Help With Dog Training

[Night61]

this seemed to be the best spot to turn to, as you know me and stormy have been working hard to turn her from a good dog, to a great dog.
one of the things stopping her from becoming a great dog, is her habit of chasing my cats. she will perk up when they come in the room, then chase them out. there are points in time when she is really tired that she will leave them be, let them hop in our laps, or if she is unconscious at the moment the kitties go up to her and smell her.
i know many of you are cat and dog owners, so i was wondering if you could pass on any tricks that might help me turn my stubborn Labrador into a good sister to the cats.

 

[ian]

normally cats will sort out the pecking order, however sometimes it can get to much. If its up to you to sort the ranking in the pack you need to establish who sits higher than who in the pack. There are varying ways in which it can be achieved. Theres positive methods and neg methods. If it was me i'd probably use both methods, try getting the labs attention when entering the room (making sure you walk through the doorway first). Use a bit of cheese to keep his eyes on you. I would also keep him on a lead. If he deciedes to then leave the cheese, and do the chasing then correction, there will be signs before he shoots after the cats, watch out for these signs ie ear lifting, tail liftingIf you can correct at this point. Now, if there is none of this and he carry's on with the cheese, sit down and wait until he's either sat or laying (ensure he's not to excited ie wagging tail. Then give the cheese, repetition, repitition, repitition.

and remember keep calm!

hope this helps.

 

[Night61]

that's a good start, i treat her when she ignores the cats, espeically when they are trying to get her into trouble like they were this morning. the boy kitties where chasing each other around the room the black can got up and sniffed her tail and gave her one of those "you need to clean yourself more" look. the pup just looked at me looked at the cat then looked back at me and sighed and put her head down. i gave her a little bit of my lunch for that.

 

[Shelby]

Ianho is 100% correct. The key is to be consitent and constant. Labs are working dogs. By training her to focus on you and not the cats you are essentially giving her a "job" to do.

 

[Night61]

thank you guys, our dog trainer which we have already paid 100 dollars for class for wants us to pay another 50 for independent class, we simply cannot afford to pay him any more money then the 100 we already gave him.
so the hints you give us would me most appreciated.

 

[Shelby]

Holy moly! We teach obedience through the park district locally and they charge 90$ US for 8 weeks! We get a percentage. Not through the park district we charge depending on what we are dealing with.

Well good luck with it.

 

[Night61]

too bad your not closer it was a 100 for 7 weeks, and an additional 50 for private classes.
she isn't bad all the time. just when she is hyper and they are in the room. its a good thing that they are quick and know she is terrified of the basement.