How do you train a hyper 7 month old black lab? I am a pretty busy person and dont have alot of hours throughout the day to try and train my lab. He doesnt seem to listen very well, but I just firgured that was the pup in him. Anyone have any hints or advice for me?
Thanks

Well, If you cant work the dog a lot, your gonna have issues training him.
If you dont have time for a working dog, get rid of him or have a family pet. Labs need a lot of work as pups.
#1 is obedience. (NO, sit, stay, come, heel, etc.)
#2 is basic fundamentals of retrieving (supposing its a retriever and not a PL) This is where you intro water. And dummies.
#3 is Field commands (ie whistles, hand signals)


You can send your dog off to school for a few weeks/months for a couple hundred bucks a month... if you want a finished dog, but dont have time to train.

First, all labs are hyper, and they will be until they are about 7 years old. Thats just how it is. Every now and again you'll get a chill one, but then you have to try and light a fire under them. Goldens are the same way.

As to the dog wanting to retrieve, you cannot teach him that. Its either there or its not. You can foster is, and make it grow. And you can make any dog fetch once or twice, but wanting to do it more than anything is just in them from good blood lines.

As bees knees wrote, obedience is key. It doesn't take several hours out of the day. Infact, if you were spend several hours on it, the dog would just tune you out. They have attention spans sort of like kids do; 15-30 min is about it. But you have to do it EVERY DAY. Twice a day is even better. 15 min in the morning, 15 in the evening. Thats all it takes, but you cannot skip days.

If your dog is hyper, and just doesn't want to have anything to do with learning, then you need to just walk the dog. Sap some of that energy out. Throw some fun bumpers or whatever. Nothing hurts when it comes to positive activity with your dog. Almost nothing anyway.

Assuming I have 15 min to work with Dutch, I'll take him to the football field at the end of our street. I'll let him outside and he will go water the bushes. I'll call him to heel and off we go. As I walk him down to the field, I'll have him heel halfway there (its only about 300 yards). As soon as we get to a grassy area near the parking lot (its a practice pee wee field), I'll tell him OK, and he can go sniff around and he usually makes a puppy pile out in the woods, which is nice of him not to drop it in the foot path. Then he already knows where to go. Right to his spot in the end zone. He will run out, sit, and lay down. I'll walk up and toss one as far as I can. He will watch it, then I'll send him. We will do this until he starts to get tired (depends on the heat mostly), or until I have to go.

As we walk back, we do obedience. He stays at heel, and I'll stop walking. He should sit, and he does. I'll command sit, he should sit. I'll walk off a bit. He will stay. I'll command come or heel, and back he comes to me. He knows the deal by now, but we still do it anyway. Ever notice that pro baseball players still take BP before games? Even though they have swung the bat millions of times? Same principle.

Doesn't take a ton of time, just lots of little time periods. Dogs cannot train themselves.

If you don't have the time. Sending him to a pro would be something you might consider.

100% exactly correct.

You must have the time and you must follow a good, modern, sequential training program.

Sounds like sending him to a pro trainer is a good decision.


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First thing you must establish is that your the top dog in the house..
If you watch while dogs play you will notice the have a tendancy to
go for each others throats...This is exactly how wolves and coyotes
establish their peckking order...When my dog was a pup and he did not
listen...I'd started to play wil him and then pin him down by his neck...
He will submit....watch his eyes...after a few times he'll get the hint..
and learn that your in charge....After that...repitition is the key..
and lots of it....one word commands...and reward him when he has done things correctly.
As for the hyper behavior....is he alone and inside
most of the time? Most dogs grow out of that.....
He just needs exersize.

I also did the "pinning" deal to establish a little dominance, obviously in a playful way. My dog is at my parents place, but they do a little with them as far as retrieving and what not. When I am around it is weird, they don't try to get in the house, or out of the house before I do. They wait for my move, then follow me. They do whatever they want with my mom though. they sit when I tell em to sit, even when their retractable leash is maxed out. 2 labs is tricky, but they are good dogs. very hyper though, but that is part of it. who wants a dog that just sits around like a lump on a log....you have to have a dog with some enthusiasm right?

Sounds like all good advice. Hope work slows down a little so i can work/play with him more.
Thanks for all the advice, and keep it coming..thanks again

My Lab is 5yrs old now(and regesterd)and is still full of pee and vinager,all he wants to do is retreve weather it be on land or water but soon as I say sit he sits.He is from a Very respectfull Female and Male(National and Grand National Champs).Sam is from 3rd litter also has some Kelloge in him.The 1st thing he did when I got him home was retrive a dead bird from the bushes and this was at 6 weeks old..
But I was told that It would be around 7 years before he would settel down.
GOOD LUCK....
as i was told...Never GetA Dog You Dont Have Time For.......
And LAB'S NEED YOUR FULL ATTENTION......

my lab was wild at 1 year old, i got him nuetered and that helped a lot..
have someone take him out and play with him daily if you dont have time..

my lab bites certain people if they reach for his mouth..
you think you have problems, try dealing with that...
now, thats a problem.....