We got our 8 week old labrador puppy back in January (he was the very last of the litter and the only male - I find this important to mention as a trainer has told us this could contribute highly to his anxiety) as a young puppy he went through the normal biting/playful/nipping stage and we really focused on bite inhibition. My sister had bought his sister at the same time and we have socialised them with eachother and they get on fantastically. We started to walk him as soon as he'd had his vaccinations, socialised him with other dogs and their owners, introduced him to some members of the family, went round their houses etc before lockdown fully kicked in. We had let him off the lead early on, however he had started to bite and hang off of peoples clothes (especially those without dogs), so we put him back on the lead for a few weeks and tried off lead again - this time he had tried to chase a man on a bike (who had not rang his bell so we could pop Floki back on the lead) and nipped at his ankles. Suffice to say the man was not impressed, although he had 2 dogs of his own he could not understand that Floki is still a puppy as by now he's looking like a small adult as he's 6 months old. We try him again round the fields and again he's still biting pulling at peoples clothes which is scary for them. Lockdown/social distancing I believe has severely hindered any progression with people during this time as people are fearful of catching it from petting other dogs. So although he's 'seeing' other people there isn't a whole lot of physical interaction. We put him on the lead again for a few weeks and again try him off lead in the local dog park - he's in the middle of play with another dog and sees a mother and child walking at the other side of the park. He stops play and immediately runs as fast as he possibly can toward them but stops about a metre away and runs back to me. The mother was understandably clearly very frightened as was I as by this point he's starting to get quite a big boy. We book a trainer who had tells us he's a very anxious dog and to keep him on the lead until he had 'got used to the world around him'. From then on we've been extremely wary about letting him off in fear of his unpredictability. We now alternate between walking him around the field on the retractable lead or letting him 'run free' on a 10 metre training lead when other people are not around - he still plays with other dogs. Throughout this time we have been training recall whilst on the retractable/off lead when there is nobody around and he does come back to me 90% of the time. (It's the 10% that I'm fearful of). 2 weeks ago (he is now 9 months and has a full set of adult teeth) we had a socially distanced family BBQ around my sisters house for my parents 40th wedding anniversary (he has been to the house several times to play with his sister). As we thought this was an environment he would be comfortable in we let him off lead to play. My auntie arrives (who he has never met before), he goes over to sniff her (i am stood beside him), she hesitantly puts her hand out to pet him and he bites her aggressively on the arm and draws blood, it was a really nasty bite. He didn't growl beforehand and his hackles were not up - it was a complete and utter shock. I withdrew him from the area and took him home. He has shown signs of anxiety in the past so I fully accept we could have approached this situation entirely differently. We have since been giving him YuCalm tablets to help with this. I've read that aggression in puppies can become apparent at this age, especially with them being in adolescence. We've booked him in to be neutered in September to see if this will help. We took him to the groomers (with a muzzle on) on Saturday and overall it was a really positive experience - they even ended up taking it off half way through. Today our window cleaner came, we put him on the lead to introduce him to a new stranger so we had more control over the situation. Floki approached him (as he did with my auntie - it was not forced) and sniffed, the window cleaner got down to his level and stroked his chest. Floki then lunged to bite him - again aggressively. Thankfully no contact was made, but again there were no visible warning signs (growls, ears pinned, tail tuck, hackles up etc). We've now agreed as a family to introduce a muzzle into his walking routine/when meeting new people as we are really not comfortable with the unpredictability and am at a complete loss as to what to do for the best. If he bites a complete stranger now he could really do some damage and I do not want him to be put down as a result of our irresponsibility as owners. Is this just because he's still a puppy (although he really doesn't look like one now) and will he 'grow out' of it once he matures? Will it become better after he's neutered? Is he going to be a dog that can never be let off the lead? Our plan for the moment is to walk him with a muzzle - after he's been neutered in September we will reassess the situation and book a behaviorist if necessary. I don't want to 'jump the gun' and do this straight away if it's just adolescent puppy behavior. If after the behaviorist signs of aggression are still being shown we may have to look at the very last option of rehoming him. We have alot of children in our family and although he has become accustomed to them with no issues we are very wary of having a dog that has shown signs of aggression around them. I'm sure there are important parts I've missed out but any advice/thoughts/experiences from others who have also been in this situation would be greatly appreciated!
Hello, I just wanted to give your thread a little bump to see if anyone might be able to help you. I am no expert but I did just want to add a comment. I think 9 months is a hard stage, basically you have an overgrown puppy who is excited about the world and has not learnt manners, how to play and understand a lot of human and dog interactions. It’s a key age where dogs get rehomed and they are a challenge.I had to work so hard and patiently with Meg at this stage to work on her recall and her love of bounding over to anything and anyone to say hi. It’s been harder for you as lockdown has reduced social interaction at this important stage. At 9 months they can still be a bit mouthy, and grab arms, coats etc...in an attempt to play so that’s not uncommon. However, they way you describe the incident at the BBQ sounds different and a worry. An appointment with a positive behaviourist now would be money well spent, and certainly before you have him neutered. Neutering can make some types of anxiety, particularly fear based worse so it might be a good idea to work on his behaviour before you go down that road. I don’t know where you live but in the UK there is no rush to neuter, or even do it at all, but there are different rules in different countries. Hopefully someone else will add their thoughts too.
Hi having read your thread I can understand why you are so concerned. We have a quite highly strung 15 month old Labrador who has in the past reacted similarly. We worked with a Behaviourist which helped immensely. However lockdown, as so many people can tell you, changed the world drastically not only for us but for our pets. At least we have the mental capacity to try to understand but your dog, however intelligent would not be able to. When we worked with the Behaviourist the most important things she taught us was to learn about our dogs body language, watch for triggers and overloading and not to put him into situations where he wasn't going to be able to cope. The other thing is that when you learn of something which can cause the dog to become anxious or excitable, eg reaction to person on a bike, then work hard with set up scenarios to teach your dog to ignore them or cope with the distraction in a better way. Hero's issue used to be baby buggies which really wasn't great, so we worked on it and now he totally ignores one going past. Regarding the biting your aunt and going for the window cleaner. Your dog was having a sniff around but as soon as the hand moves to pet him your dog reacts. Possibly work on getting him used to being handled or just ask people not to do it. It seems there may be an anxiety to the hand moving to touch him. Sometimes Hero will still move to mouth a hand near his face especially if he's a bit excited. Your dog may feel threatened by this. Maybe possibly the BBQ was a bit too overwhelming for your pup and he wasn't coping. We've had to very slowly reintroduce people back into Hero's environment until he could cope with them coming round again and he still doesn't like to have too many people around him. Finally regarding the off lead. When they are small it is good for them because they will follow you everywhere, but as we found after an attack by another dog, we are having to retrain recall very slowly and are using Pippas Total Recall. It takes a long time and you have to proof every step but even then there can still be the unexpected. So please don't give up. I'm far from knowing all I need to know and that's where the experts help. Just try to imagine that you are your dog with all these small and big hoomans around you, millions of things moving about some slow some fast so you want to chase them, all the different noises. It's a big, scary exciting world out there when you're only a youngster. Also please consider hard before you jump in too young to neuter. I don't know what country you are in or if you have laws regarding neutering. We're in the UK and intend to keep Hero entire. Our vet prefers only to neuter if there is a medical reason and there are so many debates about whether it calms dogs down or not aside from the other issues, but in the end it's a matter of personal choice. Just please take it slowly. Your pup cannot just return to life before lockdown straightaway. He needs a lot of help. Good luck for the future with your youngster
These factors have nothing to do with his anxiety, which it’s likely is genetic when it occurs without any explanation and so sudden and extreme.... even given lockdown. Please don’t neuter him. Research shows that neutering fearful dogs can make fearful reactivity a lot worse - and won’t improve it. You are removing a source of confidence if you remove his testosterone - which will only lead to him feeling more vulnerable and more likely to be aggressive to defend himself, rather than less. You really need to be working quite intensively with a qualified and experienced behaviourist. Please don’t delay - this isn’t going to get better as he matures without help. Meanwhile, you need to ensure you’re not putting him in positions where he can do this. Keep him away from family gatherings and away from strangers until you have the help and support of a qualified behaviourist. Take a look at Grishastewart.com to investigate a method called BAT...
