Hello everyone. Been reading threads the past hour. Grateful I stumbled on this page! I have a 4 month old lab, and exhausted. Felt alone in dealing with the non stop biting, growling, jumping, and mouthing. I thought she was becoming aggressive. She is hurting me but see it is "normal." I am trying to hang in there, as I know this will pass, but have cried for 4 days now due to her pulling me on the leash and biting me so hard. She is very smart. She is crate trained, follows several commands, but she is like walking a Sherman tank she has pulled my back out, have scratches on arms and legs, I have broken skin from bites. She bites down on my forearm and won't let go. Is THAT normal? I have to throw kibble or dog treat to get her off . I just want to love on her so badly, but right now it would be like hugging a cactus
Hello, your post is so relatable, most of us have been there. The cactus comment made me smile. My pup was a crocodile cactus, I had holes in my clothes and many teeth marks too. Labs somehow are worse than other breeds for this. I think at 16 weeks it does start to settle as their baby teeth start falling out. I survived by distraction with cardboard boxes and old milk bottles. They do come out the other side and become cuddle monsters, you just have to be patient, which is frustrating. Hang in there.
Hang in there is right. Be aware which behaviours you are rewarding. If biting hard on your arm and hanging on means you get a treat thrown, you'd do it again, wouldn't you? Patience and consistency. Reward the behaviours you like and they will be repeated. You got this!
