Hi! We very recently adopted a 7 month old black lab/collie mix from the Humane Society. She's very sweet and overall has been doing very well with all the changes in her life. However, there have been a couple moments where she gets overly excited (when I brought out my walking shoes, when my boyfriend was setting up a crate- moments that are hard to predict) and she started jumping, nipping (but potentially biting, I'm not sure I understand the difference) and even growling. I don't think it's aggression (?), but it has flustered me when she nips my arm and growls and doesn't respond to 'no'. Does anyone have any advice? What can do we do to consistently teach her that this behavior is not okay? How can we control it before it escalates? Thank you! Also, any general advice about a brand new puppy to our home would be greatly appreciated and helping her when she gets anxious with new situations would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Bekka and welcome to the forum. Do you know any of the history of your new addition? What's her name? The behaviour you describe is very common in puppies; by seven months it can have been trained out, but it's possible that the previous owners didn't understand it and put it down to aggression. Sadly, loads of puppies end up being rejected at this stage, because of a lack of understanding. The best way to train it out is to completely ignore her what it happens. That means, standing up, turn your back on her and cross your ams, stock-still, facing away from her, not saying anything and not even giving her any eye contact. Eventually, she will learn that her behaviour (which sounds like it's excitement and trying to initiate play), only makes you really boring, so there's no point doing it. If you can't stand there, completely still (for example, if she's still biting at you), then remove yourself from the room, without a word. Whichever you do, as soon as she has calmed down and has four feet on the floor again, give her a stroke and some attention for being a good girl. This may make her excited again, but, again, you make yourself really boring and only engage with her when she's behaving. You may find that, using this method, it may briefly get worse, as she tries frantically to get you to respond, but this is a good thing and is called an "extinction burst". It shows that what you're doing is working and she's trying to figure out how to get you to engage. Escalating her behaviour is something she'll try, because that behaviour has worked before, even if what you were doing was saying "no", she was getting a reaction and attention from you. This escalation, if it happens, is the final throes of the behaviour, and it's where you need most to stick to your guns and continue with the tactic. The worst thing you can do at this stage would be to cave, because that will teach her that putting 50% effort into jumping at you makes you boring, but putting 100% effort into it works! Aside from that, the best advice I can give you is to get a copy of The Happy Puppy Handbook, which was invaluable to me when I brought my pups home. The main website (www.thelabradorsite.com) has loads of great articles on it, too, for free. In situations where she gets anxious, you want to start really slowly and try to make them positive experiences for her, by using tasty treats and/or games. It's hard to give specific plans without examples, but generally, if it's a "thing" that is making her anxious, then you would start a long, long way from that thing, rewarding her for not responding, then gradually moving closer - which may be over the course of many sessions before she is happy with it. Good luck and let us know how you get on
Hello from my 2 year old Yellow Labrador Molly and me. I had Molly from 8 weeks so I know what her puppyhood was like and still she behaved in the manner you describe. As Fiona says, ignoring it is the way to treat it. Unfortunately, that comes under the heading of "easier said than done" when you have a quite large dog apparently attacking you. It is worth mentioning that she is entering dog adolescence and it is hell on four paws. Molly behaved in the way you describe. I was pretty sure it wasn't aggression, just a burst of energy she couldn't control. It went on for several weeks ( though it felt much longer) and ended with an extinction burst. It is an appalling time and I can understand why some people put their dogs into rescue at that time. I hope that hasn't scared you or put you off. One of the major advantages of this site is that you will hear loads of experiences from people who have been through it and come out the other side. Molly is still boisterous, but it is very noticeable that when she does have her mad moments and dash round house and garden she takes great care not to make contact with anyone.
Hi And Welcome. From 8 .month old Poppy and me. This forum is a god send. we rescued Poppy at 7 months she is a choc lab very similar behaviour. Ignoring really does work. also have you thought of clicker training. When poppy puts all 4 paws on the floor or stops nipping she gets a click then a treat. its taken a while but she is now really getting it. Keep going, Good luck
Hi and welcome from me and Juno, my 15 month old chocolate girl. Great advice from Fiona which really does work, it will take a little time and consistency but the behaviour will stop if it doesn't work to get attention. good luck and let us know how you get on
Thank you all for the great advice. It has worked well when we are inside, she calms herself and eventually will get back to her normal state. The only concern I have, is what do I do when it occurs on a leashed walk? It happened this morning (I think meeting a stranger who was very excited set her off) and she was very hard to ignore and I was attached to her (I tried turning my body away from her but she was biting at my arm and it hurt). How can I control her when this happens without physically punishing her, and still continue training her through positive reinforcement? PS. We named her Dalva, and I'm looking forward to moving past this stage with her! Also, I just ordered our clickers- so that will start soon.
Does anyone have any advice for this? I'm having a similar situation with my 3 1/2 month old puppy. When we're inside it's much easier to ignore him or leave the room, but when he starts jumping and attacking me outside (usually happens once or twice per day), my options are limited. He's already so tall that he can easily reach my arms so it's pretty painful if he gets a good bite. For example just tonight I took him outside to pee and he started going crazy the second we went outside. I held his leash away from me and he stopped and went pee but not after getting me good quite a few times.
