Hello! My boy Moose is a 9month old Black Lab/German Shepard Mix. He is such a smart loving boy but he is definitely in his teenage Era. I have always struggled with him a bit and being mouthy. He was a shark with those puppy teeth I sadly am all scarred on my hands, I looked horrible for a couple months so many cuts and bruises from him. Fast forward to now and he is much bigger 50-60 pounds with those adult teeth and for the most part he is good, but there are a couple of occasions that he seems to get overstimulated or triggered and he starts barking and lunging at me. He does grab my shirt or nip my toes if I'm sitting. He does this when he wants to play and I'm relaxing or if I am busy working and I know it is to get my attention, but sometimes it is not possible and that's when it escalates. This also happens when we are playing. Either we stop playing before he wants to and is triggered or it seems we play too long and he is triggered. He will start barking and snapping at me. Lastly, which has not happened in a little bit is when we are on a walk. It happened a couple times at our turn around mark which I have read can be triggering for dogs, so I have tried to make it less obvious that we are turning around. However, he has done it while walking just out of the blue, I believe always towards the end of the walk, so I thought maybe he was tired? It really does not seem like it is aggressive, there's no snarl or hair sticking up but he was recently banned from day care (Petsmart) as he was doing this to the dogs and then one of the workers. So I am just struggling a bit with my boy any suggestions? He does have orientation for a new dog day care coming up, at an actual dog day care for when I am at work (no shade to petsmart, but I think he will benefit from a more personalized setting) so I am hoping that will be helpful, but I do not want to run into the same problem and I need to work on this issue a home.
Hi there, this sounds really stressful for you. It sounds like he's maybe partly over excited and partly attention seeking? I wonder if building more stimulation and activity into his day might help? What's a typical day look like for him at the moment?
Thanks for your response! I think you hit the nail on the head definitely attention seeking as well! It depends on the day. 3 days a week I work from home, throughout the day as I can I try to give him about 10 minutes of play at a time. I also have a few enrichment dog toys that dispense food I will give him when he seems a little antsy. I can take the opportunity to walk him during the day and I try to do so 45-60 minutes. It was about 30minutes in the dead of winter, I am from Buffalo it gets frigid! Haha Where I find I struggle most on work from home days is when I can't give him the attention he needs at the time he wants and he becomes frustrated. 2 days a week (Wednesday and Thursday) I go into the office and if he does not go to daycare he is in the crate for 8ish hours. These two days are really hard I do try and get him out to play with other dogs and walk at least one of these days, but sometimes that's not enough. Understandably he has alot of pent up energy these two days. I should also mention I work a couple evening nights and he is crated for 5-8 hours those nights as well depending on the shift. On the weekends I try to take him for a nice long hike through the woods one of the days and then typically a walk the others. Any suggestion for at home activities to tire my boy out especially after crate time are appreciated! Walking and playing with other dogs is definitely the best way to tire him out but I also need time for myself to do things lol! But sometimes I know I'm going to pay for it..
I typically try to give him a Kong or bone/chew after the crated nights but he's a chewer and those may only provide about 30 mins of activity for him which isn't usually enough
Hi, Thanks for coming back to me with all this info. I know it's so hard when you need to work - but it does sound like he's a bit understimulated during your work from home days, I'm afraid. I'll pop some thoughts on helping with that below, but first I do need to address the crate time when you work outside the home. Unfortunately the issue here is that this is just too long in a crate, for any dog. And especially too long for one that's got a lot of energy and is showing signs of being frustrated and wound up when you take him out. The maximum time we would recommend in a crate per day (outside of night sleep, when the rest of the home are in bed too), for a dog this age, is 3 hours. This is also the maximum recommended by the UK's RSPCA, and home boarding legislation. After that he needs to be able to stretch his legs, use the bathroom, and be mentally and socially stimulated. I know you are arranging a new doggy daycare going forward, and that's great. But until then, it's really important to give Moose a larger, more stimulating space to wait for you, if you will be out of the house for more than 3 hours. For example, a dog proofed kitchen or large utility room. He'll need bathroom access in or from that space if you're going to be out more than about 3 hours (even if he can hold it, it won't be comfy for him to wait longer) or a visit from a friend or neighbour to give him a toilet trip. Ideally, we recommend that someone come in to break up the day in a more stimulating way for him. For example a dog walker or play visit from a sitter, for an hour in the middle of the day. Or two shorter 30 minute visits, for example (one of these could potentially be you during your lunch break perhaps, depending where you work). And the same during your evening shifts, if you don't have a partner or other family at home with him. I know this will be difficult for you, but I think it will make a big difference to Moose's overall happiness, and help reduce that frustration that you're seeing on your walks together. Getting your attention will be less important, and walks will be less exciting, if he is free to move around while you're out, and is getting lots of play breaks and walks with other humans while you're at work, too.
Part two! You asked for some thoughts on ways to stimulate him at home. This is great question! But the key thing here is that no matter how excellent your activities are, it's important to remember that you can't meet his needs for stimulation by squeezing this in at the beginning and end of the day. Which is why I think visits for him during your on site working days, until daycare is sorted, will be so helpful There's lots of thoughts on this in this article of Pippa's too: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/dog-home-alone/ - I think you'll find it a helpful read. So on your home days - I suggest trying to really break his day up into a 'pattern' of time doing a stimulating activity with you, time chilling near you, and if you want to, a little crate time too. (But I would use a stop clock to keep track of his total crate time if you do this - it's very easy to go over 3 hours total by mistake - I find a timer really helps ) So his day might look like: 15 minutes playing with you, 30 minutes chilling by your feet, 30 minutes in his own space (not necessarily the crate, this might be out in the back yard, or just in another room in the house with a filled kong, etc). And repeat. When you take your lunch you might do a 30 minute walk with him, then 45 minutes chilling by your feet, 45 minutes in his own space. etc I would look for the rhythm that works for you both - but really try to be aware that after an hour or so without your full attention, he needs you to interact with him again. This will likely spread your working days a little longer I'm afraid - but will I think they will also make your evenings more manageable! For those 15 minutes of time together, you can try training games (teaching tricks is a great 'at home' way to stimulate him and practice your training skills on something low pressure), teaching him to play fetch, a game of tug, etc. There are some fun games here: https://www.thelabradorsite.com/4-fun-games-to-play-with-your-labrador/ - most of these work indoors. There's some advice on playing tug without him getting over excited here https://www.thelabradorsite.com/dogs-and-kids/ And if you're struggling with having him relax around you, you can try adapting the technique for reinforcing time spent on the floor in this article, by treating streaming him when he lies down, instead of pacing, while you work https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-keep-dog-off-couch/ I do hope that's helpful. Sammie
Hi, we had very similar issues with Monty, and more time outside of his crate (and possibly him growing up a bit) have really helped. He's much calmer since around 13 months. The teenage years are really tough but it does get better.
