I hate taking my puppy Midnight outside if it’s windy or if it’s been raining. She just goes on a smell fest and takes forever to do her business. What’s worse is that she’s so strong now that she simply drags me along behind her.
Ive got to find a way to curb her enthusiasm. I know with time she’ll calm down some but until that time comes I think the neighbors are going to get a kick out of seeing me dragged around the block!
At least she’s been showing lately that she might be a bit of a guard dog. She’s a lab so I know she’ll never be a great guard dog but she does perk up when she hears a noise that she doesn’t know. She’ll run around the house barking or doing what I call clucking – just little short barks that sound like “buck, buck”. I tell her to stop clucking when she’s like that – at least if I know the sound she heard is harmless.
She’s never really become defensive when we’ve been outside walking around, but I suspect that if someone came at me with bad intentions she’d take action. Hopefully I wouldn’t need to pull out the self defense products. Well, I certainly hope she wouldn’t do her usual thing which is jumping up on people and licking them!
If you have a Labrador Retriever how old was it when it finally started to calm down?
Oh the joys of having a young dog. Having said that, we have a 7 year old dog and he still acts like he is 6 months old, I doubt he will ever calm down.
Very alert!
Can’t help you with the lab, but we have a 2 year old Boston Terrier/Chihuahua mix who certainly “clucks”, as you say.
We have the opposite problem, she’s too protective of the house, and will bark at friends who come in for about 15 minutes.
As for the dog pulling on your leash, you might want to look into a “gentle leader”, which I’ve found to be wonderfully effective. It controls the dog’s head instead of the neck, so if the dog pulls it ends up looking back at you.
Tooooooo Funny*
My Sis Westie BUBS had me up & down during the Movie to open the Screen Door for him so he could go on a Bird Fest which is during his Witching Hour after 9pm!!
;))
We have a huge problem with our Olde English Bulldogge pulling. Our bulldog is just a couple months away from 2, but he still pulls like crazy. He’s 65lbs, and he can drag my 270lb Hubby all over the place.
A few months back we invested in an anti-pull harness, and it’s made a world of difference…even with the stubbornness of a bulldog. Before his collars and harnesses were rubbing him raw around the neck from pulling so hard, but the anti-pull harness prevents him from pulling and stopped the raw spots.
I picked ours up at a Saluda Pet Supply for about $25. Before I couldn’t handle him for a walk by myself without ending up flat on my face, but now I can walk him anywhere no problem. It fits him more comfortably than a collar, too, and he can still run, jump, and play all he wants (yes he’s not your typical lazy bulldog all the time) without dragging me back home.