Hi, My yellow lab, Chase is very aggressive. To the point that he makes me a bit nervous. Tonight, my husband was trying to clip his nails and Chase bit him. He has bit me once when I touched his paw while he was sleeping. He bit a young girl who reached over our fence. He will growl at me if I try to move him when he doesn’t want to be moved. We’ve had him since he was 8 weeks old. He has been spoiled. We’ve never abused him. I am very worried that he will seriously hurt somebody. We have 2 boys who constantly have friends in and out of the house, he’s never shown any aggression towards them. I don’t know what to do! 95 percent of the time he’s a good boy, sweet and cuddly. What should I do?
Hello. I would suggest you take him to the vet for exam and a full blood workup. There could possibly be a medical reason for this behavior. Also contact an Animal Behaviorist.The biting issue needs to handle by a professional. Good luck.
I agree with Jade. See a positive dog trainer. In the meantime, don't let him be unsupervised when people (adults and children) are over. Put him in his crate or in the back garden.
@MelissaM the types of problems you describe involve body-handling fears on the dog's part and extend to husbandry-type fears (clipping nails and doing 'stuff' to the body). Dogs like this typically also have difficulties with the vet. Dogs typically develop these issues because owners 'force' them to have stuff done to their bodies, which they are afraid of. The fear generalises and becomes worse and they can do less and less to the dog's body before the dog becomes afraid... Working with these issues (rather than preventing them in the first place) requires a high level of skill, especially if you have a dog already showing signs of aggression - because the consequences of pushing too far too fast, are not just a lack of success, but potentially a bite. Which is why it's extra important to work with a qualified and FORCE_FREE behaviourist on them. Whereabouts are you based? We may be able to recommend someone or to give you a registry to check out? In the meantime: When you want to move him from a piece of furniture, please don't touch him physically - use a treat, waft it under his nose and say 'Off' or whatever cue you want to use - throw the treat on the floor as you see he is going to follow it. You need to teach him to WANT to co-operate with you. If you practise this a lot, you will be able to say Off and he will get off, in anticipation of the treat - which you then provide (you will always provide one - after all, you don't go to work if you won't get paid - we 'pay' the dog for co-operating, with treats!). With children coming to the house, you really need to separate kids and the dog for safety's sake - because kids don't know not to touch the dog. I'd suggest getting some stair-gates up in the house, you can barricade the dog in one room and tell the kids not to go in there. With your own kids, I would make really sure they know not to touch the dog in any way he dislikes and to have a chat with them about dog body language - there are some great books you can buy which cover this - with photos of dogs showing physically that they are uncomfortable.
Years ago, I had a Malamute that suddenly became aggressive towards us. He would growl and act like he was going to bite. The vet I took him to could not find a reason, but suggested it was perhaps a normal growing up pattern (I think he was about 2 at the time). We discovered that he seemed to have some back pain, and was sensitive to touch in some area on his back. Over a little time the problem went away, and he became his normal mellow (if you weren't a cat) self. None of our three labs as ever been aggressive towards us, or the vet, even when we were doing things they did not like. All three, especially Cooper, might struggle, but never tried to bite. Our vet was never worried about being bitten, but with Cooper some things are still difficult.
My first thought was probably pain in the hips or elbows. Possibly dysplatia. They need a reason to act poorly and pain is usually the reason.
