Hi everyone.. I’m new to this site and in fact to having a Labrador. I have a choc lab called Ollie. She’s 5 months old now. I love her but I don’t love some of her behavior which seems to be getting worse. I love that this morning when I was crying she climbed ever so gently into my lap (even tho she’s normally not allowed) and out her head on my chest and licked my tears. I didn’t live that today at the beach when she was off lead for a bit of free time she ran up to a woman who was sitting (and calling her to her) and jumped on her and grabbed her really hard on the arm and drew blood. Her version of play unfortunately. This is how she’s behaving with people and other dogs. Just launches at them so of course no one wants a bar of her and rightly so. She just wants to play but has no idea how to approach and ask. I’m doing all the usual of treat rewarding ‘good’ calm behavior, distracting her from the triggers.. eg other people and esp other dogs and it works for a moment then it’s back on. I’m feeling very sad and disheartened about it at the moment cos it’s ruining both our time out socially and it feels like especially mine! She’s having quite a good time I think. I really want to teach her properly so need some hope from you guys how to go about that and also some hope that ‘it’s just a phase’ Thanks everyone. All the best Chrissie (and Ollie)
Hi @ChrisandOllie You have a very young dog, in fact she is still a puppy. I think you need to understand that training will take many, many sessions and many, Many full moons. I would not expect a 5 month old Lab to be well behaved all the time, or even most of the time. Labs generally take quite some time to mature. Consequently, free time means being on a long line. You don't have a reliable recall. And until that happens the dog should not be off lead. You need to prevent your dog from harassing, and grabbing other individuals, even if the dog thinks it is play.. I urge you to join a well structured obedience class, where the clear preoccupation is on positive reinforcement. From your account she is very empathetic. Great. Get in a class in which you can learn how to teach her other necessary social skills.
Hello Michael Thankyou for your recommendations and thoughts. I’ve organized some one on one training for her and we are going to go to an adolescents obedience class as well. Thankyou too for the reminder that she’s still just a pup.
