My lab is now 13 months old, and a big lab at that! She's a beautiful friendly and loving dog... but... (there's always a but!) I just can't seem to stop her from lunging at other dogs or (some) people when we are walking on the lead. I use an anti pull harness on Emmy to help keep me in control, but she is becoming so big and strong that when she see's another dog I have to hold on for dear life. She knows how to 'heel' to 'wait' and to 'watch me' but these commands all go out the window... I could hold a slab of meat under her nose and she'd still ignore me, to her, playing with other dogs is the best thing in the world. I've tried a headcollar but she won't walk with it on, she puts up so much resistance she walks with her head scraping on the floor and her backside in the air.

I lost my temper a bit the other day when she lunged at a small child, I know I should keep cool but i can't have her lunging at kids, she only wants to say hello but a small child doesn't know that! I just screamed at her. She actually responded straight away to the telling off, stopped trying to get at the child and paid attention to me. I've always trained Emmy with positive reward methods, but it just doesn't seem to be working on this issue. I don't want to scream at her each time she lunges and really need some suggestions on how to stop this particular behaviour. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi,
We have the same problem - although our dog is a bit older, 18 months. He is so friendly, thats all it is, he wants to go and play or say hello! But as he weighs 25 kg, this isn't always wanted behaviour. I have found the best way to deal with it, is simply to anticipate it. If he's only thinking about it, I pull him tight on his lead and tell him 'no'. Then straight away I give him a distraction, like 'watch me' (he gets a treat if he does). Sometimes the hard bit is being able to anticipate - you've just got to be so aware of your dog! My dog loves his tennis ball, so when we're out walking, if there's another dog coming (which he will try to lunge at without doubt!), I hold the ball in my hand where he can see it (saying things like, who wants the ball?), and because he's waiting for me to throw it, it usually keeps his attention off the other dog till it's gone past. After that I throw it for him!
Hilda

Its true isn't it, that the hardest bit can often be anticipating the lunge or jump.

My dog used other people's stomachs as a spring board a couple of times, soooooo embarrassing, luckily they were dog lovers :D

Is this happening on the street, or in more open areas? I would first of all really up the training and get the dog to respond when there are distractions - so consider distance and graduallyget closer to say, children playing as the weeks go by. Make the training more rewarding than whatever else is going on, hopefully your own trainer will know how to do this and be able to give you some hints.

If you persevere with this, Emmy will become more responsive in all situations. I also used toy training to help in my situation :)

If you are worried about passing on the strreet, keep cconcentrating and teach an alternative behaviour such as Sit. If necessary, you can get Emmy to Sit while people walk past, then reward her and after some time, she will start to listen. It does take time and patience, no doubt about it. If necessary, get in front of her when asking her to Sit so that she can't push past to lunge.

My final thought is that maybe you should persevere with the headcollar if she is really very strong, as at theend of the day, it could save her life or yours if she tried to pull you into the traffic or something.

Lindsay

i agree with lyndsey try to persevere with the head collar, my two lab and lab mix were too much for me to control on normal collars so i switched to headcollars, sure they put up a little resistantence amber my lab in particular liked to 'snowplough' thro grass leaves mud you name it, but i hust kept her on a very short lead so she couldn't bend down her head and after a couple of weeks she hardly resorted to 'ploughin' at all. however remember to take it off her if you let her have a run or all your work will be undone as she redescovers the joy of rubbin her face ,Sam however used to snort and buck around but again after a week or two he to accepted it