We have a black Lab who is unruly most of the time. I know pups bite but this one attacks you like a dog possessed. She bites and scratches with her claws so much my arms are left bleeding. We take her out to try and burn energy but nothing slows her down. We are now at the end our our tether with her. Only thing to calm her is to put her in her cage for half an hour. When she comes out she seems to have calmed down till the next time.We have had a black lab before but never had this behaviour.
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi Julie and welcome to the forum Sounds like your current pup is a bit more energetic and lively than your previous dog. Going from a calm dog to a whirlwind of a puppy or young dog can be quite a shock to the system (I've been there!). Rest assured that your puppy's behaviour, though not enjoyable for you, is 100% normal. It's just play. But she does need to learn to play gently where delicate human skin is involved. The approach you are using of 'time outs' when she is really boisterous is a good one. Keep doing that. It will gradually start to work. It's also important not to let her get to the stage where she's really riled up. Learn the signs that mean she's heading toward super excitement and do some things to calm her down to head it off at the pass. Things you can do to calm her down are: - little training sessions that involve her thinking and focusing on you (can be simple like teaching sit, drop, touch your hand, 'look at me' and tricks like spin and roll over) - getting her to sit or lie down and giving her a stream of treats for maintaining that position (don't expect her to be able to maintain it too long) - calm stroking and soft words (you'll need to do that when she's still low on the excitement scale so you're not reinforcing crazy behaviour). Another essential thing is noticing all the times when she's quiet (even for two seconds) or sitting or lying calmly. Reward those with a treat. You need to reward the behaviour that you want Few questions: - What kind of training have you been doing so far and what kinds of methods have you been using? - Are you able to find opportunities to socialise her with other puppies or friendly older dogs? - Are there any good training clubs or classes in your area that might take members with puppies? It will probably help to give her things to think about with training
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi Rachael, thank you it's nice to be able to talk on a forum. She does socialise with other dogs as we live very near to a park and she loves it meeting other dogs. I have done the usual sit , stay training with her and always making her sit before giving her anything but nothing else. When she gets to the stage where she starts biting and pestering it's usually the cage to calm her or put her lead on to walk round the block but as soon as she's back it's bite time again. It got to the stage tonight when my husband said she will have to go but we don't really want that.
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi Julie and welcome Sorry to hear you are struggling with your pup. Pups need quite a bit of mental stimulation and well as physical. By doing short training sessions throughout the day and giving her other things to do such as a kong (especially stuffed and frozen ) or hiding treats then releasing her to go find them or teaching things such as paw, catch the ball etc etc. hope this helps a bit
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Thank you for all your advice. Just read about a lady who says all of a sudden all this behaviour will stop and will turn into a big soppy loveable pup. I hope so x
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab It is awful when they attack you like that. But it is par for the course and will be over soon. My tip is to give her as much food as possible in toys like treat balls, buster cubes etc. It makes the meal last longer (surely a good thing if like Labs FOOD is the centre of your universe). It gives them something to do that doesn't involve chewing on you. And, selfishly, it gives you a break while they scamper around the kitchen looking cute
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab All the biting will definitely stop. It really will. Continue with what you are doing, and you will make it out the other side Right now she is just a baby who is excited with life and is programmed to explore the world with her mouth. It's only a passing stage in her life though. The socialising and the training that are doing are all going to help in the long term too, as you're teaching her to behave well around other dogs and people, and you are building a way of communicating with her. Take heart, and come here to download/unwind anytime you like!
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Thanks everyone it really helps to be able to talk on here. At the moment she is laid asleep like butter wouldn't melt x
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi there and welcome!! Don't have much useful to add since it's been a looong time since I've had a puppy, but there are plenty of others here who are going through this or have just come through. So hang in there,there is hope!!
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab My dog was a right horror when she was younger and I know how you feel! I think Rachael has given the best advice here. When you take her for a walk how long do you go for and does she get off lead time? This is a much better way to tire out a pup than just an on lead stroll round the block. Also getting to have play sessions with other dogs can expend a lot of the energy too. You could try teaching her some retrieve games as this will occupy her brain. Mental stimulation (things like training sessions, puzzle toys, learning new things) are the best way to tire a puppy out as their brain has to work hard to think about what they are doing and this can be more exhausting than physical exercise, so if you haven't already it's definitley worth investing in food toys like kongs or activity balls. When Penny was young I also did 3-4 10minute training sessions with her every day - after all of these she would go for a nap for an hour. By the age of 4 months she knew sit, wait, down, paw and roll over. Also what are you doing when she bites you, apart from giving her a timeout? A lot of trainers and behaviourists recommend that you make and high pitched yelp noise and immediately stop whatever you were doing with her eg. Fold your arms, stand up and turn away and completely ignore the pup until she is calm, and then calmly reward her for calming down and stopping the behaviour. If you follow this method every time she puts her mouth on you, even if it doesn't hurt, you should start to see results. At the end of the day all your puppy wants is attention and her grabbing you is one way she has learned how to get it - even if it's you telling her off and taking her to her crate - any form of verbal or physical interaction is attention. It is likely the behaviour may get a little worse before it gets better - this is known as an extinction burst. If you suddenly start ignoring the behaviour that used to earn the dog some attention, the dog will start to try harder to get it. It's important to carry on and see it through this phase as it will get better and you will come out the other side with a lovely, non bitey puppy!
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi Julie, My last lab who sadly passed away last June was the puppy from hell about this age! When she got worked up she would bite, scratch,jump up and pull my clothes. Sometimes so was so crazy it was a bit scary! But like others have mentioned it soon stopped and she did turn out to be a big loveable pup in the end although she still had her crazy moments where she would run around the house like an absolute nutter for 20 mins and then zonk out for a big sleep but knew she wasn't allowed to bite us anymore.
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab We have a 4 month old male. He is lovable and mellow until he starts to get tired, then turns into a possessed piranha pup. It did not take us much blood loss to finally learn the signs. We can head it off at the pass now. We put a stop to it by distraction with a raw deer hide he loves, and that we bring out for him to worry. He will work out his last bit of energy on the hide and then plop down in his bed. We have an abundance of raw deer hides that are durable, natural chew toys. He also has a raccoon skin that has lasted his torments much longer than any store bought toy. We gave him a skunk hide (de-scented) but took it away because the hair pulls out too easy. His stool does contain deer hair ... he has frequent and healthy looking stools. Our last Vet visit was 4 weeks from the first. Zeus weighed 33 pounds, a gain of 13 pounds in a month! Annie and I had labs all during our child rearing years - all American energetic, often spastic types with the amber eyes. Now that we are in early retirement, the English type with dark eyes is ideal temperament. He is still a bundle of spunk, but the best lab we could have hoped for. You don't have to have a deer hide, but something he will obsess over that you can bring out when needed. Maybe a big cooked bone with marrow. Zeus's incisors are now poking through the baby teeth so there is a way to go with the chewing. But he really is a good boy when we say ouch and no ... except when tired. Good luck.
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Welcome to the forum, Philjam Sounds like your puppy Zeus is turning into a wonderful member of the family.
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Hi Welcome! I'm fairly new here to and I posted about this when Barkley was around 5 months old. He would for some unknown reason have spurts of evilness and bark and bite to the point where I cried sometimes because it hurt so much. The bruises on my thighs and bottom are still healing! We tried ignoring him and withdrawing attention and we also tried shuting him out the room for time out but no luck! The thing that seems to be working for us is when he does it I say 'be nice' in a calm manner and I repeat it twice more. If I have to say it more than 3 times I shut myself out of the room until he is calm then return to what I was doing before I left. Touch wood I've not been bitten at all this week!!! Hooray! Worth a try. Trust me I know how you feel xx
Re: Unruly 4month old Black Lab Thank you for everyone for all your messages. I have tried all the advice everyone has given me and this week has been one of the best weeks with our puppy. Whenever Poppy gets too excited and starts biting and attacking us we give her time out in her cage, ten minutes and she comes out settled. When she starts getting too excited that's when the game ends. We can't believe in the difference in her. Thankyou everyone xx
