problem when walking

[mikybear]

Hi everyone:

My 8 month old Lab is a pain when out walking, the moment he sees or hears a child screaming or playing or running, you name it, he goes into a complete frenzy of excitement. And when he likes this we cant stop him from pulling towards the kids.

We have socialised him, but he will not stop doing this every single time, its so very hard. Before we had him, he had been with two young 19 year old girls, just for 4 weeks, this was when he was 3 months old, we brought him at 3 months old, and he whined the whole 350 miles back to our home for them.

I guess this is what its all about, but its a major problem, we cant go near parks, playgrounds schools, or anywhere in fear of a child playing ball or just playing.

He goes bananas at the slighest sound of a child playing, not with adults or anything else, even if we make him sit and wait he will just watch indensley to see where the child walks, and then when out of site he will chase them down. We cant turn him away he just struggles and bites us if he cant get his way. please could someone out there reply to my posts, I got one reply to my last.

[dishers]

What are you using to walk him with? A head or harness halt is an excellent tool while training. I would use this also get him used to looking at you. Say look at me then give him lots of praise or treat. Be consistent will take time bit eventually he may relate to seeing children looking at you as a good thing since je will get a treat. Make sense? I use a clicker during my walks since it is hard to give a treat right away. This way they near the click and k ow something good is going to happen. Hope this helps

[mikybear]

Many thanks, when walking we use a harness, he wont go on a halti, I do say look at me, but hes really in another world totally when he sees kids. He wants to jump up and greet them, thats all he wants to do period.

[kjd]

milkybear,

A regular harness doesn't really give you much control over Marley. Have you tried an Easy Walker Harness or a Walkeez Chokefree Dog Harness? These are two harnesses that are supposed to stop the pulling -- the first attaches the leash to the center of the dog's chest and works kind of like a Halti, except with the front of the body rather than the head. The second is supposed to calm the dog. If you can afford them, they might be worth trying.

Another suggestion is to use a martingale collar with a metal link attachment. These collars cannot be tightened indefinitely -- you can decide how tight you want it to be. If the part that the leash attaches to is metal link, you can give him a correction that he will hear (the snap of the links).

I think one reason you got so few responses with your first request is because nobody can tell you where you should start with your dog. Only you know exactly where your dog is and exactly how you want him to be.

See if you can use a product that will give you more control over Marley.

Let us know how it works out,
kjd

[mikybear]

Many thanks, and very best wishes

[KOPcaroline]

Hey mikybear,

Have you tried startling him when you're around kids, so that he's forced to break concentration on the children? Loud noises, sudden jerk on the lead (not hurting him, of course!) or acting totally amazed at "something" in some other direction? Exaggerated efforts of distraction can sometimes work with dogs who have a huge interest in something.

I'd also recommend desensitizing him to the sound of children. Play a television show with lots of kids playing and the sounds the make. As much of a hassle as it is, try to break him on a halti, try putting it on him around the house, so he gets used to the feel of it. Give him treats and heaps of praise when he lets you put it on. Take him (preferably on the halti) by a kids park, but if you can, stay on the opposite side of the road, so he's less likely to dart after a kid. Praise him if he pays attention to ANYTHING else. You want to make sure he knows its a good thing to not go after a kid. Once he's better about not zoning in on the noise, take him a bit closer; walk him on the same side of the road, but stop just before you get to the actual park and have him sit and pay attention to you. You can use toys that make noise, or a favorite item of his to get his attention. Its really sweet that he just wants to say hi, but it could be intimidating, or accidentally harmful if he bowls a small child over!

The best thing, as I said, in dogs with an obsession to something is to keep exposing them to it. It will be a pain at first, but if you don't avoid it and keep a bit out of reach at first, he'll stop being so excited over an everyday thing.

[mikybear]

Many thanks i wil ltry an halti, and will the other stuff, the exsposure to children noise on telly sounds good, thanks for your help.