@selina27 I sympathise with you, I'm having a heck of a time with my lab lately, it's really doing me in
Thank you all, it's been zero-tolerance today with the arm nipping, straight into crate. Thing I know it's what they do to each other but I can't have her hurting me. The mega zoomies seem to happen at the end of a walk when I guess she's happy, I felt so mean this afternoon when I turned my back she sat down and whined at me a little bit. It has occurred to me she may well be hungry as I have reduced her food aswell. @bbrown, no I am not in A&E, but thank you, it made me feel better.
Take a deep breath. This, too, will pass Keep on doing what you're doing. Going back to basics is fine, normal, and to be expected from time to time. Yes, this, too, will pass. Until then, you have wine.
Finn has great bite inhibition but lately after his neuter (he is 8 months) he seems to be going absolutely nuts and has forgotten everything. I am assuming it's adolescence? My greatest frustration with him is that if he doesn't get what he wants he acts out. It's how he deals with frustration. He will go crazy biting things he shouldn't, steal items, and mouth my arm as if he's "correcting" me. He doesn't do it very hard at all, but I don't want him putting teeth on ANYONE. He did it last night so I took him by the collar and straight into the crate. His forced rest after his neuter seemed to make him all sorts of nuts again after he seemed to be doing so well. now with his limp he needs more forced rest and it's just becoming too much.
Take a breath, go back to basics. It's just adolescence, and it can be miserable, but it will pass. Until then, you have to get through all the buzzing in his head, and the best way to do that is by training, going right back to the beginning on most things. Try to forget "he already knows this", because he doesn't. Suddenly, his whole world has become so much more exciting. Imagine that you've spent eight months living in black and white, with a heavy cold so you can't smell or taste anything. Suddenly, the cold clears and the world turns to vibrant Technicolor. Everything is suddenly amazing. That rose that was just a grey and boring blob yesterday is now a beautiful distraction that you have to stop and smell. It's like that with dogs at this age. No wonder they can get a bit overwhelmed. Of course it's highly frustrating for us as owners, but deep breaths and pretending your big dog is actually a tiny new puppy helps
Cassie sounds like Vanilla just that Vanilla was a couple of months older. She went through her season (9months old) at early December into late January, longer than normal according to the vet. After that she was depressed/down, partly because she had an ear infection and we had both gone back to work end January/early February (wife is in education so summer holidays here and I do contract work) Once all that cleared she became this insane child, who did not want to listen and did the zommies for a good 5-10min after each walk, morning and night. Out on the walks she was a nightmare, different story. I looked at our garden one weekend and thought something was strange. Yep she had the zommies day before and dug out about 20plants/small trees. She mouthes like crazy when she wants to play or even cuddle. Worse when I come home. She will stand tall as tall against the baby gate. Once she has settled ie: paws on the floor, I will enter. She will give me about 5sec before she starts jumping, mouthing my hand, licking my face and just thumping on tge floor. I am sure one day she is going to break a leg. All this lasts gor about 5ish min, then she will be ready for a play once I get changed out of my work clothes. I ended up ordering about half a dozen books and dummies. Started reading these and working through them. Fast forward too now a few months later. Still does the zommies, but does not pick up plants or any hoomans. Still does the mad hello, but I will admit I love it so kind of don't want that to stop. Her mouthing is still happening, but does not hurt just very slobbery. She also now will pick up a toy quickly and is ready for a play. And just recently she has started to bark if I am not ready to play when she is. Just the one bark while holding the toy in her mouth. Out on a walk she now behavious 80-90% of the time (see my other thread about presents and sticks). Getting a lot better and the engagement is becoming stronger each day. Most probably not very helpful, but it does get better I promise. We have a lot of other issues that are for another thread.
It's so true.....it's funny watching Finn slowly become aware of things. The best example is the car - he never thought to look out the windows and everything passing by didn't really mean anything to him. Now he's realized there are so many sights and smells to look at outside when we go on car rides. It's super cute.
Thanks @Sven, everything is helpful and I am grateful for all the replies. I'm absolutely certain that this behaviour has been due to the hormone imbalance brought about by her phantom pregnancy not just youthful boundary pushing, although that happens for sure. I'm a great believer in homeopathy, and I'm not sure if I can mention it on the Forum,(Moderators can you let me know) but I have treated her with such and seen a marked improvement.
See the relevant rule (pasted below). It can absolutely be discussed, and you can say anecdotally that it appeared to work for your dog. More encompassing claims of its efficacy would have to be backed up. 3. Advice to others Advice to others should be relevant and appropriate. This is especially important when it comes to health, safety, and welfare. a) health advice This forum supports and promotes evidence-based medicine. This does not mean we cannot discuss alternative therapies, we can. But claims for their efficacy need to be supported. Ideally with links to the relevant research In the same way, members disputing the efficacy of mainstream veterinary treatments need to support their claims in a reasonable manner. Please note that in the UK, where this forum is based, it is illegal for anyone other than a veterinary surgeon to diagnose or prescribe treatment for, another person's pet.
I do find this interesting. Having 2 boys and one bitch. Bramble is young, her first season was long and protracted, end Dec through to end of January this year, followed a couple of months later by a phantom pregnancy. Now I don't know if these are just her natural characteristics, but she can be so complex mood wise. There are times when I have taken her out training, and brought her straight back in, otherwise I can get frustrated with her, so we just play a game with lots of praise and wait for another day. The boys are far more predictable emotionally, and their motivations are the same whatever. More recently though, she seems more balanced, she has though just reached 18months. Her prey drive though, boy oh, boy...that's for another thread methinks...
Yes it is all very interesting, and homeopathy is fascinating, to me. Of course, any one who has had horses will be familiar with the term "marish", mares being changeable and moody and geldings not so. That's the thing, in the last weeks I've been thinking" but Cassie isn't really like this". Yes she can be excitable and over friendly, but not these vast variations from minute to minute. Her reactions to any event - happiness, fright, annoyance were extreme and centred on grabbing my arm hard and/or crashing in to me at full tilt, and while I thought she was looking for something extra to do I wonder now if she's been looking for these imaginary puppies. She was clearly unhappy. Every time I walked past her or she saw my hand she would snap at it. None of this has happened for three days now, and we a just back from a gentle evening potter by the lake, during which she really wanted to connect with me. That's been absent. I will put a post on the Health Board regarding homeopathy and my treatment of her. Umm, @Beanwood , forgive my ignorance, but what is prey drive?
Well in the context of Bramble it may not be quite the right description, but the term I use to describe her behaviour, which as she is maturing is becoming more intense. It is something I have not encountered with either Casper or Benson, whilst they both do have a retrieving drive. Bramble has more of a desire to chase and hunt, she loves diving into the undergrowth after rabbits, and can be driven to distraction over a squirrel. She has caught a few of our chickens, so they can't wander safely now in our garden. Bramble trembles and shakes with excitement if she sees a pheasant, which means she becomes very distracted and a bit of challenge to get her attention, I may as well be talking to myself!
Libby started really acting out between 9-10 months. She was chewing on furniture, something she hadn't done in months, biting, mouthing, not listening to us, just being bad. I used the term 'snarky'. She went into heat Memorial Day weekend just before she turned 11 months and from the day it started, she was like a new dog. The bad behavior totally stopped and she is the dog we used to know. She is almost 3 weeks in and I think she's about done. Having never had a female dog before, we really didn't know what to expect. It really wasn't that bad. First week was the worst. Just more diligence at home and definitely no trips to the dog park.
