Hi all, I'm new to this forum and am hoping to find some guidance. In September of 2012, I adopted a 1.5 yo black lab, making him about 7.5 yo now. He's about 70 pounds and is a good combination of easy going and high energy. In the beginning, he would try to steal food, had horrible separation anxiety and was a little too excited to listen well. We worked through all that to the point where he has very good manners, listens to commands, though sometimes only when delivered in the "angry voice". I usually work from home, so we have always spent a lot of time together. When I would let him off leash, he would chase anything that moved. Geese fly and squirrels can corner better than Charley so, having missed his quarry, he would circle around and come running back, right at me. He got me the first time, so I quickly learned that I need to shout "No!" at him when he runs at me, and crouch down like I'm going to attack him and to prepare to deflect the labra-torpedo. This worked well and and I assume he got the message that I didn't approve of that sort of play. Over the years I have wound him up in play where he runs around like crazy, and he has never run at me. In general, it has been six years of a good relationship, until four weeks ago when he rammed me. We were in the neighbor's back yard and I had to shoo him out of the garden, where he likes to graze on tomatoes. I don't remember if I wound him up or if he just started running around on his own, but on the second orbit, he caught me napping and plowed full-force into the side of my left knee. For about a minute, I was consumed by pain. Once I was aware again, I saw Charley was just wandering around, eating grass. He is a very athletic and nimble dog and the ramming was no accident. He was trying to knock me down. My knee issues are serious and persistent, and the shine has worn off my relationship with this dog. Anyone who sees me on crutches asks what happened, and I've had two or three relate similar stories, all involving Labrador retrievers. I realize this forum provides a biased sample, but is this a "lab thing"? I have found it pretty straight forward to train Charley to do something (sit, off, in, out, down, stand, stay) and even to not do many things (don't steal food, stay out of the street, don't eat poop (work in progress)). I thought I had also trained him out of ramming. At the dog park, recently he has run at and bowled over other dogs. I yell "NO!" at him, but have not gotten in his face - pulling him out of the situation and forcing a timeout. The behavior is similar, but not the same as ramming, and I'm not one of his dog playmates. It is difficult to make him stop bad behavior when he is very excited. Ramming is such an infrequent behavior that the opportunity for direct training is unlikely. I don't trust him and I can't let him off leash anymore. If he hits me again, I have to give him up. Emotionally, I'm finding this very tough. The dog I loved has caused me serious pain and disability. He has never been a lap dog, but he likes to stay near me, will lick my hand for minutes at a stretch, and always lays down next to my bed until I fall asleep, at which point he goes to sleep on the living room couch. I know a short story can't relate a full understanding of my attachment, but as owners of Labs, I'm sure you have an idea. Right now, I run hot & cold with my dog, depending on my level of pain, sleep, knee diagnosis, and patience with hobbling around on crutches. My first question is about training him not to ram, and the second is how to deal with the emotional tidal forces. Thanks, Scott
I'm sorry to hear this is causing you such mental and physical distress. To answer one of your questions, no...it's not just Labs. Getting whacked in the knees can happen with any large breed dog during play. I have limited experience with Labs but have in fact found them not to be serial knee-whackers in general. I had Rotties for 20 years and they instinctually herd by body slamming...every Rottie person knows to bend their knees and stay alert when their dog is playing. It's just part of the breed. I've gotten caught plenty of times, but never with a lasting injury like you've had. My first reaction to him deliberately trying to knock you down was that in fact it wasn't deliberate. You yourself say that he caught you napping and that it's the first time in six years he's run into you. I would really see this as an accident and something to train, but nothing 'bad' about Charley. But I wasn't there and you know your dog, so I completely understand that you could see it differently. You also have to live with the fall out (knee injury) where to Charley it's something that's long over. He got excited, jumped and then was off eating grass...for him it is done. I'm not a trainer, so for something this life-changing (as you are considering giving up Charley over this), I really wouldn't want to give specific training advice. However, it does sound like you've set up a negative cycle by shouting 'no' and acting like you are going to attack him. If he's already wound up, I'd think this would just set him off more. Doing positive training that builds the bond between you two instead of 'action=punishment' seems like the way to go. You don't have to wait until he whacks you again to train, what you are training is calming behaviour, his focus on you and how he moves around you. I'm also concerned about the body slamming of other dogs. I had a dog who did this as a youngster and it was out of fear/lack of confidence. Yelling 'no' once he's already done it is moot as he's already had his reward (the slamming), the trick is seeing the signs as he builds up to doing it and get him focused on you in a positive manner before the slamming happens. If possible with your knee, please consider finding a positive dog trainer or behaviourist and either taking classes or doing some 1x1 work. It will build the bond between you two, help you get your confidence back around Charley and give him a way to deal with the extra energy and fear/frustration that is causing the problem behaviour in the first place. Whatever you decide to do, I hope you find a way to rebuild your relationship and feel better all round.
