Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My wife and I just bought a yellow lab from a pet store, he was 12 weeks old when i brought him home. All we want is to be able to love him up and for him to love us back. We do everything to show him that we love him, but he just does not want to please us or obey us. He seems to demand what he wants, like when he wants his belly rubbed, he will come over and lay on his back expecting a belly rub, if we don't do it right away he starts to bite untill we give in and rub his belly. Or even when my wife is just watching TV, he simply comes over and lunges at her and starts biting, growling and barking. It has gotten so bad that we cannot eat anything in front of him, because he starts to bark, growl and then he jumps up on us and tries to forcibly take the food from our hands constantly biting us in the process. He does not fear me or my wife and we just don't know how to control his aggressiveness. We took him to an obedience training class and the trainer taught him sit, come, and to "take" food from our hand gently. The only problem with the training is that he only listens when he knows we have a treat in our hand, otherwise he acts like he doesn't understand what we are telling him. We approached the trainer about his biting, and it was suggested that we distract him and give him something else to bite on and then praise him. It only worked the first day, and now he takes the nylabone, chews on it for a few seconds and then drops it and comes right back at us. We have tried advice from the Vet to no avail, and we are looking into another trainer and read up on several books, but nothing is helping. PLEASE any advice would be appreciated.

hi there. your situation sounds all too familiar. my pup is now 11 months old but he HAD and i will stress HAD all of the same behaviors as your pup. possibly worse.

let's just say...we are both victims of poor breeding. and i can honestly say that your pup's behavior can and will get dangerously worse. i was there. I have the scars. But hope is not lost, my baby is the lovenist lover you'd ever meet now and the change in behavior was like a flip of a switch AFTER i hired a animal behavior teacher. my trainer was maybe one -of- a -kind but i'm sure you can find one like him. he came to the house, taught me and my dog to trust one another, and now I am his biggest reward.

here is my advice:

1. find a trainer who specializes in behavior problems
2. make sure the trainer cares about you and your dog (not just your money)
* my puppy's training cost was 375 dollars but training only took 1 month 1 day a week, let's just say i would have payed him more for what he did

3. make sure the trainer is humane, and just cause he claims it doesn't mean he/she is. many traditional training techniques can cause your dog to fear you. you want him to TRUST you.

don't give up on your baby! he is a baby and he wants to be the leader of the pack. training will give him an understanding of his role in your family. and you will look back on these days and still cringe..... but you won't believe you have the same dog! i still say it everyday.

if you look back at old messages you can still read all my distressed emails. (my puppy's name is marley)

good luck!
stacey

~sigh~ I wish people wouldn't buy from petstores..
and that they'd look more into their breed of dog, and puppies in general...

puppies= chewing, biting, destroying things you love, require housebreaking

There is no other way around it. Puppies WILL chew on things, and their favorites seem to be fingers! (although mine loves my toes) Their teeth are coming in and they ITCH. So what better way to stop the itching than to chew???

It is normal, your dog is not a pyschotic killer, just a PUPPY.

Be consistant in giving your dog other things when he tries to chew on you... Get all his/her shots up to date and enroll in a training class or hire a private trainer!!!

And remember, PUPPIES CHEW!!!!! and bite! and demand A LOT of attention.