Hi everyone! I'm new to this site and fairly new to owning a lab as well. We've had our chocolate(his name is Smokey) for about 4 months now, though he's almost 6 months. It's been a learning curve through and through and Smokey is an amazingly stubborn pup lol. Every time we go to sit on the couch and have Smokey lay near us or at our feet he will start biting at our legs and knees and won't stop until we get up. He used to lay at our feet and sleep when he was smaller with no issues, but now he's not having any of that. Once we're up and standing in the kitchen or another part of our living room he's fine and he'll lay down. It's only when we're sitting and about to start watching TV or talking. He doesn't do this when we sit at the kitchen table to eat. He'll usually explore a little before just laying underneath the table at our feet. I can't tell if this is just him wanting attention or a dominance issue. Has anyone else had any issues like this?
Hi H.mac and Smokey, welcome to the forum. I am also a novice lab owner struggling through the learning curve. Your pup is the same age as our Harley. Although I am not an experienced lab or dog owner, I do understand behaviour pretty well and I can almost lay my head on a block that it is not a dominance thing. (There are some awesome articles on the labradorsite about the inaccuracy of prior research regarding dominance and how this has led to generations of misunderstanding). I don't know what Smokey's motives are, more likely to be attention or trying to engage you in play, but I am really sure he isnt wanting to dominate. Labs don't want to dominate anyone Being in charge would be a labs worst nightmare. I am sure you will get a lot of experienced and wise advice from others here. Good luck.
Hi, Hi.mac, welcome to the forum, I'm a first time lab owner too, I have Cassie aged 11 months, and yes I had almost the same issue, although with her it was my arms she wanted. Everytime I read or watched TV. She was ok when I was on my laptop or when eating etc. A lot of people give a chew or similar to distract the puppy but this only worked for a short time with Cassie, then she would leap on to me barking and play bowing. Eventually I used an old short lead which she would wear when I wanted to watch TV I could grasp that without her thinking I was playing and then put her in her crate for a short time, just to separate her. I only did this a few times and she hasn't done it for a long time. Also teaching Smokey to go to his mat and settle cue might help. Your sure to get lots of advice from other more experienced people!
Hi and welcome. When you have sat on the sofa in the past, have you ever played with him with your feet? If you have, it could be that he is trying to play. Do you ever sit on the floor with him? Dogs (especially labs) like to be near people as much as possible. As above, the dominance theory is rubbish, they want to be loved, not dominate you.
You'll get lots of advice on teaching your pup to do nothing. We didn't know this when ours was a pup and he could not relax if we were doing nothing. He quickly trained us to always do something with him, usually with loud attention barking. Wish I'd known about teaching to do nothing when he was that young. Fortunately never too late. Snowie is 5 years old now and, once we're sitting, he'll go lie down. He has two comfy cushions in the lounge (don't tell our visitors we use the scatter cushions!!), and when he sees us put those cushions on the floor, he knows exactly what it means: we're watching TV and he can lie down and relax.
I'd say it's attention seeking - Mollie does it when I'm sitting here at my computer! (She's six month old) I turn to her, get her to do some obedience exercises then treat her, then give her a nylabone or similar to chew. So that she associates the obedience with the treats, not the nipping! She's nearly cured of it @editor we could use a thread about training a pup to do nothing ...
Thank you everyone for the advice! I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this and it's encouraging to know that similar issues with other labs have been resolved. I'll try to start training him to do nothing. Usually a toy only hold him off for so long to chew on and he tends to get very agitated with us when he's extremely tired. He's got quite the personality but that's why we adore him lol. Naya- Not really. We try not to play with him around the couches because he gets riled up pretty easily and he'll start jumping on the furniture with his toys. But that's probably why he's trying to get us up and into the other areas of the house we do play with him. MF-The cushion sounds like a neat idea! I'll definitely try that out and we'll see how it goes! Wish me good luck!
