Hi,

I am Biplab from India, I want some guidence in training a female Lab, her name is "Zooie" and she is round 7 months old. I will give u a brief idea about her and her behaviour. She is with a family who already have some experince with Pets, The family consist of both parents and 2 daughters and it also include a male Indian stray dog who is aggresive in nature. I am trying to train her however she is very low on confidence and is afraid of me. I will give a brief details how i taken forward the training with her.

1st Phase,
I used to just take her out from her house for 10 mins maximum in the same building compound. the Most important and alarming me fact was being a Lab she never used to eat treats from my hand and whenever i used to bring her down, she used to desperately want to go back to her house. i kept doing this exercise for 3days in week for 2 weeks.

2nd Phase
Then i asked the owner to take her up on the terrace and asked to play with her, thought it will give her confidence and her mind will be also diverted but whenever she used to see me, she used to runaway to the owner and always avoid me. Yes she doesnt give any eye contact at atll and she has taken some traits from the aggresive male dog in the house. She feels extremly secure when he is around with her.Most of the time her tail is down whenevr she is with me however when she is the male dog the tail is up and wagging.I again started feeding her pedigree as treat, i got some positive response this time. She had started eating the treat. When i take her up in the terrace she runs back and sat in the corner she doesnt like to get out from that place when i am around but when i feed her their she does it and i tryies to look into her eyes and patt her when looks directly into my eyes.

She doesn' play with me and she is very place specific. She doesnt like to go out of the building compound and she has not been socalisied with other dog.

Toilet Training

The owner stays on 5th floor of the building. While she was a Pup the tolet training has not been done, they used to tie her in the Washroom while they were away. She pisses everywhere in the house except the washroom. They have tried to teach her toilet training for example they kept the paper on which she had urinated previously so that she can smell it and do the toilet in the washroom howver it has failed.When they used to take her down in the compound by the elevators/lift she used tp piss in the elevator/lift only. i have asked them to take her down by stairs but not giving her time to sit to piss just rundown with her till you are out of the gate. She does pisses in the stairs also. i have asked them to treat chicken leg whenevr she does her toilet outside the house and asked them to start using word like"Zooie Piss">

If you can guide with with your inputs how to make her a confident and joyfull Lab who listen and especially does her toilet outisde or in the washroom.

Looking forward for your reply this is my first post in this forum, so any mistake please rectify me

Thanks

Hi Biplab, and welcome.

Is there someone in the home all day? This is a 7 month old pup, and so she still needs fairly frequent potty breaks.

If there is someone home, then you could suggest that they take her out very frequently (like every hour or two) for a couple of weeks, so that she begins to understand that she should potty outside, not inside. Every time she pees outside, she should be verbally rewarded and praised.

She should not be corrected (punished) for peeing inside the house, because she doesn't understand yet that she should not do this. She should not be encouraged to pee inside, on paper. This is confusing to the dog, and will make housetraining very difficult.

If she is to be left alone at times, then she should be in a crate. Generally dogs will not urinate in an enclosed area like a crate. This will make house training much easier...

I take it the owner doesn't want to get involved in any training?

Does the owner take any real interest in the dog at all?

Thanks alot for ur replies

The only thing I would like to add is dogs will sometimes still potty in the the crate they are in. Ultimately it will work, just stick with it, and don't give up. Just clean them off, disinfect the crate and start over. Try your best not to be upset with the dog either, it's just not fair to them!

Thanks alot for ur reply Spencer,

However the behaviour still remains the same which is alarming for me because if i am not able to change her behaviour now, it will become a set behaviour.She is still scared of me, doesnt like to go out of her building compound, still she refuses food treats.

The owners are also involved in the training please give me some tips to modify her defensive scared behaviour into an assertive playfull dog.

who are reading the post for the first time plaese go through with Paragraphs below, it will give you a picture of the Dog Behaviour. Waiting for your reaplies.

Thanking you again

I am Biplab from India, I want some guidence in training a female Lab, her name is "Zooie" and she is round 7 months old. I will give u a brief idea about her and her behaviour. She is with a family who already have some experince with Pets, The family consist of both parents and 2 daughters and it also include a male Indian stray dog who is aggresive in nature. I am trying to train her however she is very low on confidence and is afraid of me. I will give a brief details how i taken forward the training with her.

1st Phase,
I used to just take her out from her house for 10 mins maximum in the same building compound. the Most important and alarming me fact was being a Lab she never used to eat treats from my hand and whenever i used to bring her down, she used to desperately want to go back to her house. i kept doing this exercise for 3days in week for 2 weeks.

2nd Phase
Then i asked the owner to take her up on the terrace and asked to play with her, thought it will give her confidence and her mind will be also diverted but whenever she used to see me, she used to runaway to the owner and always avoid me. Yes she doesnt give any eye contact at atll and she has taken some traits from the aggresive male dog in the house. She feels extremly secure when he is around with her.Most of the time her tail is down whenevr she is with me however when she is the male dog the tail is up and wagging.I again started feeding her pedigree as treat, i got some positive response this time. She had started eating the treat. When i take her up in the terrace she runs back and sat in the corner she doesnt like to get out from that place when i am around but when i feed her their she does it and i tryies to look into her eyes and patt her when looks directly into my eyes.

She doesn' play with me and she is very place specific. She doesnt like to go out of the building compound and she has not been socalisied with other dog.

From your posts I'm assuming (let me know if I'm mistaken) that this pup was not socialized as a young pup during the crucial socialization periods. If I'm correct in this assumption, she may never be the outgoing dog you'd tend to expect from a Lab.
But there are some things that you and her family can do to build her confidence both in yourselves and in herself.

1. Put her on a simple NILIF (nothing in life is free) program. Basically this means that she earns everything she gets by first obeying a command. This can be anything she knows how to do on command.

2. Work daily on basic obedience training. This along with #1 will help build her confidence in her people as her leaders. And, as she gains trust in your leadership this will help her gain confidence.

3. She should spend most of the time daily with her people separate from the other dog. Her time with the other dog should be scheduled time only. Most of her time should be with her people. She can be tethered to you or one of her family members while you just go about your business ignoring her for the most part. This will gradually help the bonding. Too much attention can be overwhelming.

4. For potty training patience and consistency are the keys. Decide where she's to do her business and take her there consistently (every hour if need be). Schedule everything including food and water. Scheduling does not mean to give less (especially water) just to schedule when and not allow free access so that you get a better idea as to when she needs to do her business. Of course, if no one will be home you must leave her some water or have someone come in and give her a drink as well as take her out.

5. Does anyone offer agility lessons where you live? Or could you buy or make some simple agility equipment? I ask because, in my experience, agility is a wonderful confidence booster for a dog as well as a lot of fun.

Biplab,
I hope that address is right.
Anyways, to the dog; what is it's the relationship within the family in question?
And what is your place? ie. What is your job enre to this dog?

It's going to take a lot of baby steps to get this dog to some kind of balance. BABY STEPS. As in, not going to be done in 2 or 3 weeks.

I agree with the nothing in life for free idea........for the other (aggressive) dog in the house hold.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
M&M Enterprises.

 Quote: randy allen

Biplab,
I hope that address is right.
Anyways, to the dog; what is it's the relationship within the family in question?
And what is your place? ie. What is your job enre to this dog?

It's going to take a lot of baby steps to get this dog to some kind of balance. BABY STEPS. As in, not going to be done in 2 or 3 weeks.

I agree with the nothing in life for free idea........for the other (aggressive) dog in the house hold.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
M&M Enterprises.

I agree that Baby steps, tiny ones, are an absolute must. But NILIF will work for both dogs. The more aggressive one should be on a stricter nilif program, but it will also help the fearful dog gain confidence. The important thing is to take it easy with the latter dog, helping it to obey and keeping things very positive at all times. Corrections, if any, should be very low key (i.e. a simple, quiet "no" and redirecting the dog).

Thanks alot for help Elaine,

I will put her on the NILIF programm but how can i teach her basic obedience if she doesnt want to play, eat from me. I will take the steps told by you and i would definetly like to make some agility equipment. we dont have it here. if u can guide me how to make some esy equipment that will be great.