Hi guys! Last August we lost our sweet Lab. So in March we added a new puppy to our family. He is a handful! He can be very sweet but he doesn't really like beeing touched or play with humans. In time it started to get a bit better, he started to tolerate us and even let us touch him and play with us for short periods of time. I spend lots of time training him and he is a smart puppy who does everything you want as long as you have treats! If you don't have treas he just ignores you. Last week I took him out to the Parc, (we take him out to the parc 4-6 time each day) while I was walking him in the Parc he found a bloody cloth and I took it out of his mouth and thru it away as far as I could and he started growling and lunged at me and bit my arm pretty hard. It was like he went completely crazy! After letting go of my arm he lunged and bitt my daughter's hand too. I was completely shocked, I never expected that, I mean we are taking about a 6 months old lab puppy! I also have a high risk pregnancy and I'm supposed to try to stay as calm as I can its just hard when you get this kind of shock. I just worry so much! I had a lab before and I loved training him and he was amazing! I love dog training and I love dogs but I start worrying! Yesterday my husband took him to the Parc and our puppy say a bird and my husband didn't let him run after it so he lunged and bitt my husbad too! Any suggestions what I can do? I worry that in time it will get worse. I love him and I want to do all I can to change his behavior before the baby arrives. I can't see myself giving him away but I couldn't lett him around a baby either. If anybody could give me advice about how to handle this I would be really grateful! I keep going over in my mind wondering what are we doing wrong? We exercise him alot each day, we play with him, train him but obviously something I'd not working. I am trying to do everything I did with my other lab but it just doesn't seem to work at all! Please help!
I'm sure that those bites hurt and were upsetting! I would definitely say though that it was a case of excitement combined with frustration (not being able to get the rag or bird) and definitely not 'aggression'. This isn't a temperament problem and your dog is normal. But there is a bit of training ahead of you. I'll put below a link to articles on biting. The articles are mainly about very small puppies but biting can re-emerge at an older age (like 6-9 months or thereabouts). As well as reading about dealing with biting I would be working on teaching your dog to be able to remain calm, ignore things and come back to you instead of focusing on birds etc. A lot of training in self-control and giving you attention is what I'd be doing - that's where I'd be putting 99% of my training effort at the moment. I've pasted in a couple of links to articles about that too. Hope this helps a bit. Teaching your dog to ignore other stuff and focus on you instead: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/your-labradors-magic-word/ Self control: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teaching-your-labrador-to-control-himself/ Link to articles on biting: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/
Hi there ,Welcome to the Forum,sounds like you need a bit of a chat with Labrador/dog folk to support you at the mo. I can understand your feelings of worry and Rachael has given you some great advice above. How you are describing events does sound pretty normal,although it doesn't feel it at the time.My dog was 5 months when he came to live with us....I'm guessing he had a different background to yours as you say yours was a puppy but he was quite distant from us for a long time....he didn't want to be fussed or cuddled and would actively move away from us at times.....it made us a bit sad to be honest but we just let him find his way and get to know us in his own time.He is now the cuddliest lap dog ever although he isn't what you would consider a 'friendly ' dog even now with people other than my Husband and I...some dogs are just like that and your dog may be the same.The reason I'm mentioning is it that it might help with your approach with getting him to let go of 'out of bound items' Working on your 'Leave' and "Give" cues to swap for the tasty treats you say he loves might make him more comfortable than physically handling him to get something off him?Just an idea ....its some thing you can start doing sat down in the house with a toy which gives you a chance to build your relationship and your dogs skills without putting too much stress on yourself. Take good care of yourself too x
I certainly agree, it sounds like he was frustrated at not being able to have the bird or rag. Definitely sounds like something that can be trained out. It's understandable that the situation is causing a lot of stress, have you considered finding a local professional trainer for help? Even if you can do the training yourself, employing a pro might give you more confidence and lower the stress level.
Hi there. I will definitely say that the link that Oberon gave about puppies biting gave me A LOT of great tools to start to train my puppy to not bite all the time. It really does work!! Please take the time to read through it as I believe you will find great information to use and the puppy will start to learn biting you or your family is not ok.
