Hi there! I'm super excited to have found you guys. I'm most certainly a paranoid puppy mom to a 6 month old Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever named Cassie. I suffer from a bit of anxiety and tend to read into things too much. There is so much stressful info out there that contradicts other information and it feels like this gig is impossible sometimes. Licking lips means their stressed, this means their happy, and trying to figure out if my puppy is a problem dog has become more of a problem than she is. I'm just so paranoid and I thought I'd reach out and see if anyone here has experienced one or more of these things so I can feel a little less crazy Any input/thoughts/kind words are GREATLY appreciated. **Biting/Snatching Toys** Cassie was a bitey pup, then all of a sudden, it was like a flip switched and she hardly bites at all! I worked with her A LOT on it, and it's basically gone. Now that she's 6 months old, it's re-surfacing with playtime. She gets excited, starts trying to snatch toys from my hands, but catching my arms instead. She's stellar at dropping it when I have a treat but when I go to pick up dropped toy, I often get a bite on the arm. I think it's just play, but if someone could speak from experience and offer advice, I'd appreciate it Do I keep ending the game when it happens? Do I make her sit before I throw it!? HELP! **Training Vs Play Mode** Cassie is a loving pup to everyone except me at times, it seems. When people come over she runs to greet them and gets pets and love, but often times when I'm with her and I go to pet her, she ducks her head away from me. I've noticed it particularly when I'm training or have treats in my hand. It's almost like she's saying "Whoa, sister. Lovin' isn't going to replace treats, I want treats". When she first wakes up, she runs over to me and lets me pet her to death! Is it just a "work/training mode" sort of thing? **Vocal Pup/Growling Greets** Cassie is a very vocal pup. She's always been good at growling (tail wagging, running around, bowing, playing growling, not aggressive from what I can tell) and barking when she wants attention. If she wants attention, she makes it known. I do my best to ignore and praise and give attention (usually playing with a toy) when she stops the behavior. BUT--one of her favorite things to do is greet new people and house guests (and even family who lives here) when she sees them by picking something up with her mouth (a toy/kong/song/whatever she can find) and running right up to them growling and leaning against their legs, her tail is ALWAYS wagging. Anyone else's dog do this!? Is it aggression? Guarding? Playing? **No Smiling** Cassie always looks contemplative. Labs I've had and met have always been SO expressive and obviously happy, wagging their tails, open mouth smiling in response to everything good in life. Cassie just isn't. I say good girl and give pets and she just sits there content, but not excitedly like other dogs. She doesn't appear to be upset or fearful, just neutral. Anyone have experience with less-expressive dogs? Or maybe I'm just being completely over-reactive!? Probably! I'm crazy!! THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO READ THIS FAR I appreciate it, I appreciate feeling like I'm not alone, I appreciate people who love their dogs as much as me, and I appreciate YOU if you're reading this and wanting to say anything at all to me.
NOT alone by any means. Conflicting advice is just that. There's no 100% way to train a puppy as they all have different personalities. Over time however you will notice similarities in the end goal of any training regiment. (reward based at least) At that point you can even piece together your own system. Yep, it does seem like puppies are binary. On or OFF switch just changes randomly. Completely normal behavior at this point. I was, or am still there too. Everyone thinks at some point that either. -A- They somehow screwed up the training and the puppy is screwed. -B- There's something mentally wrong with your puppy. Neither are remotely true. I promises. This may just be the 'Post Puppy Blues' as well! It will pass. I'm there right now. I posted recently about this. Labrador's are food obsessed. Make no mistake about it. Mine's just as bad at 4 months. I'm sure others will come along shortly to aid you in teaching the puppy to notice you, and not just food. Yep, and ignoring the barking as your doing is exactly right. That includes eye contact. Mine is getting better, but even at 4 months it has yet fully ended. Persistence NOW pays off BIG later. Keep it up! Nothing you have mentioned sounds remotely like aggression in any way. My puppy belongs in a wax museum. You'd never know it was even alive facially half the time. Still very normal. To summarize, I can't give you much in training advice since I'm still in the thick of it. Even I have seen things get better a little bit and you will too! Your not now or ever alone! We have all been through this, and some like me are still going through it. Mankind has had dogs for thousands of years. Your not the first, nor the last to have doubts. And Franky the 'reward' based training is harder then say smacking the pup around as they used to do in the past, but the end result, not to mention the relationship you will have with your pup will be well worth it. Stick around this forum. It's very active, and you won't be ignored. Were all in this together sort of speak otherwise, why the heck are we even here?
I forgot to mention before, but also a puppies excitement level will heavily influence their demeanor. An over-excited puppy or as we say the 'Zoomies', is going to make you hard pressed to train, or get good command responses if any. For all the headaches they cause now, you got to love them!
And breathe x Pups are hard work , fact , but one thing is for sure, they will also pick up on your stress and react accordingly . I know, its tough to remain relaxed with a biting hooligan around , but it does pass , I promise you . We have all been there , having those " what have I done " moments , just take a deep breath , read all the wonderful articles on here , digest and read again . Try ordering The Happy Puppy Handbook , written by Pippa ( editor of this site ) and available on Amazon , it will help loads . Welcome and good luck x
Six months old is the hardest time of all imo. My Mollie - now at Big School and training to become a Guide Dog, was a total, utter nutcase crocodile at that age. I’ve never known such a biter!
I can only agree with boogie (Mollie is a beauty btw). Penny is 6 months and has a never ending supply of energy. Just when I think i am getting somewhere with her she decides that i need more crazy. I am gonna just enjoy this time with her as it doesnt last long (please god lol). Sometimes i feel i am getting nowhere but yesterday i took her for her monthly weigh in at vets and there was 2 other dogs there. Penny said hello got a bit excited and i asked her to sit by me. She came right away and the owner of one of the dogs said "she is lovely, i can see she has been trained well". I tried to look all " yes we have a perfect training regime" but i was actually thinking " is he talking to us Penny, please keep sitting nice ". Haha This is the hoodlum
Hi and welcome. You are definitely not on your own in this confusing world of raising a puppy - and a lab puppy too! Reading through your original post I was saying "yup I remember Bailey doing that". With playing and accidently getting teeth and skin contact - If Bailey does get over excited and accidently puts his teeth on me I say "no teeth" and stop the game - Bailey will then lick me where his teeth made contact and sit down until I pick up his toy again and start playing. I trained Bailey to look at me for a treat - for example when training a sit and wait, when I return to him before I release the sit he has to look at me (in the eye) just for a split second and he gets a treat and the release cue. If in the evening he decides he wants a treat just because he is gorgeous he will stand in front of me making eye contact! At times if he has just had a treat and I got to fuss him particularly on the head, he will "duck" out of the way, but he again tries to make eye contact me with for another treat. Bailey always has something in his mouth - but then when he was tiny and a very bitey little fur ball I did keep putting a toy in his mouth so he left my arms alone. Now he gets up next to me for his morning cuddles and he usually has one of my socks in his mouth, he comes in from a walk and he runs to get one of his stuffed toys to run around with, a visitor comes and yup toy in the mouth before they get "Lab tested" for suitability to enter our house i.e. how much fuss can you give in a split second - so far nobody has failed! He very often will make a half groan/half growl sound at the same time. Bailey is not a "smiler" either - he always looks as if he is thinking deep, life changing thoughts - either that or planning some devious mischief that will get him the best treats in the bag. As my boy is now 21 months (my goodness our 2nd Christmas coming up rapidly) I had initially thought all this training lark would be cracked - nope not by a long shot! I have gradually come to understand this is a lifelong thing I will be doing with my boy - or at least proofing the training eventually Sounds as if you are doing well - we all get anxious about our pups, but that I think is perfectly natural, they are after all totally reliant on us - but with hard work and support from this forum we will all come out the other side
Th Thank you It's SO nice to know others have crazy pups! Her growls sound so scary, but her entire body is wagging and she's shoving toys in mine or anyone's legs or body all the time. I guess she just wants to play SO much Thank you for helping me with all your kind words and reassurance! I just want that snuggly, happy, loving lab everyone talks about, and she seems so different than that. I've read lots of puppies change a lot as they get older, so I'm hoping my work now will make her much more like that later You're the best! Good luck with your pup, too
I I will absolutely look into that! Thanks, I feel like I have so many crazy moments of feeling anxious about things. Thank you!
Oh SO PRETTY! I'm in love. Ahh! So precious. Thank you! I agree, it's just very up and down! How does Penny do with "drop"? Cassie drops it right away if I have a treat, but if I don't, forget it! Just curious to see how another 6 month pup is doing! GO PENNY! Keep up the great work! Here is Cassie through the months
Thank you for your kind words! I will have to look into doing some of these things, I love it! The growling/greeting is definitely amplified when people ignore her. Especially my grandma, she doesn't like dogs so she just ignores her and poor Cassie will scramble looking for anything to bring her and try growling with socks, toys, treats, whatever she can get her little puppy mouth on like bringing her a gift. When people come right in and pay attention to her, she usually doesn't do it! Yes, definitely a learning process, and I know it will continue to be, it just feels like we will never see the end of the crazy/jumping/biting puppyness. Sadly, I just dislocated my kneecap and she's so upset I'm stuck on the couch and she can't be with me every waking moment, but I'm thankful for my mom for making sure she gets lots of lovin', treats, and playtime! Thanks again! Love the name Bailey for your pup, it's adorable.
Sounds as if her growling is like my Bailey's bark when he thinks he is being ignored - pay attention to me and play not the politest way but just so cute at the same time! You will get to the end of the jumping/biting puppy phase, the crazy takes a bit longer as labs seem to think they are puppies for most of their lives! However, to me that little bit of crazy is part of their individual personalities and makes them so so loveable. Cassie will change as she matures - I can see that in Bailey - I'm lucky my boy is a cuddle monster I know some are not, but I think that makes it all the more special when they do snuggle up to you for a snuggle. Thank you, Bailey when small was almost the exact same colour as a glass of Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur (which I do like the occasional glass or two of!) that it was just the first name that popped into my head my OH said that he is sure if we had chosen a black lab its name would have been Vodka & Coke
Lab puppies can be a challenge! You mention that Cassie ducks her head away when you go to pet her. My black lab, Tuppence, does that too. She much prefers to have her back stroked or her tummy rubbed and the only time I can really touch her head, eg to check her ears, is when she's asleep! On the other hand, Wispa isn't head-shy at all. Cassie will settle down eventually, but labs can behave like puppies for years rather than months! I hope your knee is better soon - how frustrating!
My Indie is also not a permanently smiling wagging goofball like I see other dogs are. She wags her tail briefly when something good happens, I speak to her or she wants something but her tail is naturally still and her face is serious. She was absolutely not a cuddler for a long time, didn’t seem to enjoy strokes at all really, just tolerated it and found it boring! But over the last 6 months (she is two and a half now) she has suddenly changed , getting more and more cuddly and now will hurry over to clamber into my lap for cuddles if I sit on the floor and she will go to sleep. I’ve also learnt her favourite bits to be stroked They definitely change as they go along, even as adults!
Penny is good at letting go ( most of the time). I have used this forum many times and its great to know we are all in the same boat. I never in my wildest dreams imagined my small furry baby would have my emotions in turmoil. Its hard to explain to non dog owners how hard the puppy stage can be and as i have said before i thought my dog had issues as she is bitey..chewy..zoomy...100% whirling dervish. Labs are definately in a class of there own and they need a lot of attention but i hope i can have a dog thats loving and behaves well. She is definately affectionate and thinks she is a tea cup pup instead of the size of a small horse lol. She loves to get right up close and i have let her get next to me when sitting on sofa ( now hard to get her off ). I have always agreed that what you put in will be given back tenfold..i also admit that i find it hard to do some of the training thats needed as its constant. So if my pup isnt as perfect as others then i am to blame..but she is perfect for me
