We had our yellow Labrador Toby for 9 years. He got so sick this year, that we had no other choice than to put him down. He was not only part of our family, but also my daughter's best friend, and emotional support. She was completly devastated at the loss of him, and we decided shortly thereafter that we were going to get another puppy. Not to replace Toby, but to fill this void that was left in our hearts and in our family. My daughter has special needs, and I really would like to go threw all the training needed to get our now 20 week old puppy Dakota certified at some point. She has already been threw a 6 week AKC puppy class, and is starting a canine calm behaviour class next week. Dakota is super intelligent, and is picking up pretty fast on her training, and I believe we already established a really close bond with her. She is however very energetic, and can be pretty stubborn at times. Now to my "problem", if that's what it is. She loves to cuddle, is super friendly, but it has to be on her terms. For example, if she is sleeping, she doesn't seem to like to be petted much, and will just get up and lay down somewhere else. Just wants to be on her own. She did this right from the start when we first got her at 8 weeks. This is a behaviour that I have just never seen before. Toby was always in dog heaven if he got showered with hugs and kisses, and was petted no matter what he was doing. Dakota is our first girl dog, and I have been told before that male dogs are just more affectionate. Is that true? I was also told that chocolate Labs are harder to train, and practicly crazy.. that I believe is truly nonsense. Our dog trainer seems to think she is just a pretty independent, alpha female. Not that it makes a difference now. She is here to stay, and we will love her no matter what. Just wanted to ask, for the more experienced owners on here if you believe that any dog can be trained to be a service dog, or not. Are male dogs really more affectionate in general? (Lastly, English is not my first language, so please forgive me if something is spelled wrong) THANKS GUYS!
Hi @Sabine74 dogs are individuals. Some like cuddles. Others like to have contact on their terms. I don't think it has anything to do with gender.i had a choc Lab and she was the most affectionate dog I have ever had. I currently have a nine year old female Lab. She is not very affectionate. She is still a bit cheeky. Likes to steal socks from the laundry. If I don't notice she comes looking for me, with the sock hanging from her mouth. I realise it's a game. She was recently trained only this year to do a laser pointer retrieve of household objects, egg whisk, soup ladle, etc. I avoided socks! I think Labs are excellent candidates for assistant dog training. In general, they are food oriented, which makes it easy to train the dog. I wouldn't take too much notice of talk with respect to alpha females. Your dog is an adolescent rather than an adult dog. And talk of alpha dogs slides too easily into wrong headed thinking in terms of dominance. Last but not least, your English is very good.
Thank you so much for your reply Michael. I do believe that she has come a long way already since she has been with us, and has really calmed down a hold lot, especially in these past couple of weeks. I just got a little worried, being told in the beginning that she showed signs of being a dominant, independent, stubborn female. To make sure she gets the right training, not that she could potentially get aggressive later on etc.. and that we would have been better of with a male. Not the things you want to hear about your new Puppy. I do believe now that she was just a rambunctious puppy though. In the beginning she did try to dominate our 6 year old Shih Tzu. She would constantly get on top of him, bodycheck him, just bump into him on purpose, pull on his tail..etc. Now she seems to have learned that he will only play with her if she gets down to his level, and will even roll on her back so he will play with her. She is also great with other dogs, and super friendly towards people. Our dog trainer just told me a couple days ago that she isn't near as dominant as she originally thought, and is doing great at training. She still has a lot to learn, as all puppies do. Time will tell. I'm in good spirits that she will turn out just fine. (Thank you, I try)
Sabine, I would really question the source of all this (trainer) and encourage you not to see them as an authority on anything to do with dogs. Dogs are not ‘dominant’ or ‘alpha’ or ‘stubborn’ - that is very outdated thinking. Any trainer who is using this terminology with you, is encouraging you to view your relationship with your dog in a very unhelpful light. You might want to find a trainer who understands learning theory and modern dog training All dogs are different but when a dog doesn’t want to be petted, it’s important that everyone in the household can respect that and give them space. Not respecting that, statistically leads to dog bites....
We have had three Chocolate Females, and still have two. Tilly the middle dog is friendly, but not cuddly, and does not particularly like having her ears scratched. Cooper the youngest is the most cuddly dog I've ever had, though also the fastest and most athletic. If I wake up Tilly and pet her, she will probably move, where as Cooper will probably stay and ask for more. All of them were driven ball retrievers, and had serious field pedigrees but Tilly has no interest in birds and not much in small animals. As Michael and Jo said all dogs are individuals, and even within the Lab world they have different personalities. FWIW, any of our dogs could probably have been trained as therapy or assistance dogs. All of them were/are great with small children and frail adults.
Thank you Jo for your input. That's why I said that I believe she was just being a rambunctious puppy, and not trying to be dominant or stubborn. We do give her space. She will come snuggle when she is up for it and loves to give kisses. She doesn't get upset or has ever growled when petted while she is resting.. sometimes she just moves and goes to a place more quiet. Other times she wants to be as close as possible. That's totally ok. The trainer we have know is very encouraging and really great.
Thank you for your reply Ski You are right. I was probably just comparing her to much to the Labs we had in the past, not looking at individuallity, and with the negative feedback at first got a little to worried.
Personally, I don't know how much I would put into the difference in how males and females act. I feel like every individual dog is different and it really just depends. I don't personally think one gender is more prone to cuddle, even though I have read that males are. I call bull on it. When my girlfriend and I first got our puppy, he would follow her around everywhere. Me, not so much. I think this was because she was typically feeding him and nurturing him more than I was. Then I started nurturing him more and now he follows me everywhere and always wants to be around me as well. As far as cuddling goes, dogs need their alone time. Even labs need some alone time, in my opinion. During his first few weeks with us, our Buddy would lay under the kitchen table by himself while we were in the living room. As he's gotten older, he now likes to cuddle with us or sleep on our feet. But sometimes he still does like sleeping alone. I think things just take time. The more you have fun with and nurture your dog, the more he's going to want to spend time with you, regardless of the gender. Our dog has opened up to cuddling a lot more over time too. Maybe yours will. Maybe not if she is just not a cuddler. But it just really depends on the individual dog.
