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We have a chocolate lab, female, who is just about 15 months old. In general, she's a great dog. Very sweet and smart, but for some reason over the past few weeks she seems to be testing the limits more than usual. I know about the adolescent phase they supposedly hit around 5-7 months, but it's almost like she is hitting hers now.
For example, yesterday I worked a half a day at the office. Usually when we leave her alone for that amount of time, we close the bedroom and bathroom doors and she has the rest of the house to wander around in, and she's always done just great with this. Yesterday I came home to find she had chewed up the arm of the couch. She NEVER chewed on furniture before, even in her teething phase. (floormats and toilet paper - now that's a different story! haha) Needless to say that was a pleasant surprise!
She also seems to be "listening" less... she knows a ton of commands, but things like "come" seem to be only for selective hearing lately.
She gets plenty of attention, walks, exercise, etc. so nothing like that has changed. I'm hoping it's a late adolescence phase, as everyone tells us that labs stay in the puppy phase for a good two years... anyone else been through something like this?
We are going to put her in doggy-day-care one or two days a week, hoping that will help with some of the excess energy she seems to have found lately. Think that might help?
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by kimmarie
We have a chocolate lab, female, who is just about 15 months old. In general, she's a great dog. Very sweet and smart, but for some reason over the past few weeks she seems to be testing the limits more than usual. I know about the adolescent phase they supposedly hit around 5-7 months, but it's almost like she is hitting hers now.
For example, yesterday I worked a half a day at the office. Usually when we leave her alone for that amount of time, we close the bedroom and bathroom doors and she has the rest of the house to wander around in, and she's always done just great with this. Yesterday I came home to find she had chewed up the arm of the couch. She NEVER chewed on furniture before, even in her teething phase. (floormats and toilet paper - now that's a different story! haha) Needless to say that was a pleasant surprise!
She also seems to be "listening" less... she knows a ton of commands, but things like "come" seem to be only for selective hearing lately.
She gets plenty of attention, walks, exercise, etc. so nothing like that has changed. I'm hoping it's a late adolescence phase, as everyone tells us that labs stay in the puppy phase for a good two years... anyone else been through something like this?
We are going to put her in doggy-day-care one or two days a week, hoping that will help with some of the excess energy she seems to have found lately. Think that might help?
Thanks!
This is totally standard for labs. I sound like a broken record, but hunting and field trial trainers call this point in labrador development "the 12 month training dump." They seem to regress and forget everything they have learned. You have to stay current with your basic obedience training* through this time. The dog will recover if you are persistent, she's just asserting her independence. Think of her as a sixteen year old with a new license to drive.
As for doggie-day care, I'm not 100% sure that turning the dog loose into a basically unsupervised and unadulterated "FUN FUN FUN" environment with a bunch of untrained and unruly dogs is the best thing to do, but it will certainly drain her energy. No one can wear out a puppy like another puppy.
*Just a hint: investing in a 25' nylon lead is a strong move for training "COME HERE"
I think that she needs more strenuous exercise than just walks. My boyfriend used to toss a frisbee with his golden for 45 minutes a day when she was young. And give her more things to chew on. Even with a lot of exercise, these dogs like to chew. And we feel that labs and retrievers mellow into the best dogs around the age of 5 years.
My choc. lab mix still likes to chew. His favorite toys are some Christmas star shaped squeaky red plaid cloth toys with white faux fur edges. He loves to nibble on the fur edges rapidly. I think that he has a hidden talent for plucking/defeathering a real bird. Anyway, when they went on sale after Xmas, I bought up a bunch of these stars and they've lasted a long time for him. Regular stuffed fleece squeaky toys are usually disemboweled quickly by him. All his toys squeak. And I think that the reason he's never chewed up my furniture or regular pillows is because they don't squeak.
It sounds like the couch arm just happened to be available when the boredom set in. I'm guessing doggie day care may do some good....but you still have to keep her stimulated while your out and she is at home. They have all kinds of interactive toys...kongs with treats stuffed inside, boxes with treats stuffed inside that she she has to work at getting them out. Also, Nylabones, and assorted things to gnaw on instead of your furniture.
If this is truely a phase, and I think it is for her age as Jimbo stated...maybe crating her for a few hrs when you can not be at home might save the furniture.
This is totally standard for labs. I sound like a broken record, but hunting and field trial trainers call this point in labrador development "the 12 month training dump." They seem to regress and forget everything they have learned. You have to stay current with your basic obedience training* through this time. The dog will recover if you are persistent, she's just asserting her independence. Think of her as a sixteen year old with a new license to drive.
As for doggie-day care, I'm not 100% sure that turning the dog loose into a basically unsupervised and unadulterated "FUN FUN FUN" environment with a bunch of untrained and unruly dogs is the best thing to do, but it will certainly drain her energy. No one can wear out a puppy like another puppy.
*Just a hint: investing in a 25' nylon lead is a strong move for training "COME HERE"
Labs really are stubborn, aren't they?? Extremely smart -- but also stubborn.
My dog always comes... BUT he likes for me to wait until he's ready -- not just because I called him.
Doggie day care is great. But you have to do your homework. I have been to several doggie daycares in marietta and midtown over the last 5 years.. have settled on Must Love Dogs in Marietta. The dogs are never unsupervised and have to go through a temperament test before he/she will be accepted into daycare. My dogs are so tired when they come home.
Last edited by horsepart2; 12-02-2008 at 12:09 PM..
Reason: misspelling
We do play with her a lot too, as well as regular walks - her favorite is fetch, with a squeeky ball because yes she does love that sound. We do this a few times a day, whether it's inside or in the fenced in yard and that does help. She loves to play tug, too, so its not that she doesn't get enough attention or play time or exercise... in the summer we take her to the lake almost every weekend as she loves to swim. She may have a little extra boredom thanks to the cooler weather I'm thinking, too, since she seems to tire out quicker in the summer.
However, she is the destructor of all toys, so we have to be careful of what we leave with her if we're not here. We go through a squeeky ball every few weeks, and that's removing it when we're not playing ball with her. The only toys that seem to last are Nylabones - she has 4 or 5 different ones (Nylabones or similar type toys). Kongs last a while, but eventually she even destroys those, but we can leave those out at least and not worry about her swallowing it like she'll do with fuzzy or stuffed toys or even some balls. We used to like the Wubbas because she loves the fuzzy stuff, but she's got those down to a science and can destroy one in about 15 minutes now. She had a dog bed with plaid material and the fuzzy "bed" part, and she ripped that up too... thought it was a big chew toy I think.
As for doggie day care, we did do our research. Our neighbor's cousin actually owns it, so that's how we were referred to this one (and we trust that neighbor so that helps). It gets a lot of good reviews. It's also affiliated with an animal hospital which is right next door. They do temparment testing as well, and are put in playgroups according to that, energy level, size, etc. so I am comfortable with the one we chose. I hear it does wonders... a tired lab is usually a good lab, so hopefully that will help a little - haha!
We have a chocolate lab, female, who is just about 15 months old. In general, she's a great dog. Very sweet and smart, but for some reason over the past few weeks she seems to be testing the limits more than usual. I know about the adolescent phase they supposedly hit around 5-7 months, but it's almost like she is hitting hers now.
For example, yesterday I worked a half a day at the office. Usually when we leave her alone for that amount of time, we close the bedroom and bathroom doors and she has the rest of the house to wander around in, and she's always done just great with this. Yesterday I came home to find she had chewed up the arm of the couch. She NEVER chewed on furniture before, even in her teething phase. (floormats and toilet paper - now that's a different story! haha) Needless to say that was a pleasant surprise!
She also seems to be "listening" less... she knows a ton of commands, but things like "come" seem to be only for selective hearing lately.
She gets plenty of attention, walks, exercise, etc. so nothing like that has changed. I'm hoping it's a late adolescence phase, as everyone tells us that labs stay in the puppy phase for a good two years... anyone else been through something like this?
We are going to put her in doggy-day-care one or two days a week, hoping that will help with some of the excess energy she seems to have found lately. Think that might help?
Thanks!
Yep, this sounds like the classic case of "the terrible twos" (human children aren't the only critters to go through this phase ). As to the chewing up of your sofa, that sounds to me like it might be a case of separation anxiety. Perfectly normal dogs that behave very well when at home with their owners suddenly become destructive when left alone. This is not a behavioral condition that is isolated to just labs either.
It is good that you keep your bedroom and bathroom doors closed. Before I learned that lesson my mastiff puppy used to pull my clothes off the hangers in my closet and then dragged them around the house when I was not around.
To keep my puppies from chewing my furniture I mix equal parts of alum and white vinegar together and covered my wood furniture with the solution. Even after it dries the alum remains. It is not toxic to dogs, cats, or children. If they lick the surface where it has been applied, it will leave a very sour taste in their mouth which most dogs do not like.
Taking her to a day-care a couple times a week will certainly help. Buying her a few extra toys to play with may also help her with the separation anxiety, but not always.
Most dogs get over this phase by the time they are two years old. Males may take a little longer than females to get over it because they mature slower.
My lab mix turns 2 in January...God I hope her behavior changes then. LOL. I have a 3 year old daughter, a 6 month old daughter, the dog, and my husband...last night I had a meltdown and yelled at my husband, "NOBODY IN THIS HOUSE LISTENS TO ME!!!" Wisea$$ says, "I'm sorry dear, did you say something?" Good luck to you!!
Sounds like Shadow at that age. We were sure she needed to be bound & gagged 24/7. At that age she went for a walk in the morning before I went to work, a 5-10 mile run with my husband in the morning before he went to work, a walk when I came home for lunch, a 5-10 mile bike ride with my husband when he got home, and an hour walk with me when I got home. She still had more energy than a nuclear reactor.
I would take her to the dog beach on Saturday mornings and she would tear around for 3-4 hours. I would be sunburned & dehydrated and her butt had never touched the ground, just run & play & swim.
Shadow was a trash can tipper. Used to make me soooo angry. Especially after I forgot something one morning and came back home after 5 minutes to find her dragging the trash can into the living room. We always thought she would get bored after a while and then hit the garbage, but she was doing it as soon as she was alone. She even figured out how to open the bi-fold door to get to the trash. Grrrrrrrrr!
She never ate furniture or shoes, but there is no toy on the planet that can last 5 minutes with Shadow. She hated the toys made out of rubber and plush toys all need to be gutted immediately. I started giving her frozen marrow bones when I left in the mornings to keep her occupied.
I was glad when someone finally tripped the switch and she started turning into a couch potato. It didn't happen for Shadow until she was almost 4.
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). As to the chewing up of your sofa, that sounds to me like it might be a case of separation anxiety. Perfectly normal dogs that behave very well when at home with their owners suddenly become destructive when left alone. This is not a behavioral condition that is isolated to just labs either.
