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[chewwy13]

My 4 month old choc lab Roscoe does not like my niece who is 5 years old. When we first got him we had him in the kitchen and she was petting him at the gate and the gate fell on him. Is it possible that he remembers this or could it be that the young children at the breeders house mistreated him. He was the runt of the litter also and his brothers and sisters ( 10) were taken at 5.5 weeks and his mother left 2 days later so he was by himself for almost 2 weeks before we picked him up.

[christensenfarms]

Who knows why? Some dogs simply do not like small children. I'd suggest for the sake of the child, keep the dog away from her.

[lisa]

My 4 month old choc lab Roscoe does not like my niece who is 5 years old. When we first got him we had him in the kitchen and she was petting him at the gate and the gate fell on him. Is it possible that he remembers this or could it be that the young children at the breeders house mistreated him. He was the runt of the litter also and his brothers and sisters ( 10) were taken at 5.5 weeks and his mother left 2 days later so he was by himself for almost 2 weeks before we picked him up.

Why was the mom and pups taken so early?? What do you mean when you say he does not like your niece...does he bite, growl or look nervous?

[chewwy13]

Barks at her, jumps at her, tries to bite her. Can't tell if he is playing or not. Very aggressive towards her

[lisa]

Barks at her, jumps at her, tries to bite her. Can't tell if he is playing or not. Very aggressive towards her

My yellow lab was like this as a pup and still will jump and lunge at me, grab my arm with her mouth. Gracie was a very mouthy lab and still is when she gets very excited. I really doubt your lab is doing this behavior out of anger and dislike. He sounds like a puppy playing..but as they get bigger jumping and nipping isn't fun. That being said..I would still be very careful around your niece, she is a child and you would never want to see her get bit or hurt even if it is play. I would look into obedience training...check with your local labrador retriever club for training classes in your area. I found this helped with Gracie. Also I noticed when I would act very excited around Gracie, i.e. loud, high pitch voice, or played games like tug of war with her this would escalate her rough play. When your niece is over try to be very calm and quiet around the puppy and if the puppy gets rough then put her in her crate or in a "time out" somewhere. I found with Gracie if I put her away and ignored her a few min when she acted like this, she would calm down a bit. Good luck, keep us posted