Don't get me wrong he has come on leaps and bounds but he is 2 now and I am on the verge of getting a behaviourist - he just runs after everything dog we see so I have to keep him on his lead unless there is no-one about - any advice

I would say it’s down to different personalities, some never settle down. Things like chasing other dogs he may likely never grow out of, they need to be trained out. Getting the help of a professional trainer (who uses positive methods) or behaviourist could really help the two of you out.

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I would possibly say that it could well be minimum of 3 years Plus, Its certainly true of my own breeds and I believe labradors are about the same although obviously Lab owners/breeders of which there are on here would be able to confirm or advise you better.

Even at 2 or even older and well-trained they can sometimes still geet hyper excited or over stimulated and forget themselves and go deaf. It also does depend though on how long he has been doing it for too and how much he gets away with. With any dog, if they realise they can do something and its rewarding (ie they achieve what they set out to do and get what they wanted) The more they will do it and the harder it becomes to reverse the behaviour.

Personally I would keep him on a long line so he quite simply cant take off and really up the re-call training. I have copied and pasted this from another thread of a post I did for someone with a the same sort of problems, although its aimed at a 5/6 mth old which hers was, everything else is relevant and there should be some things/ideas you can use.


At 5/6mths old she is at the worse time, hormones start to kick in (they can have a season from 6mths onwards) they start to assert their freedon, even ones that came before start to not come back now, and other dogs are going to be far more interesting then you at the moment. The more she runs off, the more she will do it, it will become a habit and will be really hard to get her back on track.

I would keep her on a longline still tbh and really up the training.
You need to not let her wander too far and get involved with other things and keep calling her back periodically throughout the walk. Not just at the end when you want to take her home. If you do they get wise to it and will learn to run off and avoid you and go deaf. Same with running after her anytime, try to avoid it it turns it into a game of catch me if you can and they soon learn that you cant out run them.

I would do some trials with treats, cheese, chicken, hotdogs, sausages and liver based stuff is good, see what her one or two favourites are and keep them for re-call. If she has got deaf to your voice you could always try a whistle. With the whistle start at home, walk around and whistle, every time treat her, literally whistle treat, whistle treat. Try it after in the garden, first standing by the back door and then from inside. Once she comes begin to use it outside.

On the Long line, as said call her back periodically throughout the walk. Reward with a treat but send her off again with go play. Sometime throw a ball a few times, others play with a ragger, others call and run in the opposite direstion to engage her in a game and get her to chase you, other times hide behind something and treat when she finds you. Vary the rewards it makes you more interesting and keeps her guessing what she is going to get. Always though send her off with the go play again.

When she is reliable, then drop the long line but use it as a drag line, if she does go deaf and misses a re-call then you can grab it and guide her back on track so she cant. Still do all the same things, the periodically calling her bak, the varying of rewards and always the go play again.

next step, would be completely off, but at first at times with less distractions and gauage how thats going, then you can build up the distractions as you get more success and she learns to ignore other dogs.

Hope it might be some help, and ther may be some new ideas there you might not be using at the moment.

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As he's a Lab I'm guessing he's pretty food-orientated, so I'd retrain his recall using a reward-based method and change the recall command.

Portion up his food and only give it to him when he recalls. Don't feed him otherwise. He may go hungry at first but he'll soon clock on that if he wants his food he'll only get it from you.

Start off in the garden, eventually move outdoors with no distraction, and then in a few weeks you can start training amidst other dogs (who are at a goodly distance - don't set him up to fail).

Make a huge fuss of him when he does recall immediately, and when he's especially good let him get a lottery bonus eg. hotdog, cheese, livercake etc. Coming back to you has to be the best thing ever.

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Thank you so much for the advice will get that liver cake made and make a start tomorrow - it makes sense - have just about getting him used to now pulling so recall on demand is the next stage- he is just so cute it's hard - I know it's me that needs training.

Every dog tends to go through it, some even start great and recall every time but as said in the post for the lady with the 5/6mth old get to a certain age they change and wont come back. Im sure with plenty of re-training and not moving onto the next stage until the previous is reliable you will get there.

As someone else I think said I dont think Ive met a Lab yet that doesnt like its grub, unless it was feeling very poorly So hopefully the treats mentioned and maybe varied with a few of the various play rewards will make you more interesting and keep her guessing what shes going to get and want to come back.

Good luck keep us posted how your getting on.

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Poorly? I think mine would have to be dead before they refused food! Even after one of mine ate a 2kg bag of flour and subsequently redecorated the conservatory she was still up for her regular feed .

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If we are doing off-lead with ours, then I NEVER leave the home without some tasty treats in my pocket

They calm down at all different ages - my eldest was born old (although can have her wicked moments) - my second girl is 6 next month and still a horror bag.

In contrast, my 16 month old has been decrated (apart from season times) - but my 2.5 and 3.5 girl and boy still sleep in their crates at night, otherwise I wouldn't have a house left The 2.5 year old is the grand-daughter of the eldest - chalk and cheese spring to mind

They do exist, but they are very few and far between We were at the show today and my black girl was fighting me to get to my pocket - this woman passing by said "oh. I think she's hungry! - she really looks staved NOT - my response was along the lines of "she's not hungry, she's a Lab!

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What you need to know before buying a Labrador puppy

Very true and go along with all of the above advice and info. My Lab is 14 months and is quite obsessed with other dogs....HOWEVER we're pretty strict with him and it is now starting to pay off. By that I don't mean physically but with repetitive ongoing training, (which we've found a whistle has helped with) and he too is very obsessed with food rewards. I change the treats constantly as he's never been interested in toys/balls/ropey things when we're out on a walk....so it makes it harder to gain that attention.

However we've taught him the 'look at me' and 'which hand?' game and that works. If he guesses right he gets the treat, if he guesses wrongly he
gets the treat once he goes to the other hand (which he'll do immediately) so it's a win win situation and the game/excitement of it often works in a situation where you're perhaps struggling.

Fred is off lead when areas are safe and free of other dogs (and he's great) but if I see one I calmly just lead him back up and carry on till it's safe again. As said above it is important to do this in varying situations not just when something is approaching. He will now walk past other dogs in close proximity without making a fuss and so I think that can be a good indication if they're changing and 'growing up' a little. In the past he's had to excitedly get to the other dog and say hello. I wasn't afraid to prevent that as he does get plenty of walks with friends and their dogs and goes to a weekly class so isn't being prevented from the importance of social play. So I'm trying to teach him you can play and approach your friends, but not others.....it's on my terms pal - not yours!

Swarthy; Fred too is still in his crate. We never thought he'd love it so much and we don't want to take it away from him now! I think he'd be lost without his den It's saved the house too!!! I think he may be ok at not eating the house now if we were to leave him free, but it's a step we'll wait a bit longer for I think

- TBH - if he likes his crate and it's not in the way - then I would leave things be - my youngest boy really isn't overly keen on his crate, thankfully, whilst he has his quirks, he's not an overly destructiive dog and increidbly laid back - at shows, he was so well behaved, judges used to ask if he really was a puppy .

When we decrated him, we removed all the crates dotted around the place bar two - OMG if we did - 2/3 dogs all piled into one of the remaining crates - including one who wasn't even crate trained

Apart from Dylan, the rest of mine love the crates, if you've got one missing, you quickly know where to find them

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What you need to know before buying a Labrador puppy