My friends labrador retriever puppy is incapable of shame or guilt

[undeterred]

He's 5 months old and a real handful. But if you yell at him or try to discipline him he is still totally happy and tries to get you to play. He thinks everything is fun, even getting yelled at for running into the street. You can't make this dog feel bad, so its a little hard to train him. He's smart and he wants to please you but he doesn't mind a bit if you're unhappy or upset.

Is he a sociopath?

[philosophie_en_rose]

1. Maybe he has a hearing problem.

:shrug:

[undeterred]

2. I think he has a meaning problem.

He hears that you're yelling at him, but he doesn't interpret it as negative. Hell, its attention, and all attention is good. He thinks he's successfully stimulated people to play rough when they yell at him.

It does make you laugh though.

[Mutley]

3. Yelling is a form of attention for puppies.

Especially puppies who love attention like labs. Ignoring him -- literally turning your back on him when he's bad -- is the best way to make him feel remorse.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. A friend had a lab puppy and the only thing that worked was putting

him by himself with no stimulation when he was bad. He would cry like heck for someone to get him, but it eventually worked.

Lab puppies do tend to make one giggle with their "bad" behaviour.

[philosophie_en_rose]

5. Ah yes. The Penalty Box Method.

Works wonders for hyper dogs.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. It was hysterical when he was "reunited" after time spent away...

he would act like it had been literally days since he had seen anyone. :)

[philosophie_en_rose]

10. You're lucky. I have to stare at them - or they jump out of their "box"

So I basically get a time out too.

They are exceedingly happy to be done with box though.

And they've connected the box with bad behavior.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Blessed are the shameless

for they shall not carry the burden of guilt.

:popcorn:

[undeterred]

7. We compared him to Dick Cheney, but it seemed a little harsh.

And he wasn't insulted at all.

[flvegan]

8. No, he's just very typical.

Sounds about right.

[Ariana Celeste]

11. You know...

that dog on Frasier? His owners thought he was untrainable- and so did the owners after that- and then the owner after them saw where his strength was and figured out how to train him. :7 (I saw somethin' about that on PBS)

Just got to find out how to get through to the little guy. :hi: