We have a 12 week old Australian Labradoodle. She is doing quite well, but we are having a problem with her when she grabs something shes not supposed to have (paper, clothes). When I say no or drop it, she will not listen. When I move towards her she runs from me. If I kneel down and hold out my hand, she barks and playfully lunges, but moving towards her causes her to run again. The only way to retrieve what she has is with food, and sometimes if I try and exchange it with a toy.

We have not disciplined her with force and try hard not to raise our voice to her to cause fear. The only experience I think she's had that would cause her stress happened at the park. She got away from us and started running. I was scared she would run onto the road, so I briefly chased her and caught her. I did not yell or hit her, I just put the leash on and took her home. I think the whole episode stressed us both.

Can anyone suggest what we should do with this behaviour?

 Quote: Cam Ens

We have a 12 week old Australian Labradoodle. She is doing quite well, but we are having a problem with her when she grabs something shes not supposed to have (paper, clothes). When I say no or drop it, she will not listen. When I move towards her she runs from me. If I kneel down and hold out my hand, she barks and playfully lunges, but moving towards her causes her to run again. The only way to retrieve what she has is with food, and sometimes if I try and exchange it with a toy.

We have not disciplined her with force and try hard not to raise our voice to her to cause fear. The only experience I think she's had that would cause her stress happened at the park. She got away from us and started running. I was scared she would run onto the road, so I briefly chased her and caught her. I did not yell or hit her, I just put the leash on and took her home. I think the whole episode stressed us both.

Can anyone suggest what we should do with this behaviour?

What behavior?

This is a puppy being a puppy.

I'd start managing the dog's environment MUCH more carefully. That is, the dog is never off-lead in an uncontained area because she has no recall yet. The dog does not have loose papers and clothing down where she sees/has access.


Tell us how much you know about short sessions of fun marker training. We can definitely help, but right off the bat I would say that setting her up for success by managing her environment is top priority. JMO.

WELCOME to the board!

 Quote: cam ens

... When I say no or drop it, she will not listen. When I move towards her she runs from me. If I kneel down and hold out my hand, she barks and playfully lunges, but moving towards her causes her to run again. The only way to retrieve what she has is with food, and sometimes if I try and exchange it with a toy.

I think you are on the right track with the exchanges of food or a toy for whatever is in her mouth.

As for moving towards her, I'd quit that when she is in chase mode. Let HER move to YOU. You could have a piece of yummy odorous cooked bacon in your hand, for instance; I doubt that she will run if you give no signals of chasing. Exchange for the item in her mouth.

As for "drop it," have you taught "drop it"? If it's not taught and proofed, you can't expect her to follow the command. Managing the environment meanwhile is your best friend.

JMO.

Where is Alyssa when you need her?

I can just hear her now: Confucius say, "puppy on leash cannot run."

Meaning, if your puppy is kept on a leash she cannot grab anything and run away from you. At 12 weeks she is WAY too young to be off-lead (yes, even in the house). My dog was on lead until he was 10 months old and he LOVED to grab my socks or whatever was laying around in his mouth. Except I could get them back immediately and /or exchange for a toy/treat. Completely left out the frustrating chase game.

Oh, and there's no counter surfing, baseboard chewing, running out the door or anything else of that nature.

And just out of curiosity, totally off topic, sorry: What exactly is an "Australian Labradoodle?" Is it an Australian Shepherd mixed with Labrador mixed with Poodle?

Like Connie said, control the environment. If you want to take her out to the yard (enclosed only) or some other area like a tenis court or some other contained area, I would put this pup on a long line in any of these areas. This way the pup can have a chance to run around & you can still have control of where the pup goes by holding onto the end. There are many lengths from 10 -30+ Feet--on Leerburg or pet shops have them too for a bit less $$s. Dogs have to EARN the right to be able to be FREE(off leash). This done with training relaible (9 out of 10 times/reliably) recalls. This will take place over an extended period of time. It won't happen in a couple of weeks. Another thought is also to teach this dog to do a down. Then teach her to do this with you from a distance. When this becomes reliable (9 of 10 times repeatedly) you will have some additional control. I have my pups dragging long lines for quite a while before I take it off. They go to many fields beaches etc all on long lines. One they seem to be reliable with their recall I start letting the line go & continue to train the recall. This way I can grab the line or step on it to prevent the pup from getting away. I will also add that I train older pups with an e-collar & when they get to the point that they have earned freedom they are usually over a year old. At the times that I remove the long line I also have the e-collar on as a back up. My adult dogs are always on e-collars when out on the field. JMO

12 weeks is such a great age for puppies. They're into everything, explore everything, and are just really starting to learn tricks like walking on a leash, sit, and down. The really smart ones even begin to understand that a name applies to them.

12 weeks is a really rough age for people. Their puppy has had a month of being the new cute little puppy and has finally become work. There are a couple things to understand about your dog.

It doesn't understand english, french, or any other human spoke language. It's a dog so it's much better at understanding body language.

Your dog left to it's own devices will behave like a dog. This means as others have pointed out when you don't have control and your dog has had no training it will behave like a dog. This means it will rip stuff up, chew, poop, and be a little bastion of destruction. Don't take it personally, we all own dogs too.

For whoever asked an Australian labradoodle is basically the same thing as a normal labradoodle. It was originally part of the same australian experiment in guide dogs in breeding a smaller more uniform, more allergy friendly guide dog. This was scrapped but the remnants remained in a breeding pool which was used to produce generations down the line. The only thing I've noticed in the differences between F1 line labradoodles and aussie labradoodles are a more consistent size and coat type than F1 line doodles.

Remember to enjoy your puppy. You'll only have this time once.

I agree with everything everyone else has said.

One thing I'll add...never chase your puppy! Get your puppy to chase you. Try it. It really works in the situations you've already described...pup grabs something you don't want it to have, it's not tethered to you for some reason...you say "Hey, Pup!" get it's attention, and take off with lots of funny movement the opposite direction (go slow, just make it look like you're racing off). The puppy will chase you.

It works even better if you train this by playing this way...get the puppy used to chasing you, play when you let it catch you (or it just catches you ).

This way, it's your game, and you are in control, not the puppy.

leih

Wow....thanks so much for all the information. I have to take some time to read these and do some planning. We ordered the 8 weeks to 8 months DVD, so I'm looking forward to getting that as well. I'll post back once we've digested and tried these suggestions.

Cam,
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Will Rambeau
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