The main difference I have noticed so far, between Rachael and my field bred labs, is her enormous enthusiasm for other dogs and people.
I am not particularly surprised by this as difficulties in preventing young Labradors chasing off after other dogs and people is a commonly reported problem amongst pet dog owners.
Rachael is just naturally far more sociable than her thoroughly working bred cousins.
One of the tasks I have had to tackle as I approach introducing Rachael into my group training sessions, is to stop her treating every other dog as a plaything or toy.
And to this end I have made use of my cocker Meg.
Rough play
Rachael’s idea of a game is to pursue the other dog and push her over roughly with her front feet. When she was smaller we allowed her short periods of play with our other lab, who will put up with pretty much anything.
Now it is time for Rachael to learn some better manners
A lesson from Meg
Meg normally lives in outdoors with the kennelled dogs but for the last couple of weeks has been living indoors with Rachael.[wp_ad_camp_1]Meg is a perfectly nice friendly dog, and is very kind to small puppies.
However, she will not tolerate being unduly ‘bounced’ by a lively and impudent six month old Labrador.
Within a few minutes of moving into the kitchen, Meg had explained some of the rules of the game. There was a lot of noise, and after being firmly put in her place a couple of times, Rachael decided to behave more appropriately.
Rachael made a few more attempts to ‘assault’ her cocker friend over the next few days, and each time was thoroughly reprimanded by the little dog.
Minding manners
For the last few days, Rachael has been minding her manners and behaved in a much more sensible fashion.
This means that I can now proceed to teach Rachael how to heel and sit around another dog, and how to take turns being given a treat whilst sitting next to another dog. Both important lessons.
Later I will introduce Rachael to my younger cocker Phoebe who is bigger and stronger than Meg and will reinforce the message very firmly indeed if Rachael tries to get rough with her.
I am fortunate to have other dogs that can convey these messages without hurting Rachael as they are important ones for a young dog to learn.
A puppy that does not learn manners at around this age can be very severely beaten up by an aggressive strange dog that takes exception to her behaviour. And I think it is far more effective if your dog can learn this way, than by being chastised by a human for roughing up other dogs.
Helping your dog
If your dog is overly rough or pushy with other dogs, you need to help her learn some manners before she gets too big and strong and actually hurts another dog, or is attacked by another dog for being disrespectful.
If you have a friend with a tolerant but firm dog who will let your puppy know when she has overstepped the boundaries of polite behaviour you may be able to do this at home. Otherwise you will need to join a training class or club where your dog can learn to behave nicely with other dogs in a controlled environment.
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