We have an English Lab, one year old. He was bought from a breeder as a puppy. The biting isn't teething, he is past that. This is when we are playing, running after balls, etc. THEN he will get so excited that he starts chasing us, biting us, sometimes humping. He was just neutered two weeks ago. It is like something he can't control and he does not listen as he usually does to obedience. I know he needs to exercise but that is when this happens!! We crate him when he gets in this mood. Will this ever stop?
Re: Biting when too excited? Welcome to the forum! I got my dog at 9 months and he was the same - biting and grabbing clothing when excited. Our strategy was to immediately stop any game or interaction if he bit or grabbed, and to turn and walk away. Basically just shutting down the game. If it happened at home he was quickly shut in another room for a brief time-out. It does work. Took a month or two. We also tried saying 'NO' but that tended to just get him more excited. Also, see if you can avoid running with him or doing the exercise types that really rev him up at the moment. Try things that don't involve you running, like calling him between two people, or playing with other dogs if possible, or swimming (if it's not freezing where you live). Training sessions help to wear a dog out too.
Re: Biting when too excited? Great advice from Rachael. Most often when young dogs are nipping and jumping up, it is to do with over stimulation, over excitement. This article might help How to play safely with a Labrador
Re: Biting when too excited? Penny is still a little like this at 1 year old when she is really revved up! I second what Oberon said as it worked for Penny too. The second your pup starts jumping, humping or biting just totally stop whatever you are doing. No eye contact, don't speak to him, fold your arms and turn and walk away. Then give him praise and resume the game once he has calmed down. It may take a while but he should soon catch on to the idea that any sort of behaviour like that will stop the fun time. We also did the 'time out' thing with Penny, literally just for 5 seconds at a time and this worked too. Also works when she gets too over excited at my parents house with their dog.
Re: Biting when too excited? We tried ignoring, but he continues to come after us, biting our backs and behinds or grabbing at our clothes. When we put him in the crate, 5 seconds isn't enough time for him to calm down. He has to take a nap first. I have tried letting him back out right after and he continues. It is getting so scary, the bigger he gets. I am worried we got an aggressive dog. I thought buying a Lab puppy would ensure that he would be a calm, friendly family dog. I am really worried that he will get worse. I did get a trainer but she was "biting" him which means she was poking at him when he did something wrong and I don't think this is the right thing to do. So I told her not to come back. I don't want him afraid of us or our hands. I had him in puppy classes but the only one was so crowded, we got nothing out of it. We have read all of the training books and watched videos on training. The biggest issues are not walking nicely on the leash. He has pulled me down many times. And the biting and humping when excited.
Re: Biting when too excited? I am worried that he may be hurt when we leave him in a kennel while on vacation in a couple of months. Is this common and the kennel owners will understand it isn't aggression, but play?
Re: Biting when too excited? Hi newdogowner. You sound pretty concerned about this Most dogs seem to go through this stage, but they do improve if you stick to the tips above. I think if you keep working with your training, thinks will improve. I would be surprised if a kennel owner would be much phased by an over-exuberant puppy. Do you know how the kennel operate? Do they exercise dogs individually or in groups for instance? jac
Re: Biting when too excited? He needs to learn self control and I think it best if you stop playing physically with him. Play with the ball, but don't let him have it until he learns to sit quietly and then throw it as a reward for calm behaviour. You say he cannot control his behaviour, but he will learn to do so if he only gets rewarded for calmness. I think he has just been allowed to get over excited and then gets carried away. My 2 year old Lab gets very excited when he is tired, throws himself about then suddenly collapses; is your Lab overtired? My other Lab was very excitable, didn't bite though, but did pull me over when he suddenly lunged, but at 7 years old he is calm. I learned from him and brought my 2 year old up differently and taught him to be calm as calmness got a reward. I think there is a book out by Turgid (not sure of that spelling) something or other, forget her second name on how to have a calm dog, if you Google the first name it should come up. I am sure there is hope for your dog, just don't let him get wound up with physical play.
Re: Biting when too excited? The kennel does either way. I wasn't sure if it would be good to have him out with the other dogs as other dogs seem to attack him. He is an only dog at home and wants to jump on other dogs and play. Other dogs are scared of him and try to bite him. The kennel owner said it might teach him socialization with other dogs if she had similar Labs or friendly large pups like him. We have tried to socialize him with other dogs as much as possible but the same thing happens. The other dogs try to bite him.
Re: Biting when too excited? What happens is we will throw the ball, he wont' retrieve it, but will run after it, growling. after a few times of this, he runs after the ball and then runs back AFTER us, trying to bite us. I don't believe he is tired after three or four times running across the yard? everyone we have talked to said he probably needs more exercise, but it is really difficult to exercise him as he bites us. Walking him can be more calm, but he jerks me every which way and I fall down. It is stressful walking him as I am afraid I will let go of the leash when he jerks and he will get hurt or lost. He walks much faster than I can walk. So I trip myself up or he jerks in front of me and I fall. I guess I am more worried now that he is over a year old and been neutered. We keep trying to train him more. He does best with training at home, one on one. He doesn't listen outside of our house! [quote author=Stacia link=topic=4272.msg51453#msg51453 date=1391263418] He needs to learn self control and I think it best if you stop playing physically with him. Play with the ball, but don't let him have it until he learns to sit quietly and then throw it as a reward for calm behaviour. You say he cannot control his behaviour, but he will learn to do so if he only gets rewarded for calmness. I think he has just been allowed to get over excited and then gets carried away. My 2 year old Lab gets very excited when he is tired, throws himself about then suddenly collapses; is your Lab overtired? My other Lab was very excitable, didn't bite though, but did pull me over when he suddenly lunged, but at 7 years old he is calm. I learned from him and brought my 2 year old up differently and taught him to be calm as calmness got a reward. I think there is a book out by Turgid (not sure of that spelling) something or other, forget her second name on how to have a calm dog, if you Google the first name it should come up. I am sure there is hope for your dog, just don't let him get wound up with physical play. [/quote]
Re: Biting when too excited? Does he get off lead exercise to run of all that energy? Mine get free running for at least an hour a day. When I had the youngest one castrated and he was on the lead for seven days, he was very hyper. Have you thought of hiding some kibble round your yard, so that he has to find his food, that can be tiring.
Re: Biting when too excited? I really do not think that it is aggression - it is over-excitement and boisterous play. I agree with Stacia to stop all forms of play with him that get him wound up. Can you describe the times when he gets like this - what has he been doing beforehand? What kind of situations lead to the biting and jumping? What happens after he gets excited and bites and you try to ignore him - how does it end? Do you throw the ball again to get him to go away? Do you have a quiet, boring room (with no people) that you can use for time-outs, like a laundry? If you do, use that instead of the crate. The crate is best used as a positive, safe place for him - not as a 'punishment' place. But if you only have a crate, use that. If it takes 30 minutes for him to calm down then leave him there for 30 minutes - then give him a treat through the bars, then let him out. It would be a good idea, I think, to spend time teaching him to relax and sit or lie quietly. For example: On walks, stop at park benches, low walls, anywhere you can sit and wait for a bit. Wait till he lies down. Then reward him with a treat and move on. He will probably bark his head off. Just ignore it. It might take 20 minutes. Wait till he is quiet and still before you continue with your walk. Eventually he will get the idea and will start lying down faster to earn the reward of continuing the walk. When you think he's worked this out and is lying down fairly quickly and being quiet, start to wait for longer before moving on, giving him treats throughout for lying down and being quiet. Keep doing this until you have built up a decent length of time. Practise waiting quietly every chance you get. Yes, this will be boring. I know that this might not seem like it is directly addressing the biting thing, but exercises like that are aimed at teaching a dog to settle and be calm - teaching self control. He needs to learn to calm himself down in a range of exciting circumstances, with your help. It's not good to hear that you had a bad experience with that trainer. You were right to dismiss them. Could your vet recommend one that knows what they are doing? I'm sure that this is incredibly frustrating for you and painful and scary. It is behaviour that can be changed though. I really would recommend seeking out a qualified behaviourist with your vet's help, if it's all seeming like it's too much (totally understandable).
Re: Biting when too excited? It isn't so much barking as pulling. When we sit down at the park, he pulls and chokes himself or pulls me down. He is very strong and has been doing it since he was little. When he was little, he would choke himself so I would hold him to stop the pulling when we stopped. I didn't want him to hurt himself. We tried the Gentle Leader but he rubbed his nose raw so I quit using it after a few times. I didn't want him to hurt himself. He doesn't get free running time except the few minutes he is outside alone to potty. If we are out with him, he ends up chasing us and biting us. When he is alone, he runs around the yard fast a few times, potties, and comes in. I don't want to leave him out alone too long in case he tries to jump the fence. The vet told me that Labs can jump fences easily. So far, He hasn't attempted it, but I still worry if he is out there very long, he might. We were trying to leave him out of the crate unsupervised longer, but he gets into things every time. No matter what room he is in, he gets into something or chews something up. Puppy proofing the whole house and he still finds something! One problem is finding toys he cant chew up. He tears them all apart easily. So he has nothing to play with. It is like the goal of a toy is to rip it to shreds within minute. I will try the stopping on walks. I hadn't thought of that. We only stopped to give me a break, but then he would continue pulling so we would end up hurrying back to end the walk. What usually happens when he runs after us trying to bite is we will either distract him, get a hot dog and throw it in the crate (I know. It is rewarding). Or one of us will distract him from the one getting bit, and the one getting bit can grab his collar and pull him to the crate. He never just stops on his own. I have bruises, marks, and scars all over from it. THe bigger he gets, the worse it is. BUT it is happening less frequently as he gets older. Thank you for the advise! There are no more puppy classes and trainers in our area and even the next city over. [quote author=Oberon link=topic=4272.msg51588#msg51588 date=1391284425] I really do not think that it is aggression - it is over-excitement and boisterous play. I agree with Stacia to stop all forms of play with him that get him wound up. Can you describe the times when he gets like this - what has he been doing beforehand? What kind of situations lead to the biting and jumping? What happens after he gets excited and bites and you try to ignore him - how does it end? Do you throw the ball again to get him to go away? Do you have a quiet, boring room (with no people) that you can use for time-outs, like a laundry? If you do, use that instead of the crate. The crate is best used as a positive, safe place for him - not as a 'punishment' place. But if you only have a crate, use that. If it takes 30 minutes for him to calm down then leave him there for 30 minutes - then give him a treat through the bars, then let him out. It would be a good idea, I think, to spend time teaching him to relax and sit or lie quietly. For example: On walks, stop at park benches, low walls, anywhere you can sit and wait for a bit. Wait till he lies down. Then reward him with a treat and move on. He will probably bark his head off. Just ignore it. It might take 20 minutes. Wait till he is quiet and still before you continue with your walk. Eventually he will get the idea and will start lying down faster to earn the reward of continuing the walk. When you think he's worked this out and is lying down fairly quickly and being quiet, start to wait for longer before moving on, giving him treats throughout for lying down and being quiet. Keep doing this until you have built up a decent length of time. Practise waiting quietly every chance you get. Yes, this will be boring. I know that this might not seem like it is directly addressing the biting thing, but exercises like that are aimed at teaching a dog to settle and be calm - teaching self control. He needs to learn to calm himself down in a range of exciting circumstances, with your help. It's not good to hear that you had a bad experience with that trainer. You were right to dismiss them. Could your vet recommend one that knows what they are doing? I'm sure that this is incredibly frustrating for you and painful and scary. It is behaviour that can be changed though. I really would recommend seeking out a qualified behaviourist with your vet's help, if it's all seeming like it's too much (totally understandable). [/quote]
Re: Biting when too excited? He sounds like a very frustrated dog to me, needs more mental stimulation and free running. How long is he in his crate? Do you do any training with him just to use up his mental energy, have you heard of clicker training or tried it? Are there no dog behaviourists as Oberon suggested which would help?
Re: Biting when too excited? I have a very excitable dog - so much sympathy. There is so much that you need to work on with an excitable puppy (at just one year, he is still a puppy). I'd say your priorities maybe should be: Getting him proper exercise off lead - this will make everything else easier. Buy Total recall, if his recall is stopping you letting him off the lead. In the meantime, set out a routine of getting your dog as much mental exercise as possible. Look at clicker training good manners and calm behaviour. Work out calm, structured play sessions. If he is unmanageable between sessions, put him in a pen or crate - but up the sessions where you interact with him as much as possible. Leaving him in a crate for long periods will just make things worse. Properly research training lead walking, and get him to walk calmly on a lead. I do really have lots of sympathy for you, I know how difficult this all can be. Stay on the forum and let us help you with this. I would have been lost without the support on here.
Re: Biting when too excited? We put him in the crate when we leave the house...up to two hours only each time. And if we are home and can'tkeep a close eye on him like sleeping or bathtime. Like right now, he is fine out of the crate. My daughter is watching tv and he is laying beside of her calmly. We do short training sessions throughout the day. He is great with sit, stay, wait, down, off, go around in a circle, back, shake, say hi, stick them up. He will come when he wants to...when we have a treat or it is time to come back in. I wouldn't trust him to come off leash with distractions. We have started working with him while having distractions at home, but he isn't good at it yet. Thank you
Re: Biting when too excited? He does sound like a frustrated pup. I agree with others who have said perhaps he needs more off lead running time to tire him out so maybe working on his recall should be a priority. You can also buy a long line (like a lead but with no handle and maybe 20feet long) to help with off lead exercise as you can let him run around to his hearts content but you still have the line to grab if he won't come back to you. Have you thought about interactive feeding toys? Not necessarily kongs but things likes balls they have to push around with their noses to get their food out or puzzles they have to figure out, to feed his meals in - it will give his brain something to do which is often more tiring than physical exercise, plus it will make his mealtimes last a bit longer which should give you a bit more quiet time. Does he get bones/chews or stuffed kongs? They're a great way to teach him to settle quietly in the house. Maybe you could consider an obedience class or something like agility? Again it will exercise his brain and also help improve the bond between the two of you. He sounds like he's very intelligent from the tricks you've listed that he knows so maybe he needs something a bit more challenging?
Re: Biting when too excited? I think it'd be good to go for a combo of activities to tire him out mentally and physically (which will also give you a break) and self-control, calming type exercises. You can do both
