Behave so well now at ringcraft...no more barking, walks up and down OK, comes with me to get my tea past all the other dogs...BUT ...make an absolute nuisance of himself when he's on lead and encounters another dog/ dogs on the short woodland walk to the local park? This morning he barked & struggled to get to other dogs on 3 occasions - admittedly I usually try to avoid such confrontations, but today I didn't manage it. Do male dogs regard the area near home as their own territory? Luke is now 2 and I had hoped he was beginning to calm down - but no...:-( :-(

Without knowing the dog and seeing the  weay he acts its hard to say. I'm in a similar position. Murphy is an angel at training classes, even appears to want to play with the other dogs, and is fine with the other dogs he knows, but if we meet dogs out side on a walk he behaves terribly, growlingg, lunging and pining them to the ground. I feel it is possibly a mixture of things, territorial male urges, protecting my other dogs perhaps (they are female) but mostly i believe it may be fear. THe reason i think he is so well behaved at classes is that it is a firmiliar place and it is where they feel safe. Murphy has been growled at opn a number of occaisions but has never really encountered a nasty dog at classes. If we meet dogs outside the hall however, unless he knows them he is on guard again. Perhaps your dog is the same, he knows ringcraft is a safe place to be, but outside feels threatened? What breed is he and how old?

He's a lab, 2, and entire. It's so frustrating - I once had 2 male Cavaliers who used to behave like this on lead - but a lab at 30+ kilos is physically so much harder to handle...:-( On the "walk with me" seminar we were told to turn our back and ignore such behaviour - but if I did that he'd have me over in no time..:-( What breed is Murphy? I'm so glad I'm not the only one! We have his mum and she has a very laid back and non-reactive temperament, but sadly her son doesn't seem to have inherited it.

By the way, I see from your other posts that Murphy was castrated in August. Do I take it that this hasn't made any difference to this behaviour? (Luke breathes a sigh of relief...:D :D :D)

He's a springer spaniel. TBH i think castration has made him worse. In his case however, it was a no win situation. He had to be castrated because of the rescue contract, but this made him lose all his confidence, but if i broke the contract and kept him entire, he was getting to the point where he was starting to retaliate anyway, becuase he was so worried about the other dogs who were having a go. I know what you mean though, murphy is a very big springer, 23kg and 22 inches tall at his withers, as he is extremely fit due to all the exercise he gets he has tremendous power behind him when he lunges. I use a headcollar when walking him on the lead, but as he goes off lead inbetween meeting dogs in the forest i don't have time to keep putting in on and taking it off, and he won't tolerate you leaving it on him. You probably also have the same problem as me in that people see a lab or springer and tend to think they are friendly, because most of the ones they know are friendly. If he was a GSD or rottie for example (No offence to these breeds, i love both of them), people seem to be a bit wary of them. My friend has 3 gorgeous shepherds who are very well behaved, but when shes out with them people make a point of keeping away, but nobody seems to do that when they see murphy.

Without seeing your dog in context it is hard to advise over the net.  His behaviour could be due to excitement, frustration, fear or territorial aggression; sometimes what owners think their dog is doing has no relationship to what they are ACTUALLY doing or what is motivating their behaviour and therefore often their "treatment" is either ineffective at best or counter productive at worst because the reason behind the b ehaviour has gone unidentified.

Moose my eldest is the same :) (4yr old Lab bitch but the size of a Lab dog with the same strength ! )

She gets herself so wound up she was having funny turns

I have improved her behaviour by making her sit and stay when we see another dog and talking to her and lots of praise when she stays. It is alway worse at the beginning of a walk as she is like a coiled spring :rolleyes:

She has now improved so much that at the end of the walk she walks to heel and doesn't lunge :D Still working on the beginning of the walk :)

Lucy
xx

I'm pretty sure with Luke it's excitement - he adores other dogs and at ringcraft his tail doesn't stop wagging - remember his one "claim to fame" was winning the dog with the waggiest tail competition!! :D :D :D. However, no-one seeing him going bananas on his harness and barking like mad would ever believe that, would they?

I'm just wondering about one-to-one training - perhaps with the APDT trainer who took Luke's puppy class - where he won the prize for the best puppy :-) Has anyone any idea of what sort of cost we'd be looking at? (His ZD food is costing us a fortune at the moment...:-( )

Of course your dog's behaviour may be aggravated by his current diet:

Starch, Hydrolyzed Chicken Liver, Soybean Oil (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), Hydrolyzed Chicken, Powdered Cellulose, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Glyceryl Monostearate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), DL-Methionine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Ethoxyquin (a preservative), Beta-Carotene.

outwith that the prices of a 1:1 trainer will vary geographically but generally speaking if you go to them, rather than they come to you, you are probably looking at circa £30 per hour (and that is for a very experienced and successful trainer/competitor and member of the APBC as well).

Yes, Tohme, I did post before that we felt the Z/D was making him a bit hyperactive - but then we decided he was just hungry - we're now feeding more Z/D than we did Burns, and I think he's a bit skinnier than he was - but during this trial period we're not allowed to add anything extra at all..:-( :-(  Roll on the end of the trial!