I bought my first dog, a Labrador Retriever named Duke, from a breeder in Phoenix, AZ at 6 weeks of age. Before this time I had been around several dogs, including a mixed dog owned by my brother. I had also read some books on dog training. At this point, I felt prepared to be a dog owner and to train my first dog. Boy, was that assumption wrong! Reading dog books and watching other dogs being trained does help to learn about how to train your first dog but it is not enough. The same holds true for a child. While he was in puppyhood, I learned some things which are not covered in many books. One of the things I learned was that you shouldn't pull a toy out of your puppy's or dog's mouth because this causes more dominant and aggressive behavior. Another fact I learned was that you should not get a puppy at 6 weeks of age because the pup hasn't spent enough time with it's litter mates. This causes the pup to become less able to get along with other dogs. It will also cause the puppy to become more attached to humans and a little too much as the older puppy and grown dog will display mounting behavior on you. The best time to take a pup from a litter is 7 or 8 weeks of age. 8 weeks is the very best time to take a pup from it's littermates. I will soon have a page up explaining this more. Another words, Duke did try to mount me and he had become aggressive or very dominating toward other dogs. He had become a very stubborn, exuberant, and dominating dog with a bit of aggression. He was a big Lab with a fairly big head for a Lab. His physical appearance intimidated many people.

Click here to read more about pulling a toy out of your dog's or pup's mouth and what you need to do instead of this action.
 
 

As a 6-month-old Lab puppy I took him to a local dog obedience class which used the methods from the William Koehler book. In the class was a huge male Rottie, a big female Rottie, a small snapping GSD (German Shepherd Dog), a huge male GSD, a tiny Miniature Schnauzer, three Golden Retrievers and one other Lab. There were some other dogs but keep these dogs in mind as I explain my first dog obedience training class experience. Keep in mind that Duke was also mouthing and nipping me while I was trying to train him. The first thing was heel. That was ok. There was a situation with the nipping GSD and owner because they were told to wait on the side. When the heeling was done where my Lab pup was on the side where the snapping GSD was, as we circled, I went by with Duke heeling fairly well, the snapping GSD took a snap at Duke. The guy didn't hold his dog very well. This really scared Duke and he was really caught by surprise by that and so did I because I didn't even see it coming. Duke was foraging ahead some and also not exactly paying close attention to what we where doing. He was watching other dogs. Well, after the nip he was a bit more obedient and paid more attention to what was being trained. Well needless to say, I was new with training and I didn't do some things well either, which messed up my pups performance. Plus, I was very nervous about being there. But, hey, I'm sure this happens to all of the new dog owners. Meanwhile, at home I had problems with him bolting at heel and in other situations. The big Rottie wasn't in the class one day because this dog bolted and just about broke the arm of the owner, a woman. Oh, and it didn't help that the female Rottie was in heat. Her arm was dislocated and badly sprained. So, that dog was never seen again. The snapping GSD was gone, too. The big male GSD had an owner change because the wife could not handle him, so hubby who is a policeman took over the training.

The next thing that happened in the training was the use of the throw chain. That is the most insane thing I had or will use on a dog! The object of this training is to teach the come when the dog is on a leash first, then a long line and then to eventually use it with the dog off the line. The throw chain is a linked chain which is tied up with parachute chord or by some other means to bunch it up. Then you put the chain in your pocket. With the dog on leash or on the long line you start walking with your dog. When your dog stops to smell something or becomes very interested in something else. Then you take the throw chain out and throw it at the dog without the dog knowing it's coming and hit him on the rump while you command, "Come!". I used this for him the first time when he stopped to smell something and it worked fine there. The second time for the same thing, he looked up and caught me reaching into the pocket. It never worked after that for that situation he always caught me getting it. When this happened, I still threw it anyway but it didn't have the same effect. Then he pulled me toward something and trying to hold him and throw a throw chain was a major challenge. I did but my throw sucked and missed. He just saw it as a play thing. And he would also dodge the throw because at the last minute he'd look back and see it coming. He would bolt away from me so fast there was just no time to take a throw chain out of my pocket. I gave up on that method. I learned later that metal has a distinctive smell and they can smell when you have it. They will also hear the chain in your pocket. Different metals and different sized metals have different sounds so your dog can distingush from your keys clanging to the sound of the throw chain. Before I knew it the class was over and I still had some major problems to deal with which I then tried to train out of him on my own.

At this time I used methods from some books and also ones I thought of myself. His bolting became so bad that I had to seek help from a private trainer who I feel had not completely trained my Lab properly. I choose to not explain what methods were used on him or how it was done because the trainer who I speak of has now improved. I felt the trainer had mistrained or maybe overtrained him with a few harsh training methods which really hurt him some. My very tail wagging Labrador was not wagging his tail as much as he used to in the previous months before the training. He just wasn't happy. Anyone who is familiar with Labrador Retrievers, knows that if a Lab is not wagging their tail something is very wrong because these dogs are happy spirited dogs and rarely stop wagging their tail. They even wag while in a sit. He was an extremely better dog after the very expensive training but I felt the need to retrain him myself. After several months went by without working with him using these methods, I began my own version of training. I spoke to some other trainers and watched many train dogs. It was at this time I felt dog training was my career goal and went to the dog training academy course.

Duke was trained to be a Hold & Bark protection dog but he would bite if needed. He was an unusually protective Lab with a great natural guarding instinct or drive. With protection dog training, which he received when I went to the dog training academy course, he became a rare and wonderful protection Lab. He had great instincts about people and even helped me choose a man to date. What a dog! If he became aggressive toward them, I knew that this definitely was not the guy for me. There was one time that he got aggressive toward a guy and guess what, he was not the right guy at all. So ever since that incident, I respected his instincts. At the dog training academy course there was another big male Lab named Jasper with a Sch. III title and he became a police dog which was mainly used for narcotic detection. However, they still need protection training in the event that the human officer is in danger during a drug bust. The Lab I have now is named after this dog.
 
 

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