My beautiful Baby Bella

Hello All!!!

I have a few questions that I really need some help with!

My beautiful baby Bella.. is 8months old and a choc Lab! she has the most amazing personality!! cute and very comical!
However she is very naughty!

Her bad habits!:[LIST][*]Jumping up! [*]Not listening![*]Ripping up anything she can get hold of![*]Chasing the cat around the house![*]Runs off![*]Barks at anyother dogs!

We are very disaplined with her. and she is very food oriantated! We have most of them under control with follwing the same consequenses each time over and over! the way we do this is by a firm telling off and if she still doesnt listen we take her collar and and gently pull it down untill she lies down and calms down.

The real problem for us is taking her out!
We have been taking her to secluded beachesd so she can get a really good run, but at the parks her walks are short as we cant let her off the lead because she just runs off and barks and jumps on other dogs.. by trying to pin them down... she is barking but its not aggressive its her playing.. which as you can imagine.. other dogs dont really like! We have not come accross any big dogs yet but I am screed to death when we do.
We took her on a walking trail last week.. and as we got her out of the car,, she just pelted to a very very very busy road... she pulled that hard her [collar snapped... trucks were fluying past at 110ks per hour... she got no more than 100metres away from the road.. (during this 5-10seconds all me and my partner did was scream for her..) I threw all her treats that I had in my hand and she just stopped and ran back to us!
We was petrified I was crying! we thought we had lost her.
Obviously we have gone out and spent lots of $ on buying her a new collar and lead and harness.. but I am so scared of this happening again...

Please can you help with any advise and further disapline.... I dont agree with smacking ehr bum or rolling up a paer etc.. I am 90% sure not many people would advise this anyway.. but thats not an option for me.

Please help guys...............

You've mentioned a bit about what you do when she does things 'wrong', but what have you done to ensure that she does things 'right'?

What training has taken place and what sort of training, other than shouting and manhandling her into a down?

She sounds to be a typical, adolescent lab and one that needs to be trained to show her what you expect from her. If I were to guess, I'd say you have done some motivational training because your comment of throwing all the treats in the air and screaming her name did bring results in the end - she came back to you (by the way, what did you do when she did come back?), but the pulling (to break her collar), jumping up and general lack of manners tends to indicate that she either hasn't had enough training yet, or that she just doesn't understand the training that has taken place.

Hi there,

first of all I wanted to strongly point out that in no way is she manhandled or shouted at.

We have gone through hours and hours!! of training with her, and what seemed to work best is having her on a lead the majority of the time using basic techniques. We have had a dog trainer round who has shown us lots of things... and using food and repeating commands over and over again.. is the path we have been taking and whats works.. but when we take the food away.. thats when the problems start again.

Any advise is appriciated.

Also my husband just picked her up and put her in the back in the car when she came running back. I know that was the wrong thing to do.. but both of us were genuinely in shock and deeply upset by what could of happened.

I think I would have put the dog back in the car as well especially as the collar had broken, you must have been really shaken, I would have been.
Do you have any education classes near to you? as this may help with her socialization with other dogs and she needs to meet other dogs in a controlled situation. Also you have to really work on that recall, it may be worth trying to work with a long line for the recall.

She's doing alot of typical "naughty" puppy stuff - I wouldnt say anything out of the ordinary really! Labs can be very boisterous as young adolescents so you haev to be really consistent and firm during this phase they go through and you will see the hard work pay off.

Jumping up - needs training, its just basic doggy manners. Its cute when they are little but becomes a problem as they get bigger and heavier. Dont give her attention and fuss until all feet and preferably bum are on the floor, then greet her - if she gets up and excited ignore her, turn away if she jumps up and wait for her to calm down. They very quickly realise that they get the attention when they are sat or on the floor. Then continue to greet her. I used to put my hands behind my back, ask my dog to sit and then give fuss and we carried on with that cycle. I would say it took a week before it really sank in. Any new person tell them what you are doing, she's training how to meet people, and tell them what you want them to do if they want to say hi. Unfortunately people are dog's worst enemies for this because they say they dont mind, its okay, etc but its really important to be consistent.

Everything else is really just over excitement and being a pup. I would recommend asking her to sit or lie down to calm down rather than taking her by the collar. If shes worked up or in play mode you could risk yourself getting a nip. That way she has to learn to respect your voice and not waiting to be forceably lay down.

Recall is something that takes constant training and re-enforcing. I wouldnt let her off lead totally until you are more confident with this. Keep her on a long training line attached to a harness that you can let go so she can run and practice, practice, practice recall. If she legs it off you can jump on the end of the lead. If you can find some friendly dogs and people willing to help so you can practice calling her away from them. Keep her on the line again, get them to play with her and practice recall. Pile her with praise when she comes back no matter how long it takes. Use her name FIRST, set her up for success in coming back to you. If she doesnt perk up to her name she isnt going to recall. So use her name, get her attention even for just a second and then use your recall command. Only use it once so make it good and loud! If she doesnt respond act like a loon - run the other way, get low to the ground, wave your arms around and she wont be able to resist coming back to you! You have to act more interesting than whatever it is she has her nose in!

Just lots and lots of consistent, firm training and you'll be out the other side of adolescence in no time!

Hi Jennabella,
Firstly, Bella is starting go through adolescence and 'she will think that she knows best'.
I know the natural reaction is to shout/scream at her when she is doing something wrong/dangerous, but try and speak in a calm voice. A raised voice will just excite her more (I know that from my two 11month old dogs). Labs do have a huge amount of energy and are notorious chewers. I think you need to reward good behaviour as much as possible and use some of her daily food amount to put in a kong, which should keep her quiet for a period of time if you are busy etc.
Lead walking is probably not enough, have you tried hooking her onto a long line (a 20' lead, not to be confused with the flexi lead) when out in the park. It does just mean that she can have a run, greet other dogs but ultimately you will have the control if she makes a run for it!
I personally don't believe in holding a dog down to calm it down. Could you not put her in another room for a minute of two - dogs hate being ignored.
Have you taught her the 'watch me' command, to get her attention if you see something that is going to make her dash off. Then put her in a sit and reward her with a tit-bit until the distraction has passed. If she is off lead and makes a run for it, make lots of fun whooping noises and run in the opposite direction. No dog wants to come back to someone screaming and as you've already said, the worse thing you can do is tell a dog off. They only live for the moment!! Back to basic training, especially with the recall.
Good luck and I think Bella sounds like a normal typical young dog and yes, it can be so frustrating!!
I'm sure you will get lots more replies and hopefully from some Lab owners - there are lots of very knowledgeable people on this site.

Sounds perfectly normal but I can see how that could become a problem with a larger dog.

Have you got a baby gate?? You could install one at the stairs so the cat can get over but not the dog that way the cat has some safety from the dog and stops the dog from chasing the cat all the way.


Its taken a while for my dog to accept the cat as boss she would all ways bark in her face because the cat would attack the dog if the dog tried to charge her. Millie soon learnt quickly!

Now Millie only growls if the cat glairs in her face.

With regards to Bella's behaviour around other dogs, it sounds to me like she has poor manners. Really I think she needs MORE socialising, not avoiding other dogs. But this needs to be carefully controlled with the right kind of dogs. I'd try and locate some calm stable adult dogs who will not encourage her behaviour, or try and find a dog trainer in your area who may have some stooge dogs. Trust me, I KNOW it's more tempting to run away from other dogs when your dog is less than perfect. But if she's not fearful of other dogs, then she probably just needs to learn some manners. Doing control work (heel, sit, watch me type exercises) around other dogs may help calm her too.

Have you tried a clicker? If not, that may be worth a try.

Most labs are food driven and many love a ball so use these sorts of things for rewards. You mention that once you take the food away, she stops behaving. That suggests to me that she isn't ready to have the food taken away yet. You need to train the behaviour to be solid, in all situations and around distractions before reducing the food reward. And even then you should vary the reward, sometimes a treat, or a ball or praise, to keep her engaged. You shouldn't remove the reward entirely, but reenforce occasionally to keep the behaviour strong. But the behaviour must be solid first.

Sounds like you could benefit from some training classes? The environment might help Bella to learn to focus on you around other dogs...

You've had some great advice on recall etc. Good luck, adolescent bouncy labs are a handful!!!

Wow guys!! thank you very much! you are totaly right, this is what I need to do. alot of it is common sense, but I needed the reminder.

All the advice is spot on!

They have a doggy day care (sounds funny) is an option... We can Drop Bella off and she is controled aroubnd other dogs for 5 hours a day then we go and spend the last 1.5hours with her.

I am a massive animal person, and she will never be a dog. But my family. She is such a good girl in alot of ways.. as you mentioned her mannors a very poor at the moment!
My parter Steve is a massive softy but he is very strict with her.. and doesnt quite have as little patience as I do with her.
They way our house is shaped here in Oz.. its all open plan so unless on a lead she stays outside whilst we are watching Tv etc... and she sleeps in our en suite bathroom. But alot of the time she is outside because she cant be trusted inside with out destroying things lol or jumping on the furniture and sofa. As soon as she see's me.. she just goes nuts..... she is so excited it gets her in trouble.

Back to basics is the answer a, a long lead to practice recall and controlled enviroemt were we can socialize her.

Thanks you every one! Any advice is always appriciated.....

Take care..

Im sure I will be back with more stories hahaha. x