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, calculator, etc..., 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! 10.) Pesters me while I'm working, butting his nose with his toys to me to play with him. If I ignore him then he finds trouble somewhere else which I have to go to him anyway. Bottom line, I've somehow let the situation be where he controls US...and not the other way around... Does anyone have wise words 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: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Hello there, many sympathies, you've got a typical young lab on your hands - they can drive you to distraction at times. I don't think this is about him controlling you, you being a leader (or not) or him "blowing you off". It's about him not being a puppy anymore, and so not dependent on you so much. He sounds like a normal, boisterous young lab. They don't grow out of it, although do calm down a bit, so you have to train the young adult, rather than the puppy. You just have to decide on your priorities for training, and crack on. There is so much to do, I know. It can be a little overwhelming. You might want to pick your battles and (eg) put him in his crate while you are out so he can't raid your desk. Are there specific areas that you want to concentrate on? You list quite a lot (that's not unusual, it's a list of quite normal young lab problems, and you'll find much sympathy for them on the forum ). Added: apart from the crate one - maybe you are confusing him with time outs and treats around his crate. It's best not to use a crate for time outs as you want him to associate it only with positive things.
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Goodness me Jazz you are giving your Dogmum a right run around...... Let's see,I'm not the best for advice as Dexter is our first dog so experience is not great and limited to knowledge of one dog.....There is talk of the rebellious teenage stage but when you read about it ,there's an argument that says it doesn't actually exist, its a period that coincides with with the age when you tend to back off a bit on training as you feel you have the basics but your dog is starting to grow up and assert his independence.....good news is,you aren't alone,there are a lot of members that lose the will a bit at this age ;D.. You sound like you are exercising him well and he is getting mental stimulation too...with him knocking and destroying your things when you are out....have you tried leaving him with a frozen kong to keep him busy?Dexter still gets about 20 mins out of one now ,it might distract him as he sounds like he is doing it as soon as you leave.Can you contain him in one area of the house when you leave?Dexter is nearly 2..... It's only recently he has the full run of the house ,we built it up gradually based on his level of self control and the amount of time we would be leaving him alone..... With the grooming,if you've done it everyday you have got a good basis ....I'd persevere but again try and contain him and if you can keep it to exactly the same routine.Dexter gets groomed in the same place at the same time everyday and he knows the drill,he just goes to the right place.....it's worth a try,such a shame to lose it especially if you've managed to start teeth cleaning ;D The stealing things is a pain......we are a 2 adult only house so it was quite easy for us to get through this stage just by dog proofing and keeping things out of reach...I do have a niece and nephew that visit most days and from even when Sophie was 2 we did our very best to keep things out of reach as much as we could ( little monkey had a relapse on Thursday though and whipped a hat off Sophie's head :) if he did get anything we just acted like it wasnt important ( FIL's reading glasses were a bit of a test I must say!) and swapped for a toy,a treat ,made a noise to distract him,then ran away from him.....still persevering with 'drop' and Leave it training and he's pretty good now .....but he was a nightmare for tea towels and toilet rolls ,the ones that were actually on the holders : If he's ignoring you when he's pulling you in new places,I'd think about your treats,raise the bar a bit and have something he really likes,the smellier and tastier the better ( sardines are now our 5* treat.)...I have to say though I've had to work hard to get reasonable loose lead behaviour and it's still a major challenge in new places and walking with other people is a nightmare ...to the point where I think I may have to stop doing it for a while to get a grip on it :-\ see you aren't alone ;D Let's see what other replies you get but I think you've got a normal,boisterous,energetic lovely 10 month old typical Labrador x
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! You have a very healthy normal teenage pup. I don't know if that's Good News or Bad News. I am going through exactly the same thing with 11 month old Molly. It really has been a case of taking her back to square 1 with her training! only now I've got a much larger puppy. I practically bombard her with treats when we are walking in an attempt to get her to STOP PULLING. And walk as nicely as she did several months ago. I have found it necessary to upgrade her treats to gain her attention. (While a small voice in the back of my brain says 'why should I treat the horrible creature') I am told that this is the worst time. And when we come out the other side I will have a nice calm dog. Well I better have
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Kudos to you my fellow teenage choc owner!! Mine is 11 months now. I agree with those that have replied that you need to keep the lil devil out of trouble as much as you can. Crating, kongs, clean counters/desks etc. Keep up the training and if all works out as I have read on this forum you will prevail in the end.
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! 10-month-old jekyll and hyde here... allow me to entertain you thusly: scene: local lovely park, yesterday. my son is playing a friendly game of tennis with his friend, while orion and i observe from the other side of the fence. orion is sitting so lovely - really just beautiful, all handsome and regal and CALM, watching the boys play. i decide to get something from my backpack, which was on the ground beside me to my right. with a pat on orion's head (he is to my left, still sitting so nicely!) and a "good boy! good sit!", i turn to my right and kneel down, with the leash handle loosely looped around my left wrist. unbeknownst to me, a lovely fluffy-tailed lady dog was coming from the other direction, from my blind spot, as i knelt down to balance in a squatting position to get something from my backpack. you can imagine what happened next. i'm not clear on HOW it happened, but i found myself flat on my side, three feet from the backpack, leash still somehow miraculously on my wrist, with a panting and wriggling orion trying to say hello to this tempting lady dog prancing by. my son was doubled over in laughter - MOM. YOU FLEW THROUGH THE AIR. THAT WAS SO FUNNY. uh-huh. uh-huh. the point here? they're all little devils at this age.... and it just takes time, patience, and a little bit of adult drink.
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Yep, meg went through terrible teens as well. Only with me, not hubs. Had to go back to square one and start all over again, but we got there in the end and she's ended up being a very calm, laid back lab. You'll get there in the end, probably most of us lab owners have gone through it.
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! [quote author=Suthuncat link=topic=7692.msg109848#msg109848 date=1410801066] 10-month-old jekyll and hyde here... allow me to entertain you thusly: scene: local lovely park, yesterday. my son is playing a friendly game of tennis with his friend, while orion and i observe from the other side of the fence. orion is sitting so lovely - really just beautiful, all handsome and regal and CALM, watching the boys play. i decide to get something from my backpack, which was on the ground beside me to my right. with a pat on orion's head (he is to my left, still sitting so nicely!) and a "good boy! good sit!", i turn to my right and kneel down, with the leash handle loosely looped around my left wrist. unbeknownst to me, a lovely fluffy-tailed lady dog was coming from the other direction, from my blind spot, as i knelt down to balance in a squatting position to get something from my backpack. you can imagine what happened next. i'm not clear on HOW it happened, but i found myself flat on my side, three feet from the backpack, leash still somehow miraculously on my wrist, with a panting and wriggling orion trying to say hello to this tempting lady dog prancing by. my son was doubled over in laughter - MOM. YOU FLEW THROUGH THE AIR. THAT WAS SO FUNNY. uh-huh. uh-huh. the point here? they're all little devils at this age.... and it just takes time, patience, and a little bit of adult drink. [/quote] Sorry Paula, but that was HILARIOUS! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Oh, Orion ;D Cdavis, you have everyone's sympathy and you are not alone! Just keep up your training, reward the behaviour you want, use immediate time outs for behaviour you don't want, and try to resist the temptation to turn your dog into a fur rug (difficult at times.....my dog is 2.5 and I'm often tempted... ).
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! Oh Onion you are naughty but do make me laugh! You just cant take your eye of them for a second!
Re: My 10-month old chocolate, the Tasmanian Devil! LOL glad I could amuse everyone. After I sorted out which end was up, I had a good chuckle as well!! They're every bit as bedeviling as toddlers, but we do love our fur babies, don't we?
