Can your dog do this?

Joe Schwab · 05-06-2002, 05:04 PM

Sammie, my 8 month old black lab pup has learned a new trick. In the past few weeks he has been trying my patience and as Capn Dan explained to me these pups go thru a stage where short term memory is transferred to long term memory. He has in short eaten vinyl siding off my house, eaten a broom, chewed up one of my antique wood decoys after he got it off a shelf, chewed the corners off a recliner chair, plugged his intestines with all manner of debris while patiently working it out through his lower tract, and generally being a puppy.
While you probably think I'm not being a good master, I have bought numerous toys designed to be chewed up which he ignores.
Today after being banned to his new kennel I heard some strange noises and sneaked around to investigate. He was very carefully unwinding the cyclone netting by bending the end wire and had two squares already unwrapped. This dog is amazing! How am I going to keep him penned?
I can't stay mad at him long though. He comes around toy in mouth begging to play some more. Labs are the best!! [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img] Oh yeah I also taught him how to do his thing on the boat.
The other day while fishing he started getting antsy and whining. I cleaned off the bow of ropes and buoys and told him to go ahead. After he finished I rinsed off the bow and he was extremely happy to be relieved. Now you know why they call it the poop deck.

[ 05-06-2002, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: Capt. Hook ]

bigshark · 05-06-2002, 08:07 PM

Who says they are just a dumb animal......Sound as if you got a good one in the making. I had a German Shorthair that would bark at the water while looking over the gunnel. The fishfinder would confirm that she must have been able to sence those fish somehow. Let him try everything....you might be surprised at how clever they can be.

Capin Dan, Did you see Bassers post on wanting a lab on the PP board?

[ 05-06-2002, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: bigshark ]

Lives_to_fish · 05-07-2002, 06:10 AM

I went with an electric fence charger. Two zaps and no more escapes. Most of the time I don�t even have it turned on anymore. My escape artist used to go over and under, so I put one line along the bottom and one on top. It is amazing how fast a dog can learn when properly motivated.

pdxkevin · 05-08-2002, 06:02 AM

Have you tried smearing peanut butter inside of a "Kong" toy? It has worked wonders for us. They spend hours trying to get the peanut butter all cleaned out.

DK · 05-08-2002, 10:43 AM

nyla bone, take and rough it up on the cement, act like it yours when you give it to him, my yellow lab will lay and chew on it for hours,just when he starts getting in to it take it from him and play keep away, he'll get the message, and as far as memory, mine still hasn't forgot how to fetch me a miller from the fridge,dk

King Kong · 05-08-2002, 03:05 PM

Capt. Hook,
I know exactly what you are going through. My lab is six years old now but she still acts like a puppy. Every time that I would put her in her outside Kennel 10'x8' she would pull out the guidewire at the bottom of the cyclone fencing and then squeeze her way out. She would show up on the front porch two hours later soaking wet from playing in the creek down the street. I tried bailing wire around the bottom, she chews it into pieces. I finally had to put 2x12 all the way around the outside of the kennel to keep her inside. she is only in it when we are at work during the day. About the problem of eating things that would make a billygoat sick. I caught her in the middle of my neighbors garbage can on garbage day, in Troutdale. Not only had the wind blown garbage over the entire neighborhood, my dog ******* everything from tin foil to WHOLE paper towels for two days. You just gotta love labs!

wetaline · 05-09-2002, 09:57 AM

Now keep in mind my lab was a puppy when i was in my latter years of college and thus my furniture wasn't of the "priceless" type.... but a trick i learned to keep her from chewing on everything was to rub chew on whatever i didn't want her to chew on ... kodiak etc.... dogs HATE the smell of it. if you open a can, put it by their nose - they turn their head immediately.

It also works for bee stings (take it, get it moist, and put it on the sting)....

tailchaser · 05-10-2002, 09:29 PM

:grin: Nice to hear someone else go thru my pains a few years ago. My black lab is 4 now and after the first year of hunting I thought it would be a snap for the second. He retrieved his first duck at 12 weeks old. The second season came around and I assumed he remembered. WRONG!! Not until the third season did he show signs of "oh yeah, I remember that" type of learning. I would say puppy dumb is about gone at 1 1/2 years.

As for the rest of your problems I invested in a shock collar. Yes they can be abused, but by the people using them correctly it's an unreplacable tool. It's more or less a 300' stick that can reach out and touch him any moment. When you peek around corners and find him doing things give it a quick touch and it's amazing how fast they learn. No more yelling, pulling hair, and cussing at the heavens asking why. I no longer have to use mine because he is more or less as trained as I will ever get him, but for the first two years of life there's no better option.

These collars are also needed in a lot of hunting situations and can save a dog's life by being able to turn him around. My dog is after one thing, "feathers" and it's up to you as the owner to look out for him. A couple of times if I didn't zap him and turn him around he could've been in trouble.

tc