Saba is now 10 months old, and I thought he was becoming a thoroughly decent dog, but recently, he's been displaying some very unattractive behaviours. There's a lot of chewing going on, nothing of any value or importance, yet... and coupled with this, he's also quite 'mouthy' and nippy with those huge adult teeth. He's also destroyed three lots of bedding. Today, I took him to the Vets as he's been off his kibble, and was mortified to see his first real display of aggression, directed at the Vet, who was doing nothing more invasive than scanning him for his chip! It was horrible, and although she was very calm and non-reactive, he reduced me to tears! This particular Vet is a seasoned Lab owner, which gives me hope that he was reacting to his surroundings rather than turning into a man-eater! His behaviour indoors has also deteriorated, with him being unsettled, and answering back, for lack of a better way of describing what's going on. His training session this afternoon was a good one, but once back inside, he's a complete hooligan. Please tell me this is yet another phase, or do I have something to worry about? Thanks everyone x
I went through this with Ripple, he went straight from puppy biting to teenage biting with his big teeth. I did get a behaviourist in and we opted for a zero tolerance policy, one bite and he was put in his crate for 5 minutes then let out again. We didn't have any aggression with the vet it was all directed at us, although he did try and bite someone who grabbed hold of his collar when he jumped up at them. I spent a lot of time in tears over this behaviour, he was absolutely horrible at times. Ripple is now nearly 14 months and the biting has stopped, he does have an occasional lapse when he goes to put his teeth on me but he always stops himself. We do still have the answering back (barking in my face) on occasions, particularly when I'm trying to stop him doing something naughty indoors. I found the best thing to do is not shout at him but always remain calm and talk quietly but firmly - unfortunately I am not a quiet calm person so this is a struggle for me. I think training helps build a good relationship and gives these teenagers a focus for their behaviour. I'm currently working my way through 'Learning games for dogs'. With Ripple there has been no miracle turnaround but we are gradually getting some success with his behaviour, I'm sure that you will find the same with Saba but I do empathise as I know how hard it can be at times.
I have the same feeling... Dana is entering into adolescence, she is becoming a "part-time" hooligan, but, when she is on "safe mode", she is absolutely fantastic... I think its related to hormones, and want to believe it will pass in some months. Now I am working on relaxing her, when she is indoors, I start from sit and down, and from there, reinforce when she put the head on the floor, when breaht smoothly, raising the criteria on a time basis, asking for "a little" more time of "calm mode" before she gets a treat... and so on... No play indoors, no balls indoors, I just want to condition "indoors = calm-time", "outdoors = play-time" The cons of this approach is that she needs high atention from me, and it is sometimes not compatible with "normal human indoor's life"..., anyway, I think this is the path. Other times, I put her on the leash indoors, just to prevent "hooligan's behaviours". Take it easy... It will improve (Want to believe)... Best regards. Pedrolo.
The Vet was just scanning around his neck and shoulders for his chip, when suddenly his hackles went up, ears back, deep snarling growl, followed by barking. She backed off quickly and calmly, Saba carried on with a couple more barks, and then jumped up, from feet on the counter to face her, still barking. The Vet got down low and offered him a treat, but he was having none of it. I've never seen him react like that before, and it really shook me. There was no biting or bloodshed thank goodness, but I was shocked by his reaction, and a bit scared too. I feel he's really testing me at the moment, and it's really hard trying to stay positive.
This must be worrying, of course. But he isn't 'testing' you - although I understand why you might think that. Dogs just don't think that way though. It is much more likely that Saba was scared and worried in the vet's. He might have been building some fear, either associated with the vet or a strange person, and this is the result of that. I'd review his routine - is he still getting out to new places, meeting plenty of new people and dogs and so on? It's easy to do the puppy stage of socialisation, and then ease off, but socialisation is an ongoing process especially through the teenage months. You could also try calling into the vet's when you don't need to, just to sit for a bit and feed Saba treats. Also look at his exercise and training. Have you got a good class and lots of activities to direct that teenage mind onto productive things to do etc.
I am a calm and quiet person, so perhaps he thinks he can push me around! He works well in the garden, and I take him to a local park where there's a quiet(ish) area for recall work on a long lead. Today, after a very successful session, we moved off to play fetch with his ball, which started well, until he saw, a split second before me, a lady with three dogs all on leads. Well, he was off like a rocket, totally deaf and ignoring his recall. Back to square one...
That's concerning. He has to be examined/handled by the Vet and Vet staff. Other people will want to pet him and try as you might some are going to do it without asking you first. Not having seen the interaction first hand I have to wonder if you should call someone in, a behaviourist, to observe and set up some similar handling scenarios to work on. Are you taking the citizen classes with him, any kind of training? I forget what yours are called but meeting a friendly stranger is one of them and we had to practice for the stations. Hackles up don't always mean aggression, they can go up with excitement and apprehension, but your experience coupled with snarling, barking and advancing on the Vet suggests to me aggression is a possibility, or fear could be it too. Or pain in that spot? Microchip sites have been known to get infected but I really think that's a long shot. Good luck.
And, I think a calm, quiet owner is best. You reacting as well might only serve to confirm to a dog that there is something to worry about.
We go to the Vets every month for puppy checks, where he's weighed and measured. He's never been any trouble on these visits, and stands beautifully to be measured. Saba has always been a friendly puppy, and certainly at home, is learning to be polite when meeting people at the door. He's still a bit excitable when we're out. Thinking about what happened, he was backed into a corner, so perhaps he felt threatened. We're back at the Vets for his weigh-in next week, and in the meantime, I'll keep a close eye on him, and have a chat with our trainer. Thank you so much for your helpful comments x
Yes, we're still out and about most days, meeting new people, dogs and other distractions. His exercise slipped a little recently as I've been unwell, but we still play and work in the garden even if I can't walk so far. Generally, he's a lovely boy if a tad on the exuberant side, and the incident on Monday was totally out of character. I'm going to have a chat with our trainer and see what he thinks. Thank-you!
Most vets are very amenable to random visits just to help dogs stay accustomed to the surgery environment. It's worth popping in when nothing actually needs doing and just calmly watching the world go by. If a vet or vet nurse has a moment they'll sometimes come out and greet your dog too. Best of luck
Overall, I agree it sounds like you've got some behaviors to work out, there are lots of great resources online for training, or enlisting a pro for 1 on 1 help can be a great experience too. Side Note: I'm no pro, and my dogs are far from perfect, so take with as many grains of salt as you'd like but... My family has always been strong believers in crate training, when done correctly it taps into that "den" instinct to have a confined personal space and the dogs will eagerly run to their crates when give the "Kennel up" command. I was always taught to never use the crate as a punishment or do anything else to create negative associations with the crate. You don't want them to think that they're being punished every time you leave the house, or be stressed out about it every time they're put in the crate.
I understand this and tried other isolation methods such as shutting him in the kitchen but he was generally so over the top that he would just become destructive in that room. What I am trying to do is give him space to calm down and the crate seems to work for that. We do actually use two different set ups for him in the crate - one when he has been put in there for 'time out' and another for his normal sleep, rest time. Interestingly enough Ripple does seem to recognise the difference between the two. And there are getting less and less times when he does need a 'time out'.
I find time outs useless for training a puppy. Either you pick them up gently and carry them to a place (like their crate) in which they feel safe and secure and leave them there for a bit, so that does nothing, or you drag a puppy (perhaps saying No! to a downstairs loo etc and then struggle to shut a squirming, over excited puppy in an enclosed space. Either way, I find it hard to believe that they associate any isolation with whatever it was they were doing before it took you a minute or more to get them to time out (and the notion of punishing a puppy in the manner you move it, unpleasant). Stepping out of the room or pen yourself seems to have much better timing. What puppy time outs (by that I mean a short time in a crate) are invaluable for is to give the tired human a rest and chance to have a cuppa, calm down, and get a band aid for the bleeding fingers! I see no harm in popping a puppy in its crate in these circumstances!
I only really started using the 'time outs' as Ripple became a teenager and we had enormous trouble with biting, and this tired human certainly needed a rest from 27kg of Labrador going over the top. . I never used time outs with my other two labs as either puppies or teenagers. I do wonder whether Ripple (and me) might have benefitted if I had done this when he was smaller.
A bit of time in a crate stops a behaviour from persisting, and a human a break from managing, and to that extent they are probably useful. I don't think they actually are great for training a dog not to do something specific. I have a 'three strikes and you are out' rule with my puppy but the 'out' is just a cheery 'pen time now' and she is carried through to her pen and given a kong - so it's not a punishment for her. If she comes into the TV room in the evenings she is given 3 chances to settle down and if she doesn't she goes back in her pen. I suppose it might work in terms of she is only in the TV room when she is relaxed, so hopefully she will associate the TV room with being relaxed. I doubt very much whether it does anything to deter her from biting/butt tucking/attacking cushions directly though.
I've always wondered about the 'three strikes', that must be for human benefit as surely a puppy (or adult dog) can't understand the principal of three.. We did initially try that for Ripple but his behaviour escalated so quickly that the three strikes were often almost simultaneous, I found zero tolerance much easier to enforce and we've had much greater success with it as well.
