant, which can be a good thing later, but stubborn at 8 wks? he's a pup!!!

I'm working with a 4 1/2 mo old now and we learned sit, here and heel so far, all with treats and in a fun, game like format. We just do a little retrieving for fun after our obedience session that is 10 minutes MAX in the am and pm when my schedule allows. There is 0 structure to the retrieving and I didn't start it until I could at least get him to come to me with the puppy bumper on the check cord. Now I don't use the check cord, even though it is on him and he will come back just to get me to throw the bumper again, so desire is building. I have just moved from a flat collar to a pinch, worn inside out and introduced the concept of mild corrections for doing things wrong, and treats for doing things right...

The little guy is doing great but he is still a lt 5 mo old pup so patience is a virtue and we quit before he gets bored...

Chris is DEAD ON though. You can and should start now but don't just start without a program and preferably some good, hands on advice from an experienced trainer. I have both and wiould never do this again without them.

 

[yukonriverriley]

My limited experience with Lab puppies has been that they are all independent minded (at least the ones my family has ever owned, lol) from the day you take them home until they've accepted that you're the boss and life is much more fun as a follower than a leader. I'm not saying I made my dogs life miserable with beatings or anything, we were just very persistent with general obedience, with lots of treats for good behavior (which were weaned off once she was consistent with the commands). It was amazing how quickly our pup picked up on sit, lay down, stay (that one probably took the longest), come, and remote sits, just knowing that she would get a nice little doggie treat for snapping that butt down when asked. In fact, we never introduced any form of "corporal punishment" (ie heel stick, butt swats for not sitting when asked, e-collar) until she was 100% consistent with the commands in normal situations. In fact, the heel stick and e-collar were only introduced to enforce compliance during really exciting situations (ie the dog park when she wanted to hang out with her buddies instead of coming when called, or breaking at heel when we passed other people and dogs). We rarely have to use e-collar anymore, except using the tone button if she gets too far off and I forgot the whistle at home. In fact, on walks our 10 mo. old Lab will come to heel automatically when she comes across another person or dog on the trail. I have to agree with the other posters, you can't get anywhere without good obedience - meaning sit, stay, come (or here, whichever you plan on using), and heel eventually. I think if you just make sure you're absolutely consistent in your obedience expectations and give lots of reward (praise, treats, whatever) for good behavior, your pup will come around in no time!

 

[T-Pines]

I agree with everything said above. I am not sure if I understood your post correctly, but it sounds like you are not getting eye contact. If you are not, then it is very important to work on that as a separate command "watch me" at first. Sometimes you have to hold treat up to your eyes at first then gradually move to other places once he gets the command he should be still be looking at you before he gets the treat. Later on with his sits and downs and stays he should always be looking at you. This is just a very important part of the team work thing.

If you already have that great eye contact, super!

Colleen

 

[caglatz]

I'd follow all the advise written above. These guys are much smarter than I -- but to reiterate I would just work on basic obedience, simple retrieves with check cord, get with a hunting club/group, and follow a program. It's great that he's adjusting to wearing the collar but like everyone said leave the transmitter in the drawer.

 

[Miriam Wade]

"I got him when he was two month old, from a guy who said that the dog was hard to deal with and very stubborn."

If the person you got him from truly felt that an 8 week old puppy was stubborn and hard to deal with, than I'm guessing that person didn't do his part towards raising a happy, confident puppy. Some people just don't understand that just because WE know what our expectations are-it's all new to the pup and a learning process where they don't speak the language yet.

I agree with everything everyone has written in terms of pup doing basic obedience-going as slow as it takes & being positive. Colleen's suggestion about eye contact is as good as it gets because you want him to have a real connection with you and be watching for the next command/praise. Keep lessons short & simple & for now-do away with your trying to get long sit/stays. Plenty of time for that later. He needs to end on a high note & learn what each command means and that following through makes life grand for both of you.

I would be happy to send you my Sound Beginnings DVD-which is very, very basic, but your pup might benefit. PM if you'd like it.


M