[pinkdeb]

Hi all - new to the forum so please bare with me.

I have two labs - one 5 month boy (Kai) and we have just rescued an 18 month old girl (Roxie).

I've had Kai since 8 weeks old and he is (although am not biased) fantastic - heel work on and off lead, 99% recall etc and am hoping to do field trialling work with him, but not for a good while yet.

Our new girl, however is a completely different kettle of fish and I'm wondering where to start untraining or retraining 18 months of bad habits?

The couple we got her from had a huge thick collar and lead fit for a lion not our slender, pretty wee girl on her - so thats in the bin and I now have muscles a power lifter would be proud of in my arms from walking her. Have to say though that in the two weeks we've had her her heel work and recall have improved slightly - however she knows how to sit, just wont do it unless am dangling copious amount of treats in front of her. Tonight as I was taking my boy out, she jumped the 3 foot fence to chase after us - didnt want left behind I dont think, although she had just come back from the park.

I exercise the sometimes together, they love the beach and chasing each other round the woods but should I also be exercising them seperately, the two dogs have formed an amazing friendship already.

I was hoping to do some agility work with her but not sure how long its going to take me to get to a basic level of obedience with her, if ever.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks

 

[kaladancer]

shouldn't take long - with a good trainer/training club ...... i wish you luck

 

[Luna-Tuck]

I haven't any experience so I'm just suggesting what I'd plan to do in your situation! I'd treat her as if she were an 8 wk old pup again so use copius amounts of treats and lots of praise and introduce hand signals along with the commands as I did when Luna was young.

I'd also give the dogs some walks together (if pulling allows) for exercise and to allow your 'good' dog to influence 'dog-in-training' but have some training/walk time individually so that both retain a bond with you.

I'd imagine you could need a lot of patience which if you already have a trained dog you have already had chance to practice. Don't expect her to immediately become wonderful, give her time, patience, treats and training and I'm sure she'll soon be extremely responsive to you. It sounds like it is still early days.

Good luck!

 

[pinkdeb]

Thanks for the advice.

I've trained my wee boy myself and he is really good but I guess she has 18 months of non-training to deal with first.

She is the most gorgeous loving dog, already we notice a difference in her - she used to live in the hall and thats where she went in our house for the first few days - she looked so sad but we just left her to come in to the in her own time, just now she is doing her feet warming impersonation and snoring after haven been for a swim in the burn with her new little brother, also the muscles in her back legs are developing nicely and her confidence is coming along too, she had very little muscle in her back legs when we got her due to being left in the hall all day and no exercise - she's an absolute delight to have around - if I can get her walking to heel and maybe a wee sit now and then, then we'll all be happier - but as you say it all takes time.

Thanks again.