[kdryan]

I have a blast playing with Harley, I really do, but I am starting to get a bit concerned. When it's just me and him, everything is fine. He plays and has tons of energy to shed, but not anything odd about the nipping and biting. When the wife comes out with me, he is still manageable, but you can see he's a bit rougher with her than with me. Add the kids in and he just goes ballistic. He tugs at clothes, nips them, chases them, and all semblance of control is out the window. It's getting to where I don't want them to go outside with him.

I think I know what it is, I just don't know what to do. He thinks they're litter mates, and is competing for attention and wanting to play with someone on his own level. He doesn't realize they hurt easily, so goes nuts.

I wonder if he's getting enough exercise? Our schedule is normally a good walk in the morning at the park and some playing, occasional walks in the day to pee and poop (not more than ten minutes) and a good walk with playing again at night. Other than that, he's in the house, not really doing anything. I don't think that has anything to do with his attitude towards other family members, but it might help.

Oh, and obedience classes start Sunday...

Kevin

 

[georgie]

How old is Harley now? I remember back when Abby was around 6 to 10-11 months...what a holy terror. She was not like that with my husband but me...yikes, every pair of VS pajamas bottoms had chew holes & she would nip at my ankles till they bled. But with consistent "no" & redirect her attention to a chew toy or something else she did out grow it. Molly was the same way at about that age but not quite as bad as Abby. (or the memory fades with age.)

Obedience class should help.

One thing we noticed, neither one ever did that to the grandkids & they are little. They would just turn their back to the offending dog & no more biting or being wild. Go figure.

This will pass. Harley needs to learn that is not acceptable behavior and he will. Good luck.

 

[BigBrownDog]

How are you playing with him? If the play is rough he will get riled up. You can't blame him for that.

You should play in a manner that has some structure - fetch is good. I would also not do tug of war with him either as that can also rile up a puppy.

 

[lisa]

Harley sounds like my Gracie. She is okay with me most of the time, but can get out of control... i think it is overstimulation. The biting, jumping and craziness begins. She is terrible w my sister, who she does not see very often. I find the best thing to do is correct her with a stern NO and walk away or remove her from the situation or direct her in another direction w a toy . Grace is 7 mo old....and what a handful, she really does make me tired. My first lab was 14 when she died. I forgot ow much work puppies were...but all with it . Harley gets about the same walks as Grace. I can only say she will probably outgrow most of this. How is obedience school going? Good Luck\

p.s. I agree w big brown dog...no rough play. I know that really gets Gracie all worked up and it takes forever to slow her down.

 

[Samson]

If it is an Alpha issue then I would be inclined to stop the sort of play that you are referring to ! Stick to ball play until he has matured.

Socialisation with other dogs is important and is where he can practise his rough play.


If Alpha becomes an issue with the children then giving them feeding rights may help

 

[Anne]

If it is an Alpha issue then I would be inclined to stop the sort of play that you are referring to ! Stick to ball play until he has matured.

My obedience trainer would say the same thing. That Colin...he is a smart man.

If there truly is a pack order/hierarchy thing going on between your wife and kids and Harley, it IS something that needs to be attended to and dealt with. Ask your new obedience trainer if he/she can observe some of these play patterns, and then ask for advice.

 

[kdryan]

How old is Harley now? I remember back when Abby was around 6 to 10-11 months...what a holy terror. She was not like that with my husband but me...yikes, every pair of VS pajamas bottoms had chew holes & she would nip at my ankles till they bled. But with consistent "no" & redirect her attention to a chew toy or something else she did out grow it. Molly was the same way at about that age but not quite as bad as Abby. (or the memory fades with age.)

Obedience class should help.

One thing we noticed, neither one ever did that to the grandkids & they are little. They would just turn their back to the offending dog & no more biting or being wild. Go figure.

This will pass. Harley needs to learn that is not acceptable behavior and he will. Good luck.

We're pretty much doing this now. How long did it take your pooch to grow out of it?

Kevin

 

[NM Lab Lover]

Kevin - it will be interesting to see what the obedience trainer has to say. He will be able to see first hand the interaction between Harley and all of you. Talk to him very frankly about all of the behaviors that have been occuring over the past weeks and I bet you will get some good ideas on how to work those through so Harley (and the entire family) will soon have a much more calm and positive relationship. Remember tho' - he is a puppy! Lots of training, love and time equals one very happy Harley!!

 

[Clanceycanuck]

Oy how easy it is to forget the puppy stage! You'll get through this Kevin - your asking and learning. Good Luck

 

[joflake]

Just wanted to say good luck with this. It's hard not to play with your puppy. When mine would get too rough, I'd stop playing. It didn't take them long to learn that if they got rough, they got not attention. Put your hands behind your back and stop playing, or turn your back to him and don't respond. If you take the fun out of it, he should stop. I'd also be interested in the trainer has to say.

 

[kelli]

Kevin.. what you have there is a high-energy field line Labrador. For the first 2 years i thought i was going to strangle mine.. and to this day i'm almost 99% sure i will NEVER get another puppy.. EVER.

It was HARD.. it really was.. and as dearly as i loved him back then.. it took every ounce of patience i had to be consistant and keep an even keel.

Obedience will do wonders for you.. swimming will be your best bet to tire that dog out so he can concentrate long enough to understand what you want of him.

You have the dog equivalent of a 3 year old with ADHD.

Who just ate an entire chocolate cake

And a case of pop

And a bag of sugar

 

[kdryan]

A sign at the new vet says 'Unattended Children will be given an espresso and a free puppy'

Kevin

 

[wa-lab]

Kevin.. what you have there is a high-energy field line Labrador. For the first 2 years i thought i was going to strangle mine.. and to this day i'm almost 99% sure i will NEVER get another puppy.. EVER.

It was HARD.. it really was.. and as dearly as i loved him back then.. it took every ounce of patience i had to be consistant and keep an even keel.

Obedience will do wonders for you.. swimming will be your best bet to tire that dog out so he can concentrate long enough to understand what you want of him.

You have the dog equivalent of a 3 year old with ADHD.

Who just ate an entire chocolate cake

And a case of pop

And a bag of sugar

OMG, I think we have the same dog. LOL! I laughed so hard on your description. Actually Piper was a nightmare until about 8 months, then she became manageable.

 

[wa-lab]

Oh, and obedience classes start Sunday...

Kevin

I hope you have better luck than we did with trainers/classes. The instructor at Puppy K class told us to only walk her as far as she would walk before she performed the alligator death roll (I have holes in quite a few sleeves from these days). Ummm, sometimes that happens right out of the driveway and she does need exercise. We could not exercise her in the yard off a lead because she would eat/inhale non-edibles with exuberance.

The second trainer told me she needed more exercise and that I needed to get her under control or I'd have a monster on my hand. Ummm, that is why I'm coming here for advice(none of their tips worked) They told me to turn my back and ignore her in the yard when she started to play too rough. Not a good idea, I have a big ole hole in the butt of my sweatpants. The trainer then told me to hook her to a bicycle and run her. Umm, at 7 months isn't that a bit harsh on the joints.

Basically she sounds a lot like your pup. She was good for my husband, sometimes good for me and not so good for kids. The kids and I were playmates. She was a terrible biter and became know as the shark. None of the mild methods worked. I finally found the magic cure for it. She is somewhat noise shy and instead of just yipping once when she bit me, I actually screamed and yipped dramatically/loudly for about a half a minute. It scared her. She tried a few more times and decided that it wasn't a good idea.

I had a trainer(not local) suggest doggy daycare to me and at wits end I figured heck why not try. It was the BEST DECISION ever. She went one day a week and from that point on she learned that you play with people one way and dogs another. She got all her rough doggy play out at daycare and was great for us at home.

Having a puppy with kids was seriously the most demanding/frustrating thing. She is now 2.5 and great with appropriate play.

 

[Snowflake]

You are so bringing back memories of Sally. Our fix for her....well, the only thing that worked even a little to calm her down....was retrieve, retrieve, retrieve....and then retrieve some more. Water retrieving is even better.

Retrieving was the ONLY thing that would calm her down. Walks wouldn't do it. Playing with us wouldn't do it. Letting her run around in the back yard wouldn't do it. Retrieving, however, would wear her out and calm her down. It's like she absolutely HAD to have that retrieving fix.

Around a year old she got better and around two she got even better. I would have never thought at 6 months old that Sally would be this obedient, sweet, focused dog she is now.....NEVER!

 

[YellowJakesMom]

We swam Jake. A lot. In a river. Against the current.

We dubbed it "the water treadmill," and Jake went there every time we had a spare minute from the time he was swimming until we moved when he was 11 months.

 

[kdryan]

My wife has taken to calling him 'Psycho-dog'

 

[Dexter Dogg]

I laughed reading your post.

Dexters crazy puppy days will live with us forever. Now at 20 months he has calmed so much. But when he does have a crazy moment it is 80lbs charging around the room not 12lbs.

His favourite game is to bound down the stairs at 80 mph. Seriously I am not sure how many stairs his paws actually touch. Usually I get him in a stay at the top of the stairs and call him down when I am ready. But a few weeks back he came out of no where when I was about half way down the stairs and took me with him. LOL Its moments like this we rename him Marley.

- Dave