My family visited an 11-month old female lab who's owner is looking to
find a new home for.

She was extremely high energy - not sure if "hyper" is the correct
word - but of course she's 11 months old, so it wasn't exactly
shocking. But we also noticed a couple things that concerned us. The
biggest was a tendency to jump up on people (like my daughters) when
excited. Her owner indicated that her husband had tended to play
pretty aggressively with her, which may explain that habit. Initially
upon meeting me she also shied away a bit, something I'm not really
accustomed to seeing in labs (though didn't seem to do the same with
my daughters - a male thing, her owner said). She hasn't had a lot of
training. Really pulled hard on a leash.

I guess my questions a
- How hard will it be to train (or re-train) a dog at 11 months to
correct the jumping? I havent trained a dog in a many years, and I'm
concerned that it could be a challenge to undo some of the habits
she's picked up.

- THere are a lot of labs out there, since it's such a popular breed -
is it unreasonable to expect an 11-month old not to be tearing around
a yard for 20 minutes non-stop? Trying to determine if she is "hyper"
or I just havent been around a young dog in a long time! I also know
that labs have become so popular that there may be some tendencies
that have cropped up to to over-breeding.

Thanks,

Daren

The energy level sounds about right for a 11 month old. I have a lab mix
who is 18 months, her and my 4 year old still tear around the yard like they
are on a slalom course.

Any dog can be trained at any age. The issue is if your whole family is set
on taking on the task of training her properly. You also have to remember
that labs need exercise and stimulation so they don't get bored. You just
can't give them a yard to run in and expect that it will do the trick. Are
you prepared to go for walks 2 or 3 times a day along with the training.

If I were you and you're thinking of doing this why not ask the owner if you
can do a trial run. Maybe take her for a day or so and see how things go.
If things go well and you decide to do this then get signed up for an
obedience class right away.

Celeste

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wrote in message
...
My family visited an 11-month old female lab who's owner is looking to
find a new home for.

She was extremely high energy - not sure if "hyper" is the correct
word - but of course she's 11 months old, so it wasn't exactly
shocking. But we also noticed a couple things that concerned us. The
biggest was a tendency to jump up on people (like my daughters) when
excited. Her owner indicated that her husband had tended to play
pretty aggressively with her, which may explain that habit. Initially
upon meeting me she also shied away a bit, something I'm not really
accustomed to seeing in labs (though didn't seem to do the same with
my daughters - a male thing, her owner said). She hasn't had a lot of
training. Really pulled hard on a leash.

I guess my questions a
- How hard will it be to train (or re-train) a dog at 11 months to
correct the jumping? I havent trained a dog in a many years, and I'm
concerned that it could be a challenge to undo some of the habits
she's picked up.

- THere are a lot of labs out there, since it's such a popular breed -
is it unreasonable to expect an 11-month old not to be tearing around
a yard for 20 minutes non-stop? Trying to determine if she is "hyper"
or I just havent been around a young dog in a long time! I also know
that labs have become so popular that there may be some tendencies
that have cropped up to to over-breeding.

Thanks,

Daren

wrote in message
...
My family visited an 11-month old female lab who's owner is looking to
find a new home for.

She was extremely high energy - not sure if "hyper" is the correct
word - but of course she's 11 months old, so it wasn't exactly
shocking.

I'd be inquiring after her daily exercise routine. If she's in a home
looking to rehome her, its certainly possible that she doesn't get out much.
She may be much better with regular walks.

But we also noticed a couple things that concerned us. The
biggest was a tendency to jump up on people (like my daughters) when
excited.

This isn't an uncommon behavior, and it can take a while to correct. Its
certainly correctable though. The key is consistency. Make sure its not
rewarding for her to jump up. EVER. This means no playing with her when she
jumps up EVER. Four paws on the floor, or no attention FROM ANYONE.

She hasn't had a lot of
training. Really pulled hard on a leash.

In my experience, this is really easy to correct (others may disagree). I
can generally get a dog (any dog), to stop pulling with about 20 minutes
(used to walk dogs for the local shelter all the tiime...most were pullers
to start with. They'd normally 'test' me for the first couple minutes of the
walk, then they'd get the idea that they had to behave). That being said, if
you aren't consistent, it will take them longer to 'get it'. My method is

1. Run with them a bit first (this gets the initial crazies out)
2. Somehow get the leash loose (either treat at the side, or get them to
sit, or etc)
3. Start walking
4. Before they rebound off the end of the leash, tell them 'easy' (or other
command)
5. Give a short quick jerk on the leash. This part is key, and where your
skill comes in. You have to time the jerk right, and get the intensity right
for this to work. Basically it has to be such that if the dog ignores you,
they hit the end of the leash extra hard, and automatically come back a
little (so the leash is again loose), but if they slow down at all, and the
leash stays loose, they feel nothing.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5, possibly alternating with a little running to keep
the leash loose.

The ideal sequence of events in 4 and 5 is "easy", dog slows down, you pop
the leash, dog feels nothing (because the leash is loose).
Unacceptable sequences are dog hits the end of the leash, you say 'easy' and
jerk the leash (this very easy to do, but IMO totally useless, as most dogs
stop listening when they are tugging on the leash, you have to intercept
them before they get there)
While training, a normal sequence is 'easy', leash 'pop', which causes the
dog to prematurely hit the end of the leash.

Don't use a choke collar, or prong collar with this method, you should be
able to use a plain nylon collar.

- THere are a lot of labs out there, since it's such a popular breed -
is it unreasonable to expect an 11-month old not to be tearing around
a yard for 20 minutes non-stop?

Depends on what she does the rest of the time, and what her typical day is
like.

Trying to determine if she is "hyper"
or I just havent been around a young dog in a long time! I also know
that labs have become so popular that there may be some tendencies
that have cropped up to to over-breeding.

My guess would be that the 'hyper' behavior is to do with lack of exercise,
rather than genetics.


Dale

I also know
that labs have become so popular that there may be some tendencies
that have cropped up to to over-breeding.

High-drive, high-energy labs - which is what you're describing - aren't the
result of "over-breeding". That energy level is *normal* for Labs with
working/performance drive levels.


My guess would be that the 'hyper' behavior is to do with lack of
exercise, rather than genetics.

More likely it's both. A working/performance Labrador can have an energy
level as high as that of a Border Collie - it's why a lot of them end up
rehomed.