[HarveysMum]

I first read the original post a few hours ago and was really angry. I have had time to think about it and here goes - First, i dont think you 'hate' your dog, if you did, he would be in the pound already. I think that you actually want him to be happy and hence why you took the time to find a forum that might be able to help. Please take on board the positive things people have said, they want to help you and the puppy. Clearly he has pushed you to the edge, and being in the early stages of pregnancy (i vaguely remember that!!) you are not reacting well to it. He will calm down, but that is probably going to be to late for you given your current situation. Find a rescue center or reach out to those on here who are trying to help you. If you are in the UK, please reach out to me, i will find him a home, and if i cant, he will just have to come and live with me!

Chin up, believe it or not, they actually just want to please you! I hope you can find the strength to do what is right for this little chap.

 

[Deanna1002]

i will help out as well. im from nj. Will travel anywhere in the northeast to pick him up and if i have to foster him i will.

 

[justine]

I just rescued a ~4 year old chocolate boy in December and he had a whole bunch of issues - horrible separation anxiety, jumping, barking, biting off your hand for treats, counter-surfing, pulling on leash, not trained at all. It's not impossible to turn him around, but I've put in a LOT of time and effort to train him. The number one thing he needed was love, which really went a long way. He's now my mellow choco boy, who loves nothing better than to sit on your lap. But get his favorite squeaky toy out and he is rambunctious.

*sigh* I really hope that the OP comes back and allows us to help.

 

[Jefferson'n'Ted]

Heathann9, I can totally sympathize with you. I adopted Teddy when he was 8 months old. He was terrified at the shelter, cowered, and was very quiet. The shelter said he was the quietest, calmest lab they had ever seen. I brought him home (thinking I had another Jefferson on my hands) and in about 2 weeks he was the holy terror of the house. I could not turn my back on him for a second. I lost count of how many pairs of shoes he has eaten. He once ate my checkbook and all the bills I had just paid. He got my wallet out of my purse and took it out in the yard and littered the yard with money, credit cards, et al. I can't leave a pencil or a pen sitting on the counter to this day. He has chewed anything he can get his mouth around. He began guarding his food and growling if anyone came near him while eating. I started him on the NILF program and after about two weeks he went for my face while I was hand feeding him. He broke my glasses and cut my eye. I was afraid of him and seriously thought about returning him to the shelter.
I decided to try and work this out. I felt that I had made a commitment to him when I brought him home. So after almost 3 years, he still is the rowdy one. Some days he is a dream dog and others a devil dog. I'm not sure that he will ever be crate free. And we will always have food guarding issues. I have just learned to manage them better.
I don't know if I could have done this with a small child in the house.
And I have another lab that I adopted at 8 months of age. He is my dream dog. Gentle, mellow, and for the most part well behaved. (just don't ask me about those holes in the back yard!)

So take one of the members up on their offer to help rehome him. He will be better off and so will you. when your baby is older--say second or third grade, you can look for another breed that is calmer.

 

[myfavoritedog]

Totally agree. But please search for an adequate Lab rescue organization and place him through them, don´t just go and dump him at a pound. You are pregnant and obviously don´t have the patience nor the will to try to handle the dog, and this is only going to get worse once your baby is born.

Young dogs around a year old are difficult because they are in their "teens" (all breeds not just labs). They are a very active breed that need a lot of exercise and attention and are not dogs to be left outside.

This. I am sure it is a difficult situation for you and it would be best for both your family and the dog to rehome him. Good luck.

 

[AngusFangus]

Oh my goodness. Well, I can relate. I spent the first year of Angus' life in tears. I would dread coming home, and just sit in the driveway, thinking, "Oh dear Lord. He's in there. I don't want to go in."

Like yours, he had another dog, our previous dog, that he had to live up to. And I considered Crash to have been the perfect dog (and puppy) from day one. I couldn't understand how a dog could do some of the things he did. There must be something wrong with him. Brain tumor? Rabies? These were both things I gave some serious consideration at various points in his puppyhood. I feel strongly that I can guarantee you that your dog is NOT worse than Angus was.

However, as Melissa said, one thing Angus never was, was hated. Oh, I had people telling me left and right, for months, that I should take him back to the shelter, or "find him a nice farm to live on." But as much as he was making my life truly, TRULY miserable, I had made a commitment. Angus didn't ask to go home with me from the shelter. He had no choice in the matter. I had a responsibility to do my best to be a good steward of his care.

One night, as I was wailing like a banshee that I missed Crash, my husband found this forum and said, "These people seem like they know a lot about Labs, honey. Why don't you join and see if they can help?" My first post was somewhat similar in tone to yours, and got about the same kind of responses. LOL I took my licks and explained that I didn't *really* want to kill him, that I was actually a nice person who was just at the end of her rope and desperately, desperately needed help.

They helped me. God bless them all.

Angus is five now. Is he perfect? Noooo. Is he Crash? Nooooo. Do I love him? Oh my gosh. More than anything. He has stolen my heart like no other.

It can be done. As others have explained, it is a lot of work and you have to be willing to put in the time. Training is never over. We started obedience training when he was a puppy, and he now competes and has four Rally and Obedience titles and a dozen or so ribbons to his credit.

However...I don't have kids. The dogs are my kids, and they are almost as much work as I imagine children would be. Daily training sessions, dog sitters at lunch to play fetch, hubby walks 2x a day, I play fetch with them nightly. All this to meet those aforementioned exercise needs. As you said yourself, "The only time he is good is when he's exhausted." Bingo. Welcome to my world.

So. I don't know...maybe you are like me, and were just having a really bad day when you wrote this. Maybe you could turn things around with a little help. Or maybe Labs are really not the right breed for you. I do realize it can be quite a rude awakening, if you've been used to a different personality in a dog, to have to adjust to the energy level a young Lab exudes 24/7.

I will say that it will get better from 10 months. I will also say that you are going to have to put a significant amount of work into shepherding the process. Are you up for this? Only you know the answer.

Both ZoeZoe and Dani (and I may be forgetting someone else who has responded) are actively involved in Lab rescue and can help you find another home for him if that's what you choose. Please don't take him to a shelter - the shelters are overflowing with Labs just like him, for similar reasons, and he will very likely never see the outside of the shelter again.

Please check back in. I hope it all works out for the best for everyone.

 

[jzgrlduff]

Excellent post, Connie!!!! I sure do hope she comes back here....

 

[myfavoritedog]

Definitely hope she returns, or at least sends a PM to those who offered and can help. Based on the OP, seems like he needs the love, exercise and the discipline to start him on the right track. I can understand how she might feel overwhelmed with a puppy and a baby on the way. Plus she needs to think about, as one poster said, about having an out of control dog around with an infant. Not a good combination.

One thing I have noticed is that on the rare occasion when I cannot exercise Tal and Barney like I and they would like, like today when it is raining, they take it in stride. We play some inside, but not like outdoors. There were times when they were pups, like everyone, I wondered what have I done?? lol But it never crossed my mind to give them up. And I think they know it. I sincerely wish you the best and hope you find a good home for the dog. It will give both you and him a fresh start.

 

[kelli]

Look at us, board people! We've mellowed in our old age! Dawww.. there was a time we'd have run this person off crying and convulsing!

Anyway.. there were a few days in tuck's puppyhood when the only thing that kept me from finding him a new home was the very real notion that if i couldn't deal with him, nobody else would and i couldn't bare the thought of him ending up tossed away or in a shelter.. so i kept moving forward.

Today, (he's 8 now) he is this awesome awesome dog.. easy and all get out to be with and listens FAR better than his boisterous sister of 2.5 years (who by the way, does everything you describe in your post but i frickin' adore that girl for reasons unknown.)

Anyhoo.. if you got this dog from a breeder.. contact them first.. if you got it from someone who was not a real breeder, take up the multiple offers you'd had in this thread by our members who volunteer for rescues and give this dog a chance to be loved.

You owe it to this dog.

 

[dukesmommy22]

While Duke is not as old as your puppy and does not have the same personality as yours seems to he has been quite a bit of work! There have been times when he has accidents or chewed up my new high heels for work! that I thought "What have I done?" But then he looks at me with those eyes and never once have I thought about "getting rid of him". As the others said if you feel that way, it's best to give him to some one that does want him and will take the time to train him since youn seemed to have gotten a lab with a more spunky personality than our mellow duke. If you do decide you want to keep him, what I have realized in the last 4 months of owning a lab is that it is WELL WORTH the work.

 

[kaznalf]

Well that was an interesting read :-/

 

[AngusFangus]

Anyway.. there were a few days in tuck's puppyhood when the only thing that kept me from finding him a new home was the very real notion that if i couldn't deal with him, nobody else would and i couldn't bare the thought of him ending up tossed away or in a shelter.. so i kept moving forward.

Oh man. Yes, me too.

 

[kassabella]

I am sorry you feel like this. Can your husband help.

I don't know what you are going through, but can relate to hating your dog. I adopted Ernie a few months after Kassa passed. I didn't really want him at that time, but he was part of Kassa and I didn't want him going to a home he would be abused. He was 4 and not house trained. He wasn't trained at all, except what he had trained himself to do, and that was everything I found unacceptable in a dog. I am ashamed to admit I did yell.. I hate you. Why are you here when My Kassy has gone. No one wants you. For the first year I was at my wits end with him. If I hadn't been so attached to Kassy and knew they are a wonderful breed I would have thought what kind of dog is this. Trainers had trouble with him and no one agreed as to the best way to deal with him.

He still counter surfs, isn't the most obedient dog, but he is a very special dog. I am lucky to have another heart dog. It has taken time, lots of patience and love. If someone had worked with Ernie when he was younger he would be an even more amazing dog today.
Labs are wonderful dogs and very intelligent and I am sure it was just as hard for him as it was for me. I was too blind to see that and blamed him, when my sadness at loosing Kass and other things in my life meant I really didn't understand him as I should have.

If I had children I don't think we would have made it. So if you really can't put the time into your pup it isn't giving up by letting someone else have him. The longer you leave it the harder it will be for someone else to work with him.
I know it is hard, but please don't hate him. Let someone else love him if you don't think you can. Remeber many working dogs are Labs which to me means they have a great temperment.

Good luck and hope all goes well with you and the dog and baby.

 

[Jeff M]

Must be a troll. Doesn't bother to respond to people that offered to take the unwanted pup. If you can't handle a lab, then a baby will be a real challenge. Hope you don't hate the baby when it wakes you up crying.

 

[sarah]

she hasn't come back - i will assume troll.

if this is a real person please take up the offers to take your dog. You will be doing what is right for the dog and in it's best interests.

 

[Snowflake]

I'm usually the first one to cry troll, but for some reason, this poster seems legit. Maybe she also posted on some other lab forum and got help there.

 

[kassabella]

Maybe she feels embarrassed. She may have been having a really bad day and found venting to strangers easier than talking to her friend and family. I used to feel very embarrassed I didn't like him and some days was beside myself not knowing what to do with him.

 

[Rushpuppy]

Nah I think it was a troll. I can't imagine asking for help and not responding to those who are trying to help. I was very surprised that everyone pretty much held their tempers and reached out to offer advice. That was a very good thing.

 

[cinderbay]

Nah I think it was a troll. I can't imagine asking for help and not responding to those who are trying to help. I was very surprised that everyone pretty much held their tempers and reached out to offer advice. That was a very good thing.

Honestly I think it was a troll too...I mean with a name like heathann9??

 

[lurker]

Hello. Mum of 1 lab and 2 kiddos here. Was a poster here before...but back to topic...

I do not think the OP is a troll.

This looks like the object of her troubles right here: http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc245/heathann9/Contest/?action=view&current=LabPup.jpg&newest=1