How to Teach Your Labrador Their Name

Series Summary

Since all dogs are inherently wild animals they all need some sort of training to become accustomed to their surroundings and the rules of your home. The most difficult part of this process is communicating with your dog in a civil, non-violent way that lets them know you are boss and this is the rule. By praising positive behavior and correcting or ignoring negative behavior you are able to show your pet what is acceptable and what is not in a loving way that does not make them fear you. This creates a relationship between you and your dog that is based on love and not temperament.

This video series will show you lots of tips, information and techniques to help you train your Labrador to sit, lie down, come to you and many other things. You will learn how positive reinforcement is more effective than physical punishment and the best way to correct your dog when they are misbehaving as well as how to get them accustomed to the world and the distractions in it.

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Melanie McLeroy with Taurus Training for Expert Village, and today we’re going to talk about training dogs. So let’s talk about how to get a Labrador retriever to pay attention. Labs are wonderful dogs. They’re mostly used for gun dogs and hunting dogs, but they’re very wonderful companions. They were originally brought over to this country to bring in the fishing nets, so Labradors are wonderful retrieving dogs. They’re bred to work with people, which makes them a little bit easier to train than some other dogs, who are bred to have a more independent personality. Now Labs are also very active, so they need a lot of exercise. This is Telula; as you can see she’s very active, come here kiddo, good, good girl. So see I’m using my body to try to get her attention. If you can see Telula has some discoloration around her eyes, that’s due to food allergies, so I’m using pieces of a special dog food to train her. Keep in mind that you want to use the lowest value treat that’s effective. Sometimes having to use the dog’s own food makes it a little more difficult to train, so you have to find other methods of motivation. If you have not already, be sure to check out the pre-training videos before you proceed with any training. Now we’re going to work on what’s called the name game. Telula is very distracted by some puppy dogs over in the play yard there, so I am going to say her name; now she’s paying great attention to me. I’m going to say her name after she’s distracted, and mark the second she makes eye contact. Telula, good. Now it’s a little difficult with a three-syllable name, Telula is a lot to say, so I’m going to shorten it into a nickname, wait till she’s a little distracted. She knows what the treat pouch means, I’m going to hide it, Lula, good. Now she’s making eye contact for a pretty long time, which is very nice, Lula, good. Now that little shake means she’s a little nervous, may be she’s shy on camera, Lula, good, good. Now the reason I hesitated there is that she was cheating, she was looking from where she thought the treat was coming up to my eyes, but she was flicking back and forth. I want sustained eye contact, I want to know that she knows that paying attention to me and asking nicely for the treat is how she gets it, Lula, good, Lula, good, so that’s how to teach a Lab to pay attention. "