So I posted last week about my dog barking at me, she is 5.5 months and I'm really struggling with her. I'm just back from a walk which was lovely until the last 5 minutes where she went bananas jumping at me, biting my arms through my coat. It was truly frightening and I've included a photo of my arms, this was done through a coat so I don't even want to think what they would be like if my arms were bare. She was great for the most part but near the end, there was a light sunken in the ground, we were walking on the grounds of a hotel. She stared into the light then dragged me to the next one and that's when it started. I stayed calm even though I was genuinely scared of her. She eventually stopped and flopped down. It was like the zoomies, just a vicious version. We're doing our best with her, she gets lots of attention and exercise and had been at puppy class earlier this evening with my husband. I've noticed a gradual disimprovement in her behaviour over the last 2 weeks, barking at me and going a bit crazy at times but this was the worst yet. She did something similar about 2 weeks ago but nowhere near as bad as this. I'm thinking this can't be normal. I'm sure people will say we need to do more training with her but we're doing our best with her. I'm finding I'm nervous of her now, especially when the kids are around her, we have 4 kids and the youngest is only 5. Any useful advice welcome. Do we have an aggressive dog on our hands, cos it certainly feels that way. I couldn't attach a photo for some reason.
Hi Anna, I had doubts about my young dog’s behaviour as she was OTT at times, for a number of months. She was quick to escalate, especially when triggers stacked, sometimes out of my control, even getting wet in the rain could overexcite her! She wasn’t the gentle Labrador I expected! However it seems quite normal for many boisterous young labs. I’m sure keeping an eye on her and the kids all of the time is a challenge. It can all be upsetting too. Stick with your dog and the training it will get better, some dogs take a little longer than others it seems. My girl at 2 and a half is a darling girl and maturing nicely all the time, full of beans and energy but she can keep a lid on it now which as a teenager she couldn’t do. Hope that helps.
Hi Anna, I remember when Cassie used to do that, just like the zoomies but jumping up, using her mouth and generally going a bit crazy.... but it was always followed almost immediately by her zonking out fast asleep! I do believe it's perfectly normal, it's like they get over stimulated and can't regulate themselves back to a calm state. The best advice I had was when that happened was to pick her up and hold/restrain her, not too tightly but enough so she was forced to calm and not move, and then when she had calmed to put her down somewhere quiet to settle. If you don't mind me asking, how long do you walk her for? I believe the rule is a max of 5 minutes per month of life, so that would be 25 minutes max for your little one. But as you mentioned your husband had been at puppy class with her earlier in the evening, maybe that was more than enough for her and she was just tired? When I had puppy training we skipped the walk that day as the exercise in the training class replaced the exercise from the walk. Anyway, please honestly be assured that this stage really does pass so quickly, it really is not aggression just completely normal puppy behaviour!
Thanks for the replies. The walk was only about 20 minutes and I did think it might have been too much after the class but the class is in a small enough room so while she may have been mentally tired from it, I don't think she was physically tired from it. I'm waiting on a call back from thedog trainer but she did send me a message yesterday saying that while it was tough to be in that situation it did sound like exuberant lab puppy behaviour. I do think looking into the light triggered it. I will try and restrain her if it happens again but the other night I was afraid of her as she was pretty aggressive acting, the jumping, biting and growling were all there and then she just panned out and did genuinely seem sorry afterwards if that makes sense! Anyways we'll keep going with her and hope this is only a phase. Thanks for replying.
Having similar issues with my 5.5 month old lab. For the most part he is now very calm and obedient, but occasionally on walks he will just start jumping and trying to bite me. Seems to happen when something triggers excitement. I stop and stand still until he sits quietly and calms down- this can take several tries, anywhere from 5-10 min.
Hi - my lab is now 6 months and yes, I had that problem for some time but it is now diminishing. Occasional he would, unpredictably and without provocation, bite at my hand as it hangs down Let’s hope our forum experts offer some tips.
