Hi everyone i hope someone can help me.
ive just recently got a chocolate labrador female who is only 18 months old.
ive just moved in to a new area and i know she should be in dog training classers.
im trying to find one at the moment i havnt got a car so im trying to find one close to me but the thing is i dont really know much about this area im living in now.so could someone please give me any advice on how to train her while im trying to find a dog training class for her.
she dosnt really know much at all except sit down.
her last owners didnt have time for her at all they use to let her do anything i dont even think they took her out for a walk they just let her go in the garden.
please if you have any advice to stop her from pulling me over everytime we go out and to listen to basic comands all is apreciated,
thanks EVERYONE.

I think you will need lots of advice and it's here for free,why not register? :) Lots of people on here can offer good advice re training etc.If you register you can ask and respond to their advice.It has been a great support for me!
Jacqueline

At 18 months old she is still young enough to learn. The one major problem you have is that she is now big and strong. This makes life so much harder than with a younger smaller puppy. The best general advice I can give is to decide exactly what you do not want from her and to never allow her to do it! Simple advice but not so easy to carry out! When walking you only move when she is beside you. If she gets in front you stop, or even do an about turn and go the other way! Never take her out for a walk unless you can give her your full attention. As an example, the school run, you have a deadline to get to the school and on the way back most of your attention will be on the children. Not a good time for training!

Teach one thing at a time. Pick the most important thing first.

Whatever you use as a reward, verbal praise, titbit or toy, make sure you use it correctly. As an example, so many people call their dog, tell it to sit, then praise it. Asked what the praise was for and they would say "Coming when called." Ask the dog though and you would get a different answer, "Sitting when told."!!! All the time I see dogs not coming when called and their owners shouting, "Come fido, Good boy Fido!" and I ask myself, where is Fido being a good boy? This is fault training! Praise the good bits, never the bad bits! Obvious I know but it happens all the time!

Best wishes, John

i really like the tip about stopping if dog is not beside you i would never have thought of that and despite max's excellent capability for learning new things i am struggling with heel its been making dog walking miserable till i give up and get dragged down the road. He is four months and three and a half stone and as strong as a small herd of elephants!!! he is good though and is coming on wonders just has a hell of a lot of eagerness for walking!

When I start heelwork training I look as if I'm going no where and I suppose thats just about where I am going but the rewards later more than repay the work. The first few months with a puppy are never easy but the years of companionship they give you is more that worth it

Best wishes, John

so what time guidelines would you give for spending on exercising and spending on heel work?

Hi Katyb,
Not really sure what you mean by "time guidelines", but if you mean for how long spent on each 'lesson'.  Then it depends on wether your dog is a puppy or as in the case of our visitor poster 18 months.
A very young dog has a very short 'attention span' and lessons should be short and often, but with an older dog the lessons can be longer.
" Better that the lessons be short and 'fun', rather than long and 'boring'.  If you bore the dog, it won't do it right, and you could end up angry and loose your temper with the dog.  That is the recipe for disaster.
All training should be FUN!!!!
:rolleyes:
Harry C.

Harry is right. The lessons as such should be short. The "Not allowing what you don't want" on the other hand s permanent and unvarying. That's the difference between something we want the dog to do and something we don't want the dog to do!

Best wishes, John

well on walks he just wants to run and sniff and act like a loon and any heel work training i try or sitting at kerbs is virtually impossible. i try and do a few minutes of heelwork every now and again but as soon as i stop nagging he is off pulling like a stam train aggain but he looks miserable when i am making him walk nicely! he is already 22kg and has some real strength behind him! he is very clever and has learnt loads of commands but he is soooo excitable when out and even forgets his name although his recall is excellent as he knows i have food in my pocket!

he is nearly 5 months by the way

Hi again Katyb,
John is absolutely right. I have always used the about-turn method to train a 'pulling dog'.
If you think about it logically, if your dog is in front of you pulling like mad, then you about-turn, your dog isn't pulling any more, it's behind you.  Each and every time that your dog starts to pull, do the reverse turn bit, and very soon the dog will be so confussed as to which way you are going, it will stay at your side just to see which way you are going.
One other thing, don't give commands to your dog if you can't enforce them.  If you dog is free and does not come when called, don't keep on calling it.  Wait until you have the dog back on the lead, allow him/her to 'drift', then a sharp 'Heel' and reel him in with the lead, If he heels straight away, without the lead, then is the time for praise.
Good luck,  the effort will all be worth it in the end.
Harry C

This is the bit where I say I don't train as such. I just don't allow the dog to pull, ever! And if that means not getting more that twenty paces from the front door for a couple of weeks then so be it. He is 22kg now but will soon be over 30kg and what is hard work now will be twice as hard then. My Anna might be a bitch but she's a big girl and is 36kg of solid muscle and if she really wanted to go somewhere it would be hard for me, a grown man to hold her.

The work is well worth while. As I've said before, I never take Anna for a walk! We go for a walk together! A subtle difference, one is a chore, the other is a pleasure :)

Best wishes, John

Our older lab is 5 years old, and he is 38(ish)kg of solid muscle - the Vet said the dog had an eight pack not a six pack!!. My husband is 6ft 2", and if our lab wanted he could pull my husband off his feet. We spent weeks/months not getting down the front garden path, me doing U turns in the middle of the street, me going straight back home, me standing absolutly still - I'm sure the neighbours used to book seats to watch this road show. However, he know knows where he should be - i.e. at heel.  On recall, once when he would not come back when we were on friends land, I started the car and drove off. He really thought I had left without him! He comes when he is called - but I don't raise my voice at all. Don't shout at your dog - they hear the first time as their hearing is so much more heightened than humans,  so you need to think about why the dog did not react. You need to make yourself the centre of their Universe, not them as the centre of yours!!!.

Say what you mean, and do as you say - its simple but difficult.

Good luck

"as soon as i stop nagging he is off pulling like a stam train aggain but he looks miserable when i am making him walk nicely!"

Perhaps your dog is telling you something! Like people, he does not like being nagged!  If he looks miserable perhaps the way you are "making" him walk nicely is the reason?

If you want anyone to do anything, dog, horse, human you need to find a way of giving them a reason to WANT to do it.............

Just a thought.