My chocolate lab 11 month old dog always bites me when I walk out the back door. She grabs my ankles, bites my arms while I'm walking and gets very aggressive with me and growls when I sit out the back with her. I thought of selling her because I just can't pull her into line or get her out of this behavior . Can anyone help please as I've tried many things. She is very destructive and aggressive most times with me. She's good with other dogs and most people but always tries to attack me. Why?
It just sounds to me like she's trying to play with you and is excited. Usually, we see this occurring because dogs are woefully understimulated - physically and/or mentally - and are so excited about just the tiniest opportunity to get some attention and interaction from a person... I don't like the sound of 'pulling her into line' or having 'tried many things' - because usually this kind of thing means aversives, which only makes behaviour worse and creates more problems than you had in the first place, as well as affecting your relationship with the dog, so they are less likely to want to engage with you and listen to you. I think you need to attend a force-free and reputable training class with her, or a good in person trainer - or use the internet which is a fantastic resource for help. But if your relationship has deteriorated to the point where you are thinking of selling her, then sell her. You need to be really invested in her for anything you do, to be successful...
I have a similar situation. Except, our lab is 15 mos. old (he was rescued from an extremely neglectful owner. I fear he is more than we can take on. He only behaves when my husband is around. He's a big dog and has torn my clothes and shoes right off me. He has bitten me at least 20 times in the past few days. I have horrible bruising all over my arms, hands, and legs. He does get lots of exercise and we know how to train dogs (neither of us has had a lab before-but we've owned other working breeds). His aggressive play is escalating- and he will not stop once he starts. He has drawn a tiny spot of blood- but the bruises he has left are deep, large, and painful. It's almost like he has a split personality! He's of course, immature and undersocialized (again, his previous owner was terrible). He has been with us for almost 5 weeks. We'll meet with a behavioralist but I want other feedback and other opinions. Has anyone dealt with this type of behavior? Could he be a late bloomer and he's playing too hard- or could this be some type of dominance aggression? He really seems like he's trying to control me because he never acts this way when my husband is around.
My dog is 9 months old and also attacks. She gets overly excited and does a full speed run that ends with flying through the air and body slamming me or biting. I have such bad bruises that I’ve been asked by coworkers if everything is ok...meaning is someone beating me. No I’m not ok! My dog is a crazy lady who has a 20/80 split of being sweet/insane. We’ve done 12 weeks of training through Petco and it didn’t help much. We recently got a training collar which gave us a week of peace. But last week was worse than ever. She is very attached to me and definitely gets separation anxiety. That is evident from the molding she has eaten on the wall. She’s a sweet dog and I love her but it’s mental with me at times. I guess it’s nice knowing someone else is dealing with the same thing.
Hi @willow's mom I suggest you get a positive dog trainer to create a training plan for you and to work with you. You need professional advice an assistance. Eating moulding can be a behaviour associated with separation anxiety but it can also be associated with boredom. So you need a full evaluation. Put the training collar in a cupboard and don't use it again.
Usually for dogs which are hyper-stimulated like this, investigating things like scent work and tracking as dog sports, will reap huge rewards. Scent work and tracking both involve training the dog to use their nose and to concentrate, but they are also very calming activities for over-stimulated dogs - they both involve deep and heavy breathing - I would really encourage you to investigate these sports. A great resource for both of them, is the Fenzi Academy online - there are some scent work courses coming up at the start of October: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/schedule-and-syllabus#october-1-2019
