Should I get my dog a friend?

BigLicks67

DefaultM said:

He gets half an hour a day, but we've got a big garden now and he bolts around that whenever he wants as well. 
My fiance only works 2 days a week, so he's alone twice a week for about 7 hours at a time. All the rest of the time he's with us.

My 12 year lab gets a lot more exercise than this, you need to be looking at 1 hour in the morning, 30 minutes midday and 1 hour in the evening minimum for a 2 year old Lab. If he's a bit smaller than the average Lab then he's maybe from field stock and this means even more energy levels. So as stated above you need to up the exercise levels, hence the saying : "A good dog is a tired dog".

digitalscream

For exercise, the general rule is 5 minutes per month of age, up to 60 minutes. Obviously there are exceptions - huskies, for example - but for labs it works.

Regards walking - the harness is the best suggestion. Our Akita was very much like that, until we got her on a harness and a 50' lead. Now she's got loads of freedom when we're at the field, there's no pulling, and she's well-behaved when it's short. The long training leads are brilliant for dogs without great recall.

There's a technique you can use with them where you can make a single-point harness behave like a 3-point harness too.

However, nothing will tire him out more than mental exercise. It sounds to me like he's bored; you can do all sorts here, but it'll require you putting a lot more time in.

One easy one to get his brain going is feeding time. Instead of putting his food in a bowl, put it in piles in the garden, under plant pots. Show him one of them, and leave him to figure out the rest.

To be honest, I'd hold off on getting another dog until he's got the hang of how you want him to behave. When you bring another dog into the house, you'll be expecting him to be the role model.

Sporky

Sprocket gets a minimum of an hour and a half of walks a day (usually more), plus some flirt-pole or kicky-ball in the garden and training.

If we're walking her around where we live then she is on a short lead on her collar, and has to walk to heel. If we're in the woods she is on a 15m line with a harness and is allowed to roam, but has to come back when called, and if she pulls she has to come back, sit and wait before we start again, so she's developing good manners. On the green she has a 25m line and is allowed to run pretty much free provided she doesn't hassle anyone.

As I understand it Labs have even more energy than Old English, so half an hour a day probably isn't scratching the surface. A flirt pole is good for condensed exercise and training, though keep a close eye that your dog isn't overheating, especially when it's warm.

DefaultM

Thanks everyone. I'm going to have to get a trainer in I think.
We got him to help with my depression so the idea was obviously loads of walks; which is how it started, but then one day he just decided he didn't want to walk anymore and instead he wanted to pull, scream and choke himself. 

I'm on a 2 month sick note at the minute so the first thing I did was start taking him to the woods for a walk. It went well for a week and I was really surprised, but then he started with the screaming and choking again.

What is the best harness to get? I've just been to the shops and seen a Julius K9 which is £45 so should be good?

Sporky

DefaultM said:

What is the best harness to get? I've just been to the shops and seen a Julius K9 which is £45 so should be good?

One that fits - they're all adjustable but they're all a bit different, and you need to check you can get your dog in and out of it without too much fuss. And the lead should attach on one side or on the chest, not on the back - if it attaches to the back the dog can still use all their strength to pull.

Last we had one of these (but Sprocket outgrew it) - really good, if the dog pulls it gets pulled around to one side.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Company-of-Animals-LW02-Walkezee/dp/B00LJ31BHI/ref=pd_sim_199_7?ie=UTF8&dpID=41Y+74ocoIL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR138,160_&psc=1&refRID=SVVKNC366D10HG21ZDAQ

Now she has one of these which is much easier to put on and take off, but not quite as good at stopping pulling.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/fiE-FIT-INTO-EVERYWAY-Reflective/dp/B016IDJ2PG/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1471267489&sr=1-3&keywords=dog+harness

joneve

Can't suggest much more than what's already been suggested, but we had similar problems with our 9 month old Springer. 

She's a pedigree from a working line, and we had (still have) issues with her pulling on a lead. She's not as bad as she used to be, and she's getting there, but her instinct is to sniff and flush out...But we're getting there! 

The thing that worked for us was taking her to gun dog specific training...we did a 6 week course and she is an absolute little star now...it's not as "happy clappy" as most puppy training that you find that is all rewards and not being allowed to use a negative tone with the dog to teach them wrong - but this is the only thing that worked for her and she has come on leaps and bounds. It does involve using a slip lead - which means when she pulls, it tightens, but it helps them to quickly learn when they're not doing something correctly (and she's no worse off for it despite what some people will say)

She was a nightmare before this - the slightest glimpse of a bird and she'd be off trying to chase it, which isn't great for her safety. She now thinks twice and sometimes doesn't bother and will (more often than not) do a complete U-Turn if we call her mid-chase. 

She'd be the same with seeing other dogs and people - full on OH MY FUCKING GOD I NEED TO SAY HELLO...but now she's much more controlled and will wait or approach without being so in your face, so she's a bit more polite. 

Walking him for half an hour a day is probably the main issue here. As has been said, dogs like Labs need mental stimulation as well as physical exercise - this can come in the form of training him to do stuff and also allowing them to use their instincts...but being able to control.

Our 9 month old gets 30-40 mins in the morning another 30 mins at lunch time from a dog walker friend of ours - both of these are mostly off lead running around, tracking, chasing/fetching balls etc and then we often do her a 30 minute easy lead walk in the evening. 

At the weekend we generally head to a local wooded area and do an hour or so there - when we go here, because she's covering so much ground, sniffing and being constantly stimulated, she is chilled for the rest of the day.

The fact he runs around a lot when he's off the lead is completely natural - ours is the same, but the key is being able to call them back when they get too far away or close to somewhere they shouldn't be. It takes a lot of hard work, but it's totally worth it. 

We know that ours will come back to our whistle if she's off sniffing in the woods and gets too far away. 

As far as the harness suggestion goes, it's a good one - it certainly helps Poppy, and although she still pulls, it's no where near as bad.

Weirdly, she'll walk to heel fine with no lead, and when we're in a field, but she's useless on the road, go figure. 

Also, to answer your original question, I would say no at the minute, until currently muttley is behaved enough that he won't lead the other dog astray (although getting another well behaved dog could have a beneficial effect on your current one)...

we're in the same boat, except we are DEFINITELY getting a second dog...it's just a matter of "when"...It will most likely be when Poppy's a year(ish) old. 

digitalscream

Sporky said:

DefaultM said:

What is the best harness to get? I've just been to the shops and seen a Julius K9 which is £45 so should be good?

One that fits - they're all adjustable but they're all a bit different, and you need to check you can get your dog in and out of it without too much fuss. And the lead should attach on one side or on the chest, not on the back - if it attaches to the back the dog can still use all their strength to pull.

That's the funny thing - with Coco, it's the other way round. She goes absolutely nuts with the ones on the chest, absolutely hates them. Jumping, pulling, chewing the lead etc. Even with properly-fitted front-attached harnesses (fitted by a trainer, not us), she managed to pull her way out of them.

There's a really neat way to keep it short and stop her pulling though. Hold the lead about 2 feet from the attachment point on her back, then loop it around her chest and back to your hand. You can shorten/extend the loop just by pulling the free part through your hand, but it acts like a 3-point harness and she doesn't pull (they don't like the pulling against their chests, apparently).

joneve

digitalscream said:

Sporky said:

DefaultM said:

What is the best harness to get? I've just been to the shops and seen a Julius K9 which is £45 so should be good?

One that fits - they're all adjustable but they're all a bit different, and you need to check you can get your dog in and out of it without too much fuss. And the lead should attach on one side or on the chest, not on the back - if it attaches to the back the dog can still use all their strength to pull.

That's the funny thing - with Coco, it's the other way round. She goes absolutely nuts with the ones on the chest, absolutely hates them. Jumping, pulling, chewing the lead etc. Even with properly-fitted front-attached harnesses (fitted by a trainer, not us), she managed to pull her way out of them.

There's a really neat way to keep it short and stop her pulling though. Hold the lead about 2 feet from the attachment point on her back, then loop it around her chest and back to your hand. You can shorten/extend the loop just by pulling the free part through your hand, but it acts like a 3-point harness and she doesn't pull (they don't like the pulling against their chests, apparently).

This - we got a redic expensive harness with a chest plate on it, which puts poppy off pulling so much.

We find the figure of 8 thing over their muzzle helps sometimes too - you can get ones that allow full movement of their mouth, but obviously applies pressure when they try and pull, so generally they don't.