Hi, I am a new poster to this site, though I have read a lot. I am looking for advice about our chocolate lab, Hunter, who is about to be 6 months old. We are kind of at a loss! We had a yellow lab for 14 years prior to this and he had his share of antics but they were occasional things. I feel like our current problems are unmanageable. Something has to give. My kids (14, 12, 8) are getting tired of it, even my husband has mentioned how long we can keep up with this. I have had my fair share of days when I am in tears trying to love a dog that seems hell-bent on destroying everything we own. Let me start with the positives...He is crate-trained and (mostly-we have some barking problems when he can hear people in the house) does great with it. He walks on a leash pretty well without major distractions. He has a decent command of sit, stay (when we are playing with a treat), lay down, shake, come (again, without distraction) and wait (for his food, or a treat). So he is obviously smart and capable He also gets at least 1 walk a day, frequently 2 and/or a good swim/retrieving session in our lake. There is also a lot of time (especially, now in the summer) when he is outside in the yard with us or the kids. We live on land but he is starting to wander outside of the "yard" area that he is supposed to stay in which makes it harder to let him roam free. We have an underground fence arriving this week that will hopefully fix that problem. However, the majority of the time when he is out inside the house he is behaving terribly. It started like normal puppy antics when we got him at 8.5 weeks, but has just continued to get worse. He chews on my furniture (there is no corner on my coffee table or paint on the legs of the end tables). He steals everything in sight-books, paper, pens, socks, shoes, laundry, etc. We keep all bedroom doors and bathroom doors shut to decrease our problems but between the kitchen, living room, mud room and laundry room he finds more than enough trouble. He jumps on counters, the table, and will take whatever he can reach off of them. His powerful jaws can chew an awful lot in a hurry, but he has no interest in giving it back. We've tried firm drop commands but he doesn't care. We tried offering treats to trade for the item and that worked for about a week. Now he'd rather not trade. I know it sounds like this is an unsupervised dog problem-but it's not!! He is not left alone-someone is on "Hunter Duty" anytime he is out of the crate. But we can be in a middle of a game with his toy and he iwll just start eating things. He also jumps on the furniture and refuses to get off, treat or no. We have to physically pick him up and put him on the floor. Most of the time this just leads to him running from one couch to the next Part of the problem is that he doesn't seem to be able to take a break and just relax in the house. Ever. I can count without using up my fingers how many times he has actually laid down in the house and chilled out, aside from being put in the crate. We have bought him 2 beds for the living room, hoping that it would give him a place to be calm. He ate them. Both. Again, while being supervised. But a few bites here and there before we can get him to stop and pretty soon all of the stuffing is coming out. I have recently tried to leave his leash attached while in the house to make him easier to grab but he has almost chewed through it. Gah! We were having a lot of biting of us and our clothes, but that has greatly reduced (thank. goodness.) except when he's most wound up or if you try to cuddle/be near him without a toy. I will gladly take any suggestions!
First of all, welcome Secondly, grabbing a dog isn't a good idea, or physically moving them at all - they are most likely to see it as play. The secret is to get them to want to do what you ask. Here is an excellent article - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-behaviour/#problem .
Hello, welcome to the forum, which has been such a help for me with Cassie who is 13 months now. They are such hard work but so worth it when it starts to come together. I wonder if part of the problem is that he doesn't relax and therefore is actually over-tired, like a child gets. Does he sleep in his crate? Perhaps it would be good to teach him to go on his mat and settle. I'm no expert, but it did help my puppy. It maybe in the link you've already been given, I don't know.
Hello and welcome. Well, it really sounds like typical Lab puppy behaviour! Probably not what you wanted to hear. My seven-month-old can be like this on occasion. The best thing for it is to take her out and do fifteen minutes or so of training. That wipes her out and she'll have a good long snooze. Added t what Selina says - he needs to learn to settle. You can do this with the help of a lead - if he chews it, use a chain leash attached to his regular collar. I would avoid using the invisible fence. Other than the fact I wouldn't on ethical grounds, there is a real danger with them, which is that the dog will see a cat or something else he wants to chase and the adrenaline peak will make the pain immaterial, so he'll run across the boundary without a thought. The issue then being that, when he returns, the chase over and adrenaline subsided, he'll be stuck outside the boundary. He really doesn't need to be outside unsupervised. If you wanted him outside at times you can't manage him, the best idea would be to fence off a smaller area of your land for him to be in. As for giving you things, you really need to train this. He's got something he doesn't want to give up - what's his motivation to do so? You've found out that bribery doesn't work for long - this is why some people poo-poo positive reinforcement training. But, that's not how it works. You've reached the point where he's realised that taking the treat means he loses the object, and he's decided the object is more valuable. Hmmm. You lose, dog wins. Using this method, you'd have to keep upping the value of the reward more and more, and you'd still end up bashing your head against the ceiling each time he decides his item (let's say a beautifully rotting rabbit) is more delectable than your piece of prime rib. Instead, you're after creating a trained response. You can imagine that you have a bank account. Every time he "wins" for giving you a behaviour you want, you're paying into the bank account, and making that behaviour stronger. Every time he "loses", you're making a withdrawal. Your job is to keep the account healthily in credit. As soon as it starts dwindling, he's going to become more choose over how he "spends" his credit. If the account empties, you've had it. What does this mean in the real world? Well, if he loses his prized possession every time he gives it to you, he's going to stop giving it. So, how about you try swapping it for a treat and then giving it back again. Crazy, I know. But, you know, as long as it's not dangerous for him, or a prized antique, then this is a wonderful tactic. You can repeat it ten times in a single go, so he gets ten treats and the item back ten times. That's a whole lot of paying into the bank account. Then, on the last go, you take it, give him his treat and take it away. One withdrawal, ten deposits. A healthy bank account. Over time, you can stop needing to wave the treat under his nose to bribe him to let go. Instead, present the treat from a tub or a pocket after he gives. Or, use the item for a lovely game of tug, catch or chase, as appropriate. And you can add a cue "give". Add distance. Etc etc. These all take time, but you end up with a trained response, where asking him to "give" means he believes he'll get a bonus reward and he'll get it back, because he almost always does. Which means, you can get that rancid rabbit off of him. If he's already started playing keep-away, it's no problem; just start these games with him on lead so he can't run off. I hope that helps a bit?
Thank you. It looks like helping him learn to settle may be of most value to us. i appreciate the re-assurance that he isn't outside the spectrum of normal!
I can't add anything to the good advice above, but wanted to reassure you that this definitely sounds normal teenager problems to me! We adopted our pup at 9 months and she was almost exactly as you describe - I spend a good long time crying on the stairs whilst she was shut in the kitchen, and yes, our coffee table doesn't have corners either. I think the longest I sat down for without having to leap up and prevent another disaster was about 2 minutes, on a good day. I didn't manage to finish a cup of tea for the first 4 months. I bought a training book and she ate it. I thought we had an incurable devil-dog, until I found this forum and read other teenager dog stories don't be disheartened - it does get better I promise! The fact that your pup is crate trained is a godsend and don't feel bad about putting him in there for a break - with mine, that was the only time she would sleep and sometimes she would be hyper with overtiredness. Hang in there!
I'm new to this forum and only been a dog owner for a little over 5 months. This topic has been in the back of my mind for some time now, because my lab mix can also be a nut at times and I'm dealing with other issues. Currently, when we're not exercising,training or playing games, my pup is in his crate. Quietly for the majority of the time, so I'll count that as a win. However, I would love for him to be able to sit around the apartment near me outside of his crate. If I stop him from chewing on my couch, then he'll go for the ottoman, then maybe a blanket or God forbid that I take off my socks. I would wonder when would be a reasonable age for when my guy can sit around the house calmly. With training the time will come right? How can I realistically train him to just sit calmly in the living with so many distractions? Use time intervals? Also, I haven't even bought him a bed yet because I know he'll eat it or possibly pee on it (we're still working on that).
I don't really have any advice as such because I'm in the exact same position. Nelly is 6 months and I think it's similar to the terrible twos in children!!! Nelly does everything you say Hunter does! I always think I just can't cope anymore but then every evening she cuddles up to me and kisses me and it's all worth it in the end! Good luck- you're not alone.
Today was an extra hard day with the dog so I was happy to come read from more people in the same boat. I guess misery loves company. We knew our first lab was a great dog but we were definitely a little blindsided by how how extreme the other end of the spectrum is. Lucky for Hunter he's cute as can be.
I find myself saying "misery loves company" more often these days. Bad days make me feel like I'm not a decent dog owner because of the way my pup behaves sometimes.
@L. Graham how will your pup learn to settle with you if he is always in his crate if not training, playing or exercising? To train a settle pop the lead on, make a cup of coffee, pick up a book to read, sit on a comfortable chair clamp the lead under your foot and simply ignore your pup. Yes he may struggle and try to throw himself around, try to chew the lead but just ignore him. He will eventually give up and settle quietly. Practice this at least once a day and he will learn and once he starts settling quickly you can add a cue and then eventually remove the need for the lead.
Hi and welcome - Nothing more to add really but my boy Bailey at 16 months old can now settle both at home and if we go out for brunch - but it has taken months of training to get to this. Home is easier as there are less distractions (he has just taken himself into his downstairs bed and settled down after being on the settee for cuddles). At 6 months he was a nut job too - and don't get me wrong, he still can be - in a new setting, if there is another dog near us or if he is overtired - it will come but it takes you to be consistent in how you train - we are still a work in progress with his wanting to greet and play with every dog he sees. For example Bailey when we put his harness on before going for a walk will go upstairs to our bedroom and find a sock which he brings downstairs and won't drop until his lead is clipped on and he is at the front door. When he comes in he picks up the sock while his lead is unclipped, goes upstairs and puts the sock in the middle of our bed before coming back downstairs for his harness to be taken off (along with another ritual!). I decided that as he was not eating the sock I was not going to sweat about it. OK I've now got a few odd socks as the matching ones have holes or have been shredded, but they are cheap to replace and its doing him no harm. It will come, and yes I have been in tears thinking I'm a bad dog mum and I'm making my boy unhappy - but you know what, so long as either my OH or I (or better still both of us) are there, he is happy - and that means the world to me.
Hi there, welcome. Lots of great advice here but just have to concur that we had our fair share of puppy then teenage problems. She is a full of energy on the go kind of girl and it takes a lot to wear her out. We too have a lot of land and last summer she would happily potter about and then suddenly she started jumping the wall and going to see our neighbours. i stopped leaving her out alone as I just decided she was bored. So it she is out she is with us being played with and if none of us are out she isn't either. I think sometimes they just get bored. I got Luna a couple of puzzles for eating her tea from which help. The massive change I noticed was when she hit one and then had her first season. She calmed down loads and it more happy just to chill. So hang in there!
It is really - heavens knows why it started but it does make us laugh each time he does it. And it is always my socks never the OH socks....mine are much prettier obviously
Sorry for the late reply. Trust me, I've thought of that question too. He can't learn if we don't practice right? I'll try out your suggestion, but right now I just imagine him chewing his lead, then my foot, then whatever chair I'm sitting in....lol.
Hi! I'm a new member here too! It certainly sounds like you have a Lab pup on the upper end of the energy and mischief scale, AND he's a teenager! I have found, with my Guide Dog pups, that the smarter the pup the naughtier the pup (thats my 2c anyway)! I haven't read everyone else's responses so I hope I am not repeating what has already been suggested, but he sounds a bit like our first puppy, Volt - he walked super fast, he was very strong, very clever, and very intuitive. A couple of daily training sessions and walks will help him and you! If you can, do a clicker training course! Its like magic! And it may sound counter-intuitive, but here's an example of what we did with Volt - when he got very vocal, we taught him to "SPEAK". Then he would bark when we told him to, and we could teach him "QUIET" for the times he barked for fun. When he chewed on something he shouldn't, I'd give him something he was allowed to chew. Consistency is key, but Labs love to learn, and your work will pay off! Good luck!
Something we do with Duggan after a few days of watching him get more restless is take him to the river for a swim and a game of fetch. 30 mins of that and he'll sleep for the whole evening and he's happy for the next two days.
Also when we went through this phase with company we asked people to ignore him to lend a hand. Our guests were all close friends abc family so we used them to help proof. One thing I can say is that ignore means ignore, and it really works. But having said that, most people don't ignore. I asked my mom to ignore him while she sat on the lounge. The puppy would not leave her alone so I watched.....he kept at her so I said just ignore him, dont look at him, don't touch him. Don't move. In her mind she was doing this but in actual fact I counted 6 interactions with him in 2 minutes... all things gave gave him hope and kept him going. It wasn't until After I pointed these things out and she truly ignored him that he stopped pestering her and went to lay on his mat. Now when she comes in he goes for a quick hello and leaves her alone. The niece was a different story. She would ignore him when we were looking so we couldn't understand why he went crazy for her. As soon as we look away she antagonized him, played hide and seek and used the excuse he was bothering her to egg him on. He refuses to leave her alone still.
