Luna has now hit her 1st birthday, and while there has been many wonderful positive things we still have the dreaded jumping and biting and nipping! We have changed her food to a lower protein, we make sure she has plenty of naps and even have a trainer coming to help us help her calm herself as she is super hyperactive and can't seem to calm herself! We have tried so many things that some days we don't no what to do, hopefully others have had similar problems or had and have some great knowledge to share.
Hi @base28 you need to get the dog below threshold if you are going to be able to train the dog to stop jumping and biting. Accordingly, stick with the trainer, who I presume is using appropriate methods. Did you get the vet first to check for any physiological factors?
Yes we took her for a complete vet check and nothing was found, we notice some of the times that is the start of a session but sometimes she is completely calm and then for no reason just starts! We try changing her focus but by then she has lost the plot!
Hi @base28 I would be inclined to keep a diary or better still, film the dog and you training. It may be easier to detect if there is a trigger if you are an observer rather than a participant. If not possible, ask a third person to observe and see whether there are any triggers for such a rapid change in behaviour.
I had similar and saw a behaviourist; on her advice I fed an allergy free fish and rice diet, restricted exercise in case of joint problems and kept a walk diary for months. But no food allergy, no joint probs, no apparent trigger - although it only happened when we were out. Things are better now. Maturity has helped, and a few distraction strategies, but most of all what helped me was knowing that it's on the extreme end of normal behaviour for a young lab. The more I worried the worse it was, but when I relaxed my very sensitive girl (now 17 months) also relaxed. She'll still get hyper and run/jump at me when life is exciting or stressful but the biting has gone, and instead of distracting her or exclaiming no (worse thing to do!) I now give her some reassurance, or pop her on the lead to keep her close. So do investigate all likely causes but also keep in mind that it's not completely unheard of behaviour, manage it as best you can while your dog matures and hopefully it will improve in a few months.
I think we probably need more information to be able to help - like what sort of exercise or training is she getting on a daily basis? On leash or off leash? What is happening currently when she is jumping and nipping?
Base28, first let me assure you that what you are experiencing is not completely atypical, as Blackbird has indicated. It is important to keep up the training, and to study the situation and look for things like triggers, but know that this doesn't mean that "there is something wrong with your dog". Some labs just take longer than others to mature, and sometimes patience is the most important trait you can have. My Holly is a year old and in the same boat. She is getting better (very slowly), but when I had an "expert" review the situation with me she said "she seems like a normal dog to me. Maybe your expectations of behavior at this age are what needs to be adjusted". I thought that was funny. We did work on some specific training habits and I got some tips, but mostly what I learned is that the best thing I could do to help my dog is to remain calm, be consistent, and to be patient. You are not alone and you are not the only one with a dog that age that behaves that way. Just know that, and keep working with and loving that dog.
I'm not sure what you have tried, but we ran into this and found we needed a combo of management and training techniques. I also want to validate that this can be very emotional. When we were dealing with this I had a lot of people telling me Tank was aggressive and dangerous and that we should re-home him. Even though I knew they were wrong (and dog/behavioral experts agreed), it was still challenging to hear. Anyway, in terms of management, we had him wear a short leash (1/1.5 feet) in the house (when we were around to supervise). If he started jumping/biting we could grab the short leash and hold it away from us with a straight arm. This meant we weren't getting bit AND we could effectively ignore him so he wasn't being reinforced. We employed the same techniques during leashed walks. We also used time outs effectively - saying a sharp, "Uh uh. Time out" when it occurred and putting either ourselves or Tank behind a barrier or door. Both of the above were important so we could safely/effectively ignore him, which is the only way not to reinforce this behavior. One tip we got was not to ignore/stop play for TOO long because puppies have a short attention plan and quickly get distracted and forget about the fact that the play was stopped. What "too long" means depends on the dog so play with different intervals. At the same time, we did a lot of bite inhibition work and worked on his training so he had a very reliable sit. That way, even overexcited and amped up, we could get him to do an alternative behavior (i.e. "sit"). Finally, LOTS of exercise was really important, including opportunities to roughhouse with dogs his age (who enjoyed the play biting!). He went to doggy daycare once a week and, after I was confident in his recall, we took him to the dog park multiple times a week. It was a lot of work, but so worth it! He's still (at about 2.5 years) more boisterous and energetic than many dogs his age, but hasn't engaged in this behavior for quite some time.
One more thing - We trained "rest", which essentially means "Lie on your side." We did so via starting him in a down and then luring his head backwards towards his back/rear. This forced him to flip in his side. We then brought the treat back up and past his face to have him lay his head down, and clicked/rewarded when he was laying entirely in his side. This probably sounds more complicated than it is! When he's too excited we have him sit and then go into down and then rest. We then pet and calmly speak to him in this position. It always helps calm him down!
Thank you all so much for the support as at times it all becomes a bit much. Luna has just finished her first season which I was dreading but she sailed through with only a few days of being quiet, and now back to full Luna mode! We are seeing bits of improvement so I hang on to those and now we can go back to having more exercise and training. We have gone back to basics on some of her training so hoping it improves
