CONKER – LABRADOR
PROBLEM – BOISTEROUSNESS IN THE HOME. POOR RECALL OUTSIDE.
Tim sought my help with
his three year old Labrador Conker’s hyper-active behaviour.
As a single parent
with young children, he was concerned about his hyper-activity around the house
and poor standard of general obedience outside.
On assessing Conker, I
felt that he was a fairly balanced dog who lacked stimulation through exercise.
Whilst his owner had a large paddock to exercise Conker in, he was often in the
habit of just letting Conker out there on his own with no human interaction.
Tim was a busy professional who worked mainly from home, but Conker spent much
of the day without much stimulation.
Tim was given an action plan to show him how to
interrupt unruly behaviour and also to give Conker a more interesting and
varied life.
This will minimise his boredom and frustration, which would reduce
unruly behaviour anyway.
Whilst I was quite envious of Tim and his 2 acre
paddock, I felt that Tim needed to get out there with him more so that they
could have a better bond and more stimulating exercise.
Conker also needed more
canine socialization as Tim was extremely relucant to let him off the lead
whenever they went out in public areas.
Early results have been encouraging, Conker is now
much calmer in the home and his recall and socialization with other dogs is
improving all the time.
"
After your first visit, there was an immediate change
in Conker’s behaviour at home.
He is much calmer around the children and
visitors, so I no longer put him away all the time.
I have started socialising
him in the local town and his heelwork is gradually improving.
Today’s lesson
on recall work was encouraging and I am feeling confident he will continue to
improve." Tim.