Hello everyone,
I am a regular attendee to this forum, albeit this is my first post on here.
I have a 10 month old Golden lab Retriever, our first dog and we love him to bits!
Over the past 3-4 months he has developed what I would describe as occasional impulsive aggression. In particular, in around 90% of the times, I will be walking him in the park and whilst he is off his lead. During this time I will start to carry out some fitness which included jogging / running up and down whilst he is sniffing around and playing. Then he will all of a sudden sprint towards me whilst I am jogging and begin to jump up and aggressively bite my hand and clothes whilst growling / barking. It's a burst of energy he has and the aggression is significantly different to him playing in other situations. The biting will leave redness to my skin but he has never drawn blood. The most difficult thing is he maintains this aggression for some time by repeatedly running towards me and biting. It only stops when I attempt to put him back on the lead and even then he sometimes carries on.
I cannot understand why he does this, I can only attribute it to the fact I am jogging around, either he is anxious because I am not showing him attention or he does think it’s a game, but I can’t understand why his aggression is significantly greater. When he sees other people jogging or children playing he will never be aggression towards them.
Things I have tried: 1) standing still, arms folded and ignoring him 2) smack his backside in the hope it will shock him 3) put him on his lead and walk him around 4) distraction ie. Throwing a stick / treat
The above never seem work and he only stops when he wants to.
He has been neutered a while back. Apart from these incidents, he is a great dog, he is never aggressive to people or other dogs. He is really calm and patient with babies / children. He is well behaved in the house and intelligent. It’s just his sudden onset of aggression which really causes me frustration and I cannot seem resolve it! In the back of my mind I am also worried if he will do it in another situation in the future I.e. To someone else
Does anyone have any advice or dealt with a similar situation?
Thanks, Stephen
I am a regular attendee to this forum, albeit this is my first post on here.
I have a 10 month old Golden lab Retriever, our first dog and we love him to bits!
Over the past 3-4 months he has developed what I would describe as occasional impulsive aggression. In particular, in around 90% of the times, I will be walking him in the park and whilst he is off his lead. During this time I will start to carry out some fitness which included jogging / running up and down whilst he is sniffing around and playing. Then he will all of a sudden sprint towards me whilst I am jogging and begin to jump up and aggressively bite my hand and clothes whilst growling / barking. It's a burst of energy he has and the aggression is significantly different to him playing in other situations. The biting will leave redness to my skin but he has never drawn blood. The most difficult thing is he maintains this aggression for some time by repeatedly running towards me and biting. It only stops when I attempt to put him back on the lead and even then he sometimes carries on.
I cannot understand why he does this, I can only attribute it to the fact I am jogging around, either he is anxious because I am not showing him attention or he does think it’s a game, but I can’t understand why his aggression is significantly greater. When he sees other people jogging or children playing he will never be aggression towards them.
Things I have tried: 1) standing still, arms folded and ignoring him 2) smack his backside in the hope it will shock him 3) put him on his lead and walk him around 4) distraction ie. Throwing a stick / treat
The above never seem work and he only stops when he wants to.
He has been neutered a while back. Apart from these incidents, he is a great dog, he is never aggressive to people or other dogs. He is really calm and patient with babies / children. He is well behaved in the house and intelligent. It’s just his sudden onset of aggression which really causes me frustration and I cannot seem resolve it! In the back of my mind I am also worried if he will do it in another situation in the future I.e. To someone else
Does anyone have any advice or dealt with a similar situation?
Thanks, Stephen