Hi all I'll start from beginning to explain Sam's misbehaving. We moved house when he was 6 months old he was happy was in a rural village so had long walks and his own garden due to not very good landlord during lock down we had to move into a temporary house with garden since then Sam is a nightmare. Before he was great with our now 11 month old baby they'd play happily. If son has no nappy he's constantly licking his genitals like obsessed with it meaning having separate them which I don't like doing. He is constantly mounting his cover and once tried to hump our son. He's dragging us to other dogs and being very demanding like you will walk me now or I'll misbehave. Barking at everything and anything and few times growled at our son. He's turned from a gentle cuddly giant to a terror overnight. He still gets same amount of attention, but hates my fiance playing with our son. We have took covers away during day, got him halti when out walks, and seperste him from baby when he's no nappy but doesn't seem help he now seems so anxious when my son no nappy and he no covers. Also he's not eating will take treats but that's it. We have discussed neutering him but wer not sure if it will help as my mother in laws dog didn't help. Also forgot to add hes pushing wee one around knocking him over. I cannot walk him now with pram and I'm only 8 stone and he's very strong dog. It's caused few rows with fiance as he's too soft with him and I'm always bad cop. I have epilepsy so I'm worried if I have seizure he could mount wee one and I wouldn't know. Any help or advice as I'm at end of my tether with him love him lots like a son.
Hi there, and welcome to the forum. It sounds as though you have your hands full with an eleven month old baby and a young lab that needs a lot of attention and training to become the dog you want him to be I think the first thing to say is that nothing you have described sounds like misbehaving. It’s all normal dog behavior. And separating the dog and baby unless the baby is clothed and closely supervised is essential. Neutering will not change the dog’s interest in licking bare human bottoms, and neutering may worsen any anxiety in your dog. Humping can be caused by many different things, in puppies it’s mainly play. It is sometimes reduced by neutering, but there’s no guarantee. Young Labs are very boisterous and you really do need to supervise closely and have your dog on leash around such a young child, until you have done some training. Your concerns about a possible seizure add to the problem and I guess the only solution there is to make sure that your dog cannot access your baby unless your fiancé is also present. Being bad cop is not going to help. Modern training is actually all force free and may suit your fiancé - perhaps you can persuade your fiancé to join a local positive reinforcement training club, or one of our online courses. He’ll be able to learn how to teach your dog to work with you, rather than against you, and give you back some feeling of control. Your main priority to begin with though, is to secure your son’s safety and set up a system of baby gates so that your dog can’t share a room with the baby unless you and your fiancé are present and able to supervise. Let us know how you get on.
Hello, @pippa@labforumHQ has given you really sound advice. He certainly is not misbehaving just learning his world. He is young and it takes lots of time, training and patience to ensure your lab turns into the delightful family pet they are known to be. It is really unrealistic to allow a toddler and young dog to interact safely. It is only a matter of time before there is an incident, which could have a long term impact on your son. I kept my pup away from my sons, twins age 6 for quite some time, until the teething was over and her training was well underway. We separated them by baby gates on all the doors downstairs. By no means did this result in them not being the best of friends now. I would think it is impossible to walk a young lab with a pram, the focus needs to be your dog or your baby. I guess that will be hard, as juggling everything is not easy. We attended obedience classes which made a huge difference for us, I know now that might not be achievable but it is worth a look to see if anything is happening locally, or try an online course. Training and patience is the key, good luck.
Thanks for your advice they are separated just now as Sam is recovering after being injured from animal trap. Xxx
Awww poor Sam! Hope he got well. Stick with him the teen dog months are hard. With training and management he will become lovely.
