Dog Training: Boarding school? Training classes?

[mtoledo]

We have a 12 week old black lab whom we love so much! We got him when he was 6 weeks old. Since then we've taught him sit, stay, and down (with treats) him but that's about it. He still needs a little work on stay. Now that he's getting older and bigger I think he needs more training. He chews our bottoms(jeans/shorts) and shoes although he has a lot of chew toys (last time I counted he had 10). He bites us thinking that we're playing with him when we aren't. He also jumps on us when he sees us, although we tell him to sit and stay when we enter his kennel.

I really want to send him to boarding school (it's a little more than $1k) where the trainer takes the dog to his home for two weeks and trains him but my hubby thinks I'm crazy for wanting to pay so much. My reasoning is that it's a good investment because we won't have to worry about stressing out trying to train him and he will become a well behaved dog when we get him back. He suggests we take him to training classes each week. So I'm just curious to know how y'all trained your dogs. Did you take them to a boarding school, training lessons, or did you personally trained them? Any tips?

[Ange]

Training lessons.

He's a puppy. It's normal for them to chew on everything. You have to teach him that it's not acceptable to bite you. He's trying to play with you the only way he knows how: by biting. That's how dogs play with each other.

I know this is hard because their teeth are sharp but you need to ignore him when he does that. He will lose interest if you make yourself super boring.

For the jumping: turn around, ignore him until he sits and then give him attention. He has to learn impulse control and that's not always easy.

For the wait: make sure you keep it short at first and lengthen the time.

This book is great for starting out and explains a lot of things of what dogs are thinking etc: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Me-Dog-Hav.../dp/1401308554

[ALONSO]

Ditto to Ange...

We have a chocolate lab and yes he chewed many things. He is just a baby so it's like he is teething. They do break that habbit, but you must also let him know it's wrong. he bites you because he is trying to play with you, and you leading him on by pulling away pushing him etc..... take him for long walks and or runs so that he can exhaust himself.

I will also never pay 1K to train my dog. He is training the dog in his home so when they sometimes come back he might come back to biting you again as in his mind you are okay with him doing that. Best of Luck!

[dgman]

listen to the above advise. Dont send the dog to a kennel for training. If you would send the dog to me i could guarentee that the dog would preform as i would promise. as would any other trainer. You probably even get three to five free lessons from the trainer. The reason for those lessons is to transfer the training to you. the dog will work for the trainer because it has been ranked by the trainer (ranked does not mean beaten). While giving the lessons the trainer will more than likley walk with you and the animal with the animal in the middle. The trainer will see when the dog will respond to you and start to put some distance between the trainer and the dog. in a way transfering the top dog status to you. You are much better off just finding a good group class and train the dog yourself. The dog trainers in that case are really people trainers. they just teach you how to do the commands instead of doing it themselves. a lab is a very smart dog. do not treat it harshley. they can be a handfull. make sure the chews do not look like things you dont want destroyed. like a rawhide shoe. or its by by shoes. the dog will need lots of excercise. the more the better. socialize the animal to everthing you can now.

[mtoledo]

Thanks guys for your responses.

Ange, I will buy that book and read it. I've seen her show once or twice and I think she does a good job training dogs. I had already heard of that tip of turning around when he jumps up but when I do it he still jumps on me. I think what makes it worse that his claws are long and he scratches me hard. I need to take him to get his nails trimmed but I know I have to work on his jumping too. He's getting better with stay. When I go to his kennel I don't even have to tell him sit and stay; I just look straight into his eyes and he quiets down and sits by the door until I open it and go in! We're making progress!

Alonso, we took him to the park for the first time this weekend and he loved it! He ran up and down the hills and chased my hubby and brother around. By the time we got home he was already tired and fell asleep in the car. We hadn't really taken him outside of the house because our vet told us to wait till he was 12 weeks old. We also started walking him around the block which I've noticed he enjoys doing so. You know what, I hadn't really stopped to think that puppies bite each other when they're playing. I think we're going to take him to a socializing class so that he learns how to control his bite strength when he's playing. Maybe that will help with him biting us so hard.

Dgman, it's not kennel training. The trainer takes the dog to his home like if it was his dog and trains him for two weeks. He then shows me what he's taught the dog and "trains" me, kind of like what you said. I've had several personal recommendations to some trainers. I've researched and read reviews. I guess I was looking for the easy way out. I love the feeling of when I train him to do something and he actually does it! He's a smart dog. And I also made sure that his toys don't look like anything we don't want him chewing. There's this toy that I've been wanting to buy him because I think it's so cute but it's a chicken and my mom has chickens! I don't want him thinking that he can chew them. He's very friendly. He wags his tail off everytime we have company over.

Thanks again guys. I appreciate it.

[Ange]

For the jumping: keep turning around, cross your arms and take a step or 2 forward. He will lose interest. You can also tell him to sit before he starts jumping. You want to try to catch him before the "bad" behavior starts.
And it's good that he learns routine, just keep it up. Make him sit and wait for his food. Great learning opportunity.