Bubitty

Hi RPMGirl, Sounds like you are on top of it! I raised a cheeky golden puppy just last year and these are some things that I found really useful. *Never give them a chance to toilet inside. For the first week I woke up every 3 hours, carried my puppy outside and encouraged her to wee. It was winter so its was brutal but I thought it was important that she never got a chance to wet in her crate or inside. You should find that after about a week you can taper off to 5 hours, 6 hours etc. By the end of two weeks my baby was sleeping through the night in her crate. *Clicker train the dog. Find things to train her to do. TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN! It will exhaust her and prevent her from forming any bad habits. You can train basics like come, spin, watch, heel and also manners things like wait, calm (train them to sit still calmly on the mat). I cannot press this point enough, the more you train, the more busy and tired puppy will be which means when you are NOT there puppy will be sleeping and leaving your things alone *I know you can’t walk her yet but stick a lead on her, take her outside, sit her on a towel and get her used to noises, cars, lawn mowers. I did this twice a day until she was able to go on walk. I just find that it lets them get used to things and the outside world *When you leave puppy, leave her with things to amuse her. I left mine with giant bones (that she couldn’t choke on), frozen banana cups, peanut butter smeared on old drink bottles, scatter food around the yard for her to hide and seek, give her a raw egg to crack etc. I find that this completely eases any anxiety they may have about you leaving and keeps them busy tucking into things. This plus strenuous training sessions will help keep your landscaped garden nice! Just to encourage you, I think a landscaped garden and a lab pup can be perfectly do-able! My puppy in the photo (Bitty) only ever ripped 6 tissues in her life so far and she is only 14 months old! And she is a cheeky, bouncy pup! Not one of the quiet sleepy ones! So you can do it!!!!!!

That poor poor lab. I feel sorry for ANY breed that ends up in these kinds of homes. Honestly, some people should be shot!

Does this mean he would suffer if I bumped his rewards down a notch? So in this case, I have effectively created my own monster?

Hmm so is it deprivation if I used to hand them out all sorts of additional junk for free and now I stop? Or is that purely making the dog work harder for treats?

CW EW Try pegs if he has long fur. I attached a peg to Bitty’s side fur near her ears and it worked beautifully! She didn’t care about the tape! Just ran around with tape all over her nose like nothing was different! Reason I ask is because lately I have realised I don’t think I really know or am conscious of why some things work and quite a few things I teach, she just sort of does for me and I rewarded her but retracing my footsteps I am not sure when or how she started doing it. I think to improve my actual training ability I am going to need to start thinking a bit more!

When you train your dog and you achieve a desired result, do you actually clarify what you did, why you did it and why it worked? By clarification I mean ponder to yourself and confirm it with yourself not with another party. Or do you already have a plan prior to commencing a trick, through research etc so you already know exactly what you are doing?

Love him to bits Dee! Wouldnt change him for the world!!! Hehehe no I haven't changed anything! He just got free asian beef stew while Bitty fetched for hers! I am just curious about my dogs thats all! Slow days at work make me ponder them and their behaviours and I like to know what everyone else does with their dogs! I am not fretting or anything!!!!! ETA: Bubby loves good meals, long walks, lots of admiration from myself/his daddy and going feral with Bitty. I honestly think with him, training would be more for me than him so its not a big deal for us.

Corvus, in Bubby's current state, he will laugh at me and drop if I didn't offer him anything at least up to the level of yum cha. That dog will not work for any treat! :D ETA: Not sure about this whole restriction thing but for me, Bitty can eat pie for free and still work for a tug. Bubby eats pie and will look at me like I am a moron for offering him chopped apple.

I am terribly guilty of this! I simply cannot say no to a play bowing Bitty, leering at me with a toy in her mouth despite the rules telling me I should play on my terms. I have been known to do chores with one hand while tugging with another! I haven’t broken her though!

Can you elaborate Bub?? I have been advised to cut back his toys (make him want toys more) and also to stop giving him high value treats on a daily basis. Whilst I can see that this would make him more motivated for toys or food, I enjoy lavishing things on him so I could never personally do this. Of course I would have to re-examine my methods and approach him in the different way to how I train Bitty but I suspect one of the elements as to why he doesn’t train well is because he gets most things for free anyway. I dont think I can ever reward him enough.

I actually think I know how to increase his motivation (based on advice and everything I have read) but I am not prepared to do it because I find it disagreeable with my principles of raising him.

Bubby is too mellow to notice a change in routine. Nothing ruffles him. He takes things easy and sort of glides along. Bitty just crashes through life. I don’t think she is sensitive to routine either. She is a very passionate soul though but consistently so regardless of what happens.

Wuffles, Satch sounds sooo much like Bubby! Bubby is like "Ma! Aren't I pretty? Feed the pretty golden some food Ma!" ;)

He is SHAMELESS! Sometimes he comes out into the yard with us. He sits there, looking gorgeous and serene. Bitty does her thing, at the end of the session I give her a big hoopla on what a marvel she is and then we both run back to the porch and Bitty's like "I LOVE YOU BROTHER!!!!" *snuggles* I then go and pay homage to the little lord and so there he sits, being fawned over by us, looking as pleased as punch! That is the kind of thing Bubby is into!

tlc I dont think Bubby dislikes training. Bubby just doesn’t really care and would rather walk or sit around calmly. Just to clarify I am not worried about Bubby, I am just curious about everyone’s take on this so gave an example of my own dog! I relieve my guilt of not training him by taking him on an extra walk so we’re all sweet!

Deelee Bubby LOVES a walk! So we walk and walk and walk and find new places to walk! What gets me is if I need to teach him anything that affects his daily manners, he knows instantly and just lives by the rules as soon as I set them or change them! BUT try to get him to walk backwards and I will pull my hair out!

Someone told me that I would be a better trainer if I can make Bubby ENJOY training and improve his motivation! I guess I am curious, these mellow dogs, are they wired differently and should be given a chance to be trained by employing various different methods or just let them chill somewhere because that’s who they are and not every dog likes to run out and do 20 laps of fetching.

I was thoroughly ashamed of myself last night. I had deboned chicken drums. Bitty’s food when into a bag so we could go off and train while I dumped Bubby’s share into a bowl and told him to do a sit stay before feeding him. So Bubby just got to eat his food while Bitty and I worked together in the yard. I felt a bit guilty because this happens quite a bit in my house. Bubby gets a kiss and sits with Daddy while I go off and embark on some training venture with the little one. I always wonder if I should try harder to teach him something, to get him to work. Thing is he’s so mellow and it would probably kill me to teach him things whereas with Bitty its exciting and I feel that I can teach her anything with little to moderate effort. I have had people tell me that I will learn more by trying to train Bubby but honestly it’s like pulling teeth! So my question is have you ever had a hard to train dog and did you cop out? Do you feel guilty for copping out?

Why do you need to take out the ball Corvus? Can you just throw whatever you like and reward him with a tug when he brings it back?

So happy for Charlie and well done to you and your OH! You guys are amazing owners! :D

Gremlins

Absolutely NOTHING to do with the breed and everything to do with the owner. I have a golden puppy who has perfect recall and since coming home at 8 weeks old has only ever committed the crime of stealing a total of 6 tissues.

Does he like to tug? Bitty retrieves beautifully for a nice arm flapping, mummy yodelling tug as a reward! She runs right back with the item cuz there is some toy waiting to be tugged on the other end.

A dog that you love best/have a special incomparable bond with.

Thanks for sharing. What a gorgeous face!!!!! I love a Rotty with a gorgeous face and those golden brows make me swoon!