One of the most important behaviors to work on with any puppy is their recall, in other words, their ability to come when called. It is not a difficult behavior to train, but you will need to plan on starting early and practicing often. You can even start training this behavior as early as 8 weeks old!
Labrador Retrievers are very intelligent as well as energetic. While your Lab puppy is likely to learn to come when called quite quickly, it will take you several months to a year to get it strong enough to rely on in an emergency. If you keep your training sessions fun and interesting, your Lab puppy will look forward to learning this and other behaviors.
The three methods offered in this guide will give you the information you need to teach a basic recall command as well as make sure to make sure your recall is “proofed” so that it will work even when your Labrador is distracted. However, no matter how good your dog’s recall is, it is still critical to keep her on a leash near dangerous conditions such as traffic.
When working on training your Labrador puppy to come, follow these tips for the best results:
Make it rewarding. Never call your Lab to you and then punish them or take a toy away.
Keep it exciting. Be more interesting to your Labrador than the environment and you will find that she will naturally keep her attention on you. Over time, she will learn to love training because it is fun and interesting.
Don’t chase your dog. Your Labrador puppy is likely to think that a game of chase is lots of fun. If you make the mistake of chasing her when she doesn’t come, you are actually rewarding her for not coming when called.
Practice often. Our methods will show you how to gradually and safely add distractions to your recall training time so that you can give your Labrador puppy the skills to come when called, every time.
Before you get started with any training, it is important to understand what motivates your dog. Chances are very good that your Labrador puppy is very food motivated, one of the reasons these lovable dogs are so easy to train. While it is fine to use food rewards when training new behaviors, even desirable since food rewards are fast and easy to repeat, you will want to try to randomize your rewards a bit with recall training.
For example, does your Labrador puppy also love vigorous praise, a quick game of tug, or a toss of the tennis ball? It is okay to use any of these motivators as rewards when training recall. It actually helps to reinforce your recall if your dog is left guessing about which awesome thing he will get the next time he runs to you when called!
Besides rewards, the only equipment you will need to train a sturdy recall is a 25’ or longer leash or rope. You will use this to have some control over your puppy once you are ready to move your training outdoors. This way, even if you do not have a fenced yard to practice your recall drills, you can use the long line to make sure she does not get too far away or into any trouble.
Hello I am From India . I have a 8 Month Old Labrador, when he is Free he always jumps at me and bites my hands, Therefore I can't take him to walk . And I also Want to train him to pee in bathroom, how to solve these two problems?
Hello Pratyush, Is pup biting due to excitement or due to aggression. If the issue is aggression, I highly recommend hiring a professional trainer to work with you in person. If you don't have access to anyone there, I would find trainers who specializes in behavior issues like aggression and offer remote training, like SolidK9Training and similar agencies. If pup is biting due to excitement and wanting to play, I would teach Leave It and check out the jumping article below. Leash method for jumping: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-australian-shepherds-to-not-jump Leave It method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bite If pup is breaking the skin when biting, even if playing, I would desensitize pup to wearing a basket muzzle so you can safely work on the jumping and biting attempts without an injury. Muzzle desensitization - if pup is aggressive this is essential also, but I would get extra help with aggression. A lot of trust and respect building will need to be done before working on the jumping itself in that case. To introduce the muzzle, first place it on the ground and sprinkle his meal kibble around it. Do this until he is comfortable eating around it. Next, when he is comfortable with it being on the floor with food, hold it up and reward him with a piece of kibble every time he touches or sniffs it in your hand. Feed him his whole meal this way. Practice this until he is comfortable touching it. Next, hold a treat inside of it through the muzzle's holes, so that he has to poke his face into it to get the treat. As he gets comfortable doing that, gradually hold the treat further down into the muzzle, so that he has to poke his face all the way into the muzzle to get the treat. Practice until he is comfortable having his face in it. Next, feed several treats in a row through the muzzle's holes while he holds his face in the muzzle for longer. Practice this until he can hold his face in it for at least ten seconds while being fed treats. Next, when he can hold his face in the muzzle for ten seconds while remaining calm, while his face is in the muzzle move the muzzle's buckles together briefly, then feed him a treat through the muzzle. Practice this until he is not bothered by the buckles moving back and forth. Next, while he is wearing the muzzle buckle it and unbuckle it briefly, then feed a treat. As he gets comfortable with this step, gradually keep the muzzle buckled for longer and longer while feeding treats through the muzzle occasionally. Next, gradually increase how long he wears the muzzle for and decrease how often you give him a treat, until he can calmly wear the muzzle for at least an hour without receiving treats more than two treats during that hour. Muzzle introduction video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJTucFnmAbw&list=PLXtcKXk-QWojGYcl1NCg5UA5geEnmpx4a&index=6&t=0s For the going potty in the bathroom, I would use the Crate training method from the article I have linked below, adding one hour to all the times listen there since our dog is older than the puppy the article was written for. When you take pup potty, instead of taking them to a litter box, I would take pup to your tub, and cover the floor of your tub with a grass pad. If you have only one bathroom, then you can use a disposable real grass pad bought online, that can be removed from the tub as needed. If you don't use that bathroom you can use a piece of grass sod in the tub. Tell pup to Go Potty when you take them, and reward with a treat if they do. Once pup is consistently going potty in the tub on the grass quickly and fully potty trained to go there, then I would gradually remove the grass from the tub one inch at a time over a month and a half, until pup is going potty directly in the tub without the grass if you don't want to keep the grass there long term. If you do want to provide grass there long term, www.porchpotty.com may be a good option to put in the tub. Crate Training method - add one hour to times listen. Pup should also be able to hold it in the crate for 5-8 hours when you need to be gone for the day since they are older. https://wagwalking.com/training/litter-box-train-a-chihuahua-puppy Disposable real grass pad brands: www.freshpatch.com www.doggielawn.com Also on Amazon if they will ship where you are. These exact brands may not be available where you are, but they are the type of thing you want, and you can make your own out of a piece of grass sod if needed also. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
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