9 month old labrador jumps up and bites, really hurts and can't seem to snap him out of it.

@Boogie. Thanks for the info. We will give that a try. I'm happy to hear the that this will eventually disappear!

 

My new Puppy does it , it can hurt too .
He does not do it as much now with me , as I will just walk away .
When my older sons come he is all over them like a rash , they cannot
sit and have a cup of coffee in peace , so I get Palace's ball and make him run
up the garden a couple of times he then forgets the jumping up and biting.

 

I have to chime in here because I too, am owned by a Harley. She too is 9 months old. And she too appears to be catching a bit of the "frenzies" - a more out of control, if there is such a thing, and person directed version of the zoomies. And now I am going to throw a spanner in the works... because I am in the southern hemisphere and it is winter here. But herein lies a change in our exercise frequency because it is darker earlier and cold out. So our walks are shorter and we are doing more "brain" stuff at home. So maybe it has to do with energy levels more than weather? Because Harley has been a very troublesome free pup but even I had a bruise or two from being nipped and a scratch on my leg the other day and that is very severe behaviour for Harls. She is not a boisterous pup, more medium energy level. Oh and Harley has packed on a little extra padding that we are seeing to ASAP. But it could be unspent energy?

 

Hi there! My 9 month old Boomer, lab mix rescue sounds just like your Huck! I am terrified of him at times, as are my kids. We just had him neutered yesterday as he was getting crazy over the female dogs and humping has increased.
Anyway, he jumps and bites when over excited or frustrated. He bit my son’s leg (no marks) a few days ago when he removed him from the bed and removed a shoe from his mouth.
He seems to communicate everything with his mouth!
We are working with a one on one trainer but it is getting very expensive and hard to do everything perfectly with four people living in the house.
Did Huck improve with age?? I can’t live like this for much longer!
Thank you for any insight you can give me!

 

Hi @akrollman

I think all the advice that's been given previously about getting a good positive behaviourist in to advise, is really sound. They can then assess your individual dog’s needs. We had an experience that SOUNDS similar but may not be, but here it is incase it’s of any use….


We got a behaviourist in to help us with a similar issue when our pup was about 5 months old. She used her teeth in frustration and excitement all the time and it would often seemingly come out of the blue - sat next to us having a stroke on her head or half way through a walk with no warning. She shared with us the concept of trigger stacking which was really simple but really helpful. I’ve found a good article on it here for you http://woofliketomeet.com/2016/03/trigger-stacking-how-we-set-our-dogs-up-to-fail/ . She explained to us that Luna was an excitable puppy, but that due to her breeding and probably how anxious we were at the time, she was constantly over threshold and not able to self regulate how she was feeling. She explained the trigger stacking like a bucket of stress that was constantly overflowing.


Some of the things we did differently were to

• be more aware of the triggers that might be stacking up when we were outside - the leaf blowing past, the strange noise in the distance, the neighbour’s dog barking, the robin on the fence or indoors - my stepdaughter coming home from school, the cat running past the kitchen door, the smell of food cooking, a pigeon flying past the window…..
• Walk around a lot more slowly when triggers were around that we couldn’t control. Just try and slow the pace of what was going on around her.
• Leave her alone. Sometimes she’d come and sit next to us when she was really over-aroused and we misread that as wanting some fuss. She’d then react with her teeth. We learnt to just leave her be. Eventually when she came and literally sat on our feet and nudged our hand with her nose, we knew that she wanted a stroke.

Not sure how useful that is for your situation, but it sounded quite similar so I thought I’d share it.

 

Hi @akrollman me and my partner are in the exact same situation. By any chance did the neutering help with the biting frenzies? Our Dexter is now 11 months and is still having these random outbursts, although they are less frequently. Thanks

 

My dog was neutered at 10 months old and he had a really bad phase of crazy out of control biting for a few months after. He's nearly 2 now and hasn't bitten for some time but still humps when over excited.

 

Hi there,
My JuJu was doing this after his neutering surgery, during which his activity was limited, and he was also quarantined to our house because he bit a vet tech as he woke up while being intubated. Anyway, he was going nuts inside and had a ton of pent up energy. He tore a bunch of my clothes (especially flowy ones) and made me bleed sometimes. It was frustrating and painful. The only thing that works for me is a lot of exercise (preventatively), but otherwise luring him to his crate with a treat (which almost always calms him down). He won't respond to regular treats during these episodes though. It requires hot dogs or something he REALLY loves.

 

Rosie is 6-1/2 months now, and has been very mouthy and bitey since we got her at 8 weeks. She was spayed last Tuesday, and has been on limited/no exercise as she had fluid buildup at her incision. So on Sunday I took her for a "short" walk to get out and get some air, and we had to wait patiently for another dog to pass on on opposite side of the street, then at the same time a jogger went right past us. Once all was clear, I said OK let's go, and she completely lost it on me. Jumped at me and bit my right arm up as I was trying to hold her down because of her spay stitches. I finally got her settled, but I am now sporting some pretty good bruises and a cut on my hand/wrist and arm. She has not been walked since, and the stitches come out tomorrow, so I am now planning to go armed on all future walks with a heavier jacket and a stuffed animal and some good treats to try and deflect some of that crazy if it happens again. She was doing well on walks prior to her spay, and would occasionally jump and nip at me, but this was something else. I'm going to chalk it up to her being pent up with no exercise for days on end.

 

Hi Dan
I found this post as I am having exactly the same issues with my 8 mo Charlie, did u find anything that worked? Did Harley grow out of it?

 

Unfortunately I'm going through the same thing with my rescue who is (approximately) 9 months now. We got him about 2 months ago, so I'm hoping it's not something that's now just ingrained in his brain and too hard to train out. We went through a 6 week obedience training with him and she gave us some tips, but walking away usually doesn't help as he'll just jump higher (often a hard landing that I'm afraid will hurt him) and do it again the next time. He'll do this a lot when "saying hi" to someone, or just randomly when on a walk or sporadically. I'm sure it's an attention thing or over-excited. I'd say it's because he needs more exercise, but he did it yesterday at the dog park after an hour of playing there (very embarrassing when your dog clamps on your arms and jumps in front of other people). Any other advice? I'm so nervous he'll do this to someone who's not as understanding as my family. Thank you so much!

 

Yes I had over excitement issues with my dog until she was about a year old, even now at almost two she sometimes gets a bit "over-friendly" if someone talk to her or pet her on the street, she like to jump on them, but is getting better and seems to look at me for clues 98% of the time.
Her trainer reccomended it ignoring her behavior ,walk away from her when I could (in the house) ,remove her from the situation when out. Also when she was younger and she bite or(flesh or clothing) I would make a loud screeching noise, high pitch like when puppies cry out,that seemed the best way to stop her.
In any case maybe consulting a trainer is your best bet,after all dog are individuals.

 

This is absolute happening with our 5 month old male. There is no clear trigger at all. Over-stimulated, but not always sure why. Happened tonight early in game of fetch that was otherwise gong fine. Dog wanted my coat and wouldn’t stop til he got it. I was in the coat a d very afraid.

 

Doesn't make and difference what we do. We have tried ignoring it, Walking away, standing still and seeing if he'll stop or get bored, food rarely stops him now, on or off the lead is just as bad. Any kind of movement or shouting or pushing him away just makes it worse. He is very boisterous around other people and dogs. Other than this though, he is pretty good and very loving. We've attended many classes and training was going well. Thanks Dan

 

Hi Dan. I'm new to the forum, and I see quite some time has gone by that you had this issue with your pup. I joined the forum out of desperation. I have a 6 month old intact male, and he is having the same behavior problem. He's done it before with my 12 year old daughter, but did it with me on a walk for the first time today. I felt completely out of control and had no idea what to do. He wouldn't stop jumping all over me, biting me, and ripping at my pants and shoes. I ended up having to take him by the harness, and pretty much drag him back home while trying to avoid his jaws! We walk every day, and I have no idea what triggered this behavior. The only thing I can think is that he didn't want to walk, because I did have to coax him and tug his harness a bit. Once we got home, he passed out on his bed looking sweet and innocent. Do you have any advice or progress you could please share with me?

 

Hi,
Our 9 month old intact male does the same thing everyone else describes - jumping up on me, biting hard and relentlessly until something distracts him - but then jumps back up on me with teeth clenched on my arms and hands, seemingly determined to keep biting. I'm 4' 10" so when he's standing up biting me, he's almost my height. We have had 4 other labs in our family and I have never seen this behavior before. I am so disappointed. He is definitely not the dog I wanted. That being said, I am still optimistic that he can become the dog I'm hoping he will be. Our trainer recommends a strategy that has had some positive effect. I try to anticipate when it might happen. Whenever we are walking where he has jumped on me before or when I just feel like it might happen again, I say 'find it' and throw a small treat on the ground slightly ahead of us, which he then searches for. I do this every 10-12 steps so that he becomes busy listening for my signal and then looking for the treat. It has definitely reduced the frequency of the jumping on me and biting. We are also working on other self-control techniques in the house when he is calm and relaxed. Hopefully, it will generalize to other situations.

 

Thank you for that tip! I will definitely try 'find it' with him. Are there any other self-control techniques that you have tried and found helpful? I will try everything and anything!!

 

Hi there Dan!

I came across this post of yours from 2015 whilst searching for others that are experiencing what I’m currently experiencing with our 7 month old Burt! Your post exactly describes what we are going through... I wondered, how did things turn out for you and Harley? Hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel I think...

 

I have a 9 month old lab who does this most often when he wants my attention and I'm busy working since I work from home most days or if I stop playing and he still wants to continue.

I know some of my attempts to stop this behavior have made it probably worse as he starts running around as if im going to chase him since I've put him in his crate for time outs for this (which have been a lost cause) I've started again leaving the room.. but there's so many factors, can i get away without him getting me, whats left behind?

This has also happened on walks, I read someone mentioned turn-around points being triggers, which I experienced, and we weem to be doing okay with that as I try not to make it so obvious it's a turn around and walk on the other side of the road.

It truly does not seem aggressive, but he's getting to be a big boy with big teeth!

He loves other dogs but doesn't know when to stop playing and doesn't pick up on their cues. He was recently going to Petsmart daycare but is no longer welcome there due to snapping. Ugh it's very frustrating and disheartening because he is the sweetest boy! He just can't seem to control himself

 

Monty was exactly the same as you describe from around 8 months until 13 months. I was covered in bruises and regularly cried on walks with him through embarrassment, pain and frustration. A combination of consistent training and him growing up a bit means it's been over for around a month. You can look at his training log on this site for more details as I received some good advice from Sammie on this forum. We also had the same issue on play with other dogs - we only allowed it in a controlled environment with dogs that were tolerant and owners that we had discussed the issues with beforehand. Now we allow him to play with dogs on walks if their owners allow it, and he'll come back to us on a recall whistle - but that involves working on really good recall with high value rewards - we use gammon, chicken and sprats.