New Chocolate Lab

Question
Hi,

My family recently acquired a new dog. He is a chocolate lab and he is about 15 months old. We took him from my sisters boyfriend and he was underweight, covered in fleas, and had earmites. All of those issues have been addressed with our vet, but he was also not trained prior to us receiving him. Normally this would not be a problem, but he does not seem to listen and he is quite large at about 100 pounds. Right now our two biggest concerns are him jumping on people and the not listening. We have had him for about a month and nothing seems to have any effect on him...he just looks at us and either wags his tail or jumps up. The only command he kind of knows is sit and he does that selectively. I was hoping for some insight into whether this is because he is relatively starved for attention and that he will calm down, but for the time being something needs to be done to help him and the rest of the family co-exist. I was hoping that you would be able to help me with some training techniques and give me some advice on how to work with him.  

Answer
The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat.

Neuter him if not already.  

Strongly consider a class.  A good book, Beginning Family Dog Training, by Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. or The Art of Raising a Puppy, ISBN 0-316-57839-8 by the Monks of New Skete may be enough.  

Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems. Quickly correcting him each and every time he jumps on somebody is very important. He must never get the affection he wants. A number of things have been used including some negative things inthe past.  As part of the the trend away from negative methods, just step backwards leaving his front feet to fall to the floor. After a few tries, the dog may just stand there looking confused.