I have had two labrador puppies before this one we adopted. Both of those labrador puppies prior turned out to be amazing pets and part of the family. I trained both and both had amazing sweet temperaments and came from akc breeders. After two years without a pet we decided to adopt a 7 week labrador puppy from a breeder that still hasn't shown us or given us AKC papers. I trained the previous two and had no problems. This puppy constantly bites and growls. She will go after my three year owl, growl and then bite a finger, wrist, a foot etc. She will bite down and not let go of my three year old or me. I have to pry my fingers into the puppies mouth to have her loosen her hold. She has drawn blood and still won't let go while my three year old cries and screams. After I get her to let go we try to walk away and ignore her, but she follows and bites my child's or my foot and will latch on again. After a week of the ignoring approach and a firm no, l am not putting the puppy behind a gate after an episode for a one minute time out and then reintroducing the puppy again. She will immediately growl and bite again. She snaps her jaw at me so hard you can hear it across the room. I am clicker training like I have with my previous two puppies, but all she wants to do is growl and bite and latch on. She isn't doing the normal teething and play that I am used too. I am worried that the breeder gave me a puppy that isn't full blooded labrador and thats why the breeder has not given me the papers. She is now 9 weeks old.I don't know what to do, is this normal?
Hello and welcome. Firstly I am no expert, but there are some on here who will chime in hopefully. I have had 5 dogs and my current dog is a lab. Labradors are known to be crocodiles in early puppyhood, have a look at some old threads, there are lots of them with the same issues you are facing. Meg was a biting demon but grew out if it when her teeth setlled like most do. I would never let a young child near a puppy at this age, the chances of getting hurt are pretty high. It is amazing your last 2 labs were not like this, as so many are. Also another factor is that you got your pup a little young, at 7 weeks the pups mum and litter mates are still teaching bite inhibition, so that will be adding to your issues. I doubt at 9 weeks you are dealing with aggression, more likely to be combination of being a young lab that left home too early. The best way to deal with the biting we found was distraction, give them things to keep mouths busy, carrots, frozen kongs and cardboard boxes were a favourite of Megs. Keep you child away from your pup until this phase is over. I had 6 year old twins when Meg was a pup and they had very limited interaction until she was much older. Now they are best friends and Meg is a family delight, despite shreading my hands and clothes when she was little. Regarding her breed, it shoulds like your breeder is being dishonest and you could have paid good money for a dog you intend to buy. That could bring problems in the future and the only way you will know is a DNA test. Diid you meet her Mum and Dad, and view details of all their health tests? You can probably check those details on the AKC site ?
