Good evening, I have just joined the Labrador forum. I have a 14 week old black lab from working stock. He is the most adorable, loving llittle boy, however he one or twice a day this can turn without warning. he has the tendency to get very nippy with me (in particular). And it tends to come out of the blue too. I can walk past and he will decide to suddenly jump at my calf or grab my sleeve and latch on. the more I say NO he gets more and more excited/attack. As soon as I am able to break free i remove myself from the area with the aim of ignoring..... I have read this to be common but at what age does this settle down? I am also curious to find out what kibble other puppies are fed. Dexter has Skinners Field and Trial puppy but not sure this is the right one for him... any advice would be great - Jo
Welcome Jo from Hattie 9 years and our rescue boy Charlie 6 years. Dexter is a normal nippy puppy. Saying "no" won't help and will encourage him to become more excited, ignoring is your best bet. I guess it's different for all puppies and how consistent the training is as to when it stops. I don't have pups so can't advise on the food. Enjoy Dexter x
Welcome to the forum from me and my 5 month old black lab Nelly. Unfortunately Nelly is still doing the crazy nipping and launching at me stage. She knows the 'leave it' cue so I can say that to her when she latches on. I'm feeding her skinners field and trial and she's doing great on it. Good luck to you, puppies are super hard work but definitely worth it.
Hi Olivia thank you for your reply. Its reassuring that other labs do the same... being a first time lab owner, it took me by surprise - one minute ive got this lovable boy and the next hes attacking me. And he is most certainly worth it
Hi Jo, your boy is very normal and it's quite hard work managing the puppy crazies. I took a video of my pup the day after I got her home when she was twirling around the place like a whirling dervish, launching herself hither and thither. Then a split-second of quiet and suddenly she threw herself at me from a distance to the sofa where I was recording her. When I look at that now it makes me laugh but it was everyday behaviour for a while (not all day I hasten to add)! I was shocked, as you are, and just tried to hunker on down. I felt pretty miserable with it at times, and I know my responses to it weren't always consistent so I didn't help the situation. Now my girl is 7 months and doesn't do it at all. Of course she has her excitable moments but she doesn't bite or chew the place to bits, and she hasn't for a while. Now she'll mouth gently before turning that to licks. For me it began to change around 16 weeks, not suddenly perfect but a gradual slow-down. I feed her on puppy kibble called More, which she came to me on from the breeder and it seems good for her. There will be many threads on here about feeding puppies with a whole range of opinions if you want to do a search. Enjoy your boy
Hi ,welcome to the Forum and another Dexter,mine is yellow and 4 1/2 years old! Once their second teeth come in fully the desire to chomp down becomes less,then usually find it will happen if they get overexcited through play. My dog has always been fed Royal Canin..we had a journey through the different age varieties and specialised diet ones to ease his upset tummy symptoms eventually settling on the hypoallergenic version.He hasn't got allergies but he does well on this so I've stuck with it x
Hi from me and my 14 month old boy Bailey. Perfectly normal puppy behaviour, especially from labs who seem to be the biting kings of the puppy world. As already said once their adult teeth come in the desire to bite down on us does fade, however, being consistent in training bite inhibition works well too - it was my saviour - when he got my hand or arm, I would cross my arms and turn away from him, just for a few seconds withdrawing all attention, then give him a toy to chew. If he persisted then I stepped out of the room/area, again just seconds, then went back and tried again. Now if his teeth touch my skin in any way I say "no teeth" which calms him down and turns it into licks. When he's rough playing with my OH Bailey nibbles my OH's top, never his skin, but when he gets overexcited (OH's fault!) he can still put his mouth around a hand or arm - I would point out that my OH NEVER did what I did with bite inhibition, so its his own fault! OH can't work out why the "no teeth" cue does not work when he says it
