Help!! I am so angry with Barkley but upset at the same time that I feel that way I'm after some reassurance and advice on how to deal with an adolescence 10 month lab. It seems to be worse in the evenings where he just constantly barks at is while we are watching tv etc. he also has started to growl and bite our arms and feet. The minute we get up and try and lock him out he thinks it's a game and we've tried ignoring him but ignoring a dog that's barking in your face is REALLY hard. I'm not sure what else I can try? Any advice will be extremely appreciated xx thanks
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Oh dear, he sounds a handful! I think first of all check that his exercise and training programme is sufficient - a healthily tired teenager is the thing to have at the end of the day if you can manage it. I think I'd have him on a lead so when you get up to remove him from the room, there is no game about it. And I'd start on "how to stop your labrador pestering you": http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pestering-you/ So if he's allowed in the front room, good manners are the rule. Otherwise, he is in the kitchen.
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Buster is only 7 months but he likes the sound of his own voice, our trainer said to put him on a house line and when ever he barks walk him out of the room, he had a habit of barking at us when we were eating and he still barks if he wants our attention, so we just walk him out of the room, drop the lead and walk back to what we were doing, he soon gets the message that we won't interact with him while he is barking, we do still have the barking occasionally but is no where near as much as he used to.
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Actually it is worse than that. It is adolescence with a soupçon of toddler to enhance.
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived That sounds pretty frustrating - I feel your pain, having been in the same boat Take note of when his annoying behaviour tends to start (eg when you sit down at the telly, or maybe at 7pm) and before then spend 15-20 mins on a training session with him, even just running through things he already knows (sit, drop, stand, fetch, heel, tricks, target, go backwards, spin...). Just do it in your house, even. Then settle down to do what you normally do. If he pesters, lead him away or give him a brief (30 second) time-out in another room. They do need to learn to settle but we also need to make sure they've got enough to do as well
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Oh I feel your pain! Buddy (also 10 months) went through a period of not listening to ANYTHING we said a few weeks back and behaving totally out of character (chasing cows is one of my recent posts!) Increasing his exercise routine has helped, so has everyone in our family using the same commands/ actions (to avoid confusion). He is recently also jumpy/ nippy at times with my youngest son when they play and I'm very firm at putting him straight in his bed if he does this. Do keep us posted on how things are going for you!
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Tatze REALLY tested us at 10 months, especially in the evenings. She would steal cushions (or anything else) and run around with them to get attention. We used to take her a walk round the block, do a bit of training and come back - she'd settle no problem then. Now (17 months) she wants to go in the front room and settle before we do! Be very, very calm and consistent and don't let him get away with anything, it won't be long before you are missing the nutty episodes and hankering after another pup!
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Help! I have a 10 month old chocolate (English) lab puppy (non-neutered) who we adore, named Jazz, but in the past few weeks he's become the Tasmanian Devil! I work at home, so I am able to take him about for walk/dog park free time for about 1-1/2 hours a day, daily 10 minute command/trick training, and most days I take 15 minutes to play/interact with him & goes swimming 1x a week. But in the last few weeks, he's doing a Jeckyll & Hyde: 1.) I leave the apartment and return, and even after only 20 minutes when I return, he swiped off my whole desk, including chewing the A/C remote & my mouse, shredded papers, ate a pack of gum, chewed up pens. This has now happened several times. He doesn't touch my husband's things. 2.) Stealing things and trying to play chase & not dropping it, when he knows this command, aka ignoring me and worse off, blowing me off. I've done the exchange, noise & no at same time, etc... doesn't work he sees it as playtime. 3.) Doesn't want to be groomed anymore... before I did daily including brushing teeth, but now he runs away from the brush and when I try to clean him. 4.) Always has been submissive and brilliant with other dogs/puppies at dog park, but yesterday for first time, went after another male dog while playing with a female puppy -- a little monster came out! No injuries but never saw him be aggressive like this. 5.) When I play with him or try to jog with him, he now jumps up, slams me and nips/bites me and after several scrapes on my skin and 5 ripped shirts. 6.) Constantly humping pillows and thrashing them about even when I say no! 7.) Whenever we are in a new place (we try to take him with us as much as possible), he is pulling so hard, and I can't stop him as he's so strong, and I have done the opposite direction, circling with a treat to distract, etc... 8.) He has a crate he used to love to sleep in, and now he stays away from it and we have to bribe him with food to get in the crate for a 15 minute time out, which then afterwards, works for about 10 minutes, before he's off again. 9.) He doesn't listen to my husband (my husband talks and treats him like a baby... yes all, I know but I can't change my husband's behavior either)...he's too much of a softie with Jazz. So I am the supposed leader as Jazz listens to me most of the time, but lately...not! Can someone advise if this is typical lab rebellious teenage behavior and he'll grow out of it, or do I have a major problem child (baby in an elephant's body) and I need to get him to behaviorist? (We have a dog trainer now but I don't feel it's been effective). Help! Thank you so much!!!!
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Isn't it sad for a young dog to apparently go deaf and lose it's memory. (Doesn't listen to a word you say and has apparently forgotten all it's training) I too am suffering with a teenage dog. The same dog that a couple of months ago I was proud to walk down the road with, now fills me with embarrassment. I am told this is the worst time, but that it will pass and then she will be the nice serene dog that I thought I was getting. I am told that 'she is testing me', but surely not to destruction. If this is normal, how come Labradors are so popular? They must be the biggest Con Artists in town.
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived Oh dear, I do sense your frustration and worry in these posts. I do understand, when we got out rescue Lab at a year old he was much like what you are describing. Now, at two, he is very chill for the most part. So, there is hope, don't despair. All the suggestions you have been given are good ones re: the training and the exercise. I found that a clicker was invaluable to help me deal with the negative behaviour I had inherited from the previous owner, who didn't really have much of a clue what to do. If you are not using a clicker I would recommend it, there are lots of articles on the main site about clicker training and how to get started, and I have also found the Kikopup videos on YouTube very helpful. So, for example, for the jumping up, nipping, etc I first of all deliberately tried to elicit the behaviour. For me running around the yard worked. Simba would soon get excited and would start to jump up and nip. I would turn around, ignore him, and move away. If he came up to me and did NOT nip or jump up, I would click and treat. Honestly, this worked VERY well. I would immediately click and treat any time he would approach me with no annoying behaviour, and it did not take long before he was just running along beside me, looking up hopefully. : I would then up the ante, doing jumping jacks, acting silly, yelling in excitement, etc, and again click and treat for any instance where he would approach me with no jumping or nipping. Pretty soon he would just look at me like i was nuts. I found that eliminating this behaviour with me did NOT necessarily equate to eliminating it with every one, but i tried to get my daughter to do it with Simba as well (she was 17 at the time). It didnt not take him long to get it. It gradually extinguished over the next month or so, and now the nipping has stopped. He will still jump up on visitors, that is a work in progress. :-\ All this to say that you can overcome these issues, sometimes its just a matter of teaching them how you want them to behave rather than their default behaviour. With regards to the stealing things and running around, well, i have SO been there, too. For us it was a matter of upping the treat we were giving in exchange for the forbidden item, and a vow to NEVER chase him around, which is what he really wanted. Good luck, hang in there, and keep us posted.
Re: Help!!! I fear adolescence has arrived [quote author=Bennets4 link=topic=7471.msg104166#msg104166 date=1408815149] Help!! I am so angry with Barkley but upset at the same time that I feel that way I'm after some reassurance and advice on how to deal with an adolescence 10 month lab. It seems to be worse in the evenings where he just constantly barks at is while we are watching tv etc. he also has started to growl and bite our arms and feet. The minute we get up and try and lock him out he thinks it's a game and we've tried ignoring him but ignoring a dog that's barking in your face is REALLY hard. I'm not sure what else I can try? Any advice will be extremely appreciated xx thanks [/quote] orion would do this, too... so we decided to introduce the words "speak" and "quiet" to his vocabulary. this is how we did it (approximately) with click-treat as well... wait till he is barking... then in an excited voice, say, "speak! speak!" as long as he is barking.....wait for him to take a breath, and as SOON as he is quiet, say, "quiet!" with click/treat. if he begins barking again, repeat... speak! speak! (in a bright, happy voice) and as soon as he pauses for breath, "quiet!" with a click/treat.... he picked it up REMARKABLY fast, and now when he's in a frenzy of barking (either at one of us or at something invisible out the window), i can say (very fimly) "orion - quiet!" and he will settle pretty quickly. hope this helps.
