Young Labradors come with a big helping of chaos. But it can be tamed! Video evidence included.
Today Lambeau worked on polishing his greetings.
I noticed that he is very definitely offering sits and downs instead up jumping or mouthing for attention. This is great and shows that he is learning to Say Please!
We started off with a long wait to the door to work on impulse control. Lambeau did his entire wait in the kennel & run outside for 1 snack this time, and it was all automated – he ran right out and sat. He is really learning this routine. We even got a snazzy video. He loves this game! We just had to show him what we expected, and keep him motivated. No more jumping, zoomies, mouthing and chasing his housemate on the way out the door!
Then we had some playtime. He is sitting very consistently any time the toy is raised instead of jumping at it. Fetch is a great reward for this guy!
Next we worked on visitor manners. Lambeau gets so excited when someone is at the door! After 20 minutes of practice, he was able to perform the “final” version of his visitor entry routine. He went to his mat, lay down, and stayed while the visitor entered and sat down. Now we just have to keep practicing until he can do it the FIRST time.
We also worked on polite greetings. He is sitting nicely for greetings and got only 1 time-out for jumping. He will also come away from a visitor on cue, and did his auto-sit for a toy throw with the visitor.
Last, we went outside and began practicing some come when called from distraction. Lambeau came right away from the visitor and sat politely.
Lambeau is a fabulous dog and ready for his next transfer!
