Aggressive Lab Retriever

[wigsy778]

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

[POPTOP]

Hello and Welcome!

Not the best on puppy information but here is what I think. You're boy is doing this in play, not aggression. Running is a favorite for labs and he is engaging in your "play". Please do not "smack his backside". He does not understand what he did wrong. You need to teach him correct behavior so he knows the proper manners. Also, at 10 months, his is in his teen years and you know what teenagers are like - brats. When he starts, leash him up and run him with you. Does he continue the behavior on leash? He will learn that to be free means he needs to mind his manners.

I'm sure others with more knowledge will give you more helpful information. It might be a little quiet on the board today being a holiday.

Looking forward to pictures.

[TuMicks]

It sounds to me like he's playing catch-up-and-taunt (a favorite dog game) with his favorite person. Just a guess. If you've read on any of the threads here... you know that the answer to just about anything is almost always "obedience, obedience, and obedience. And when you're done with that, do some more obedience." And there is just tons and tons of available books and DVD's and so forth available to give you a training game-plan.

Now you're probably thinking "yes, sure... but he knows come, sit, down, stay and heel." But the sine qua non of a trained dog is that he does it reliably in spite of any impulses and environmental distractions. For instance... he probably doesn't do a down stay if you jog past him. He won't sit (I'm guessing) when he's busy trying to get your hands in his mouth.

I think you have a rambunctious, big lab who is under-trained and who has some distorted notions about who you are in his world. That is to say, I hope that is your problem because it can be easily fixed. If indeed he is aggressive, genuinely aggressive, that is a big league serious problem. You cannot take risks with an aggressive dog and it's your responsibility to other people he encounters in his life to protect them from him..

I would suggest that you get in a class with other dog owners. That way others with some dog know-how can watch you and your dog in action and give you a good evaluation and some useful tips and homework to do. Also, you may find out that your dog is pretty much displaying issues other dogs do and it may put your mind at ease.

[Labradorks]

I don't think it's aggression, but playing. We'd have to see it though to say for sure. It's also difficult to give advice without seeing it. I don't know the dog, so can't tell what would be a good way to correct this behavior. I also don't know what you mean by running up and down. Are you jogging back and forth on a trail or just jogging in place?

I'd say that stopping it before it starts might help. For example, when he is sitting, ready to run at you, stop it then and not after he is already leaping around on you. You can try walking into his space or walking up to him and putting him on leash. You might try, before you start running, leashing him and doing some jogging, praising him for correct position (not jumping on you). I would not do much running as he is young and it's not good for their joints. Point is, once it begins, he's already in a bad head-space and it is really hard to work with a dog that is going bonkers.

[smartrock]

My older boy used to do this sort of thing when he had a sudden burst of excess energy that he had to burn off. He's not much for running after balls or sticks, we'd go for walks but I couldn't get him to run, run, run like some dogs will and we didn't have a good place for him to play with other dogs. At the end of even a 3-4 mile walk, still having a lot of energy, he would start running around in circles in our yard, including circling back toward me, jumping and it seemed like he was trying to grab my sleeve or arm. It could look scary to someone who didn't know what was going on. I would just encourage him to run, keep running, get the energy out. After a short time, he'd have burned off the energy and be back to his usual calm self. He did that when he was young a fair amount. He's 9 now and every once in a while he'll get a little spunky and jump and bark and act a little crazy when it's time to go back into the house. He's the calmest boy in the world, so we know it's just him wanting to play and not go back in the house yet.

When you are walking with him and he's "playing", does this include really getting some good exercise himself? Does he run around, chasing a ball or frisbee and bringing it back, or is it mostly just him off leash sniffing around? He sees you start doing something that looks like fun, it revs him up and he starts wanting to play with you but he doesn't know how else to get you to engage with him. He's young and it may just be him being overly energetic and rambunctious, as TuMicks suggests.

We cannot see him, don't know any more about him other than what you've written here. I agree that working with a trainer or behaviorist who can see him in action and give you suggestions for his specific needs could be very helpful. You say he's your first dog and if you haven't taken him to any obedience classes I can't stress how important this is for your relationship with your dog.

[Abulafia]

I can only ditto what others have said here. It sounds like normal young dog play, and like he and you need some obedience classes, so you each know better how to communicate with each other.

[ZoeysMommy]

Chances are that he is playing. Doesnt sound like aggression, sounds like 10 month old puppy who lacks control and is simply very over stimulated

[Doreen Davis]

Sounds like a lab who is excited by watching you 'play' and wants to join in. At that age I had to make sure Anthony was getting enough exercise and training. Doesn't sound at all like 'aggression' but a young man entering his teen age years. :-)

[doubledip1]

Agreed, sounds like a 10 month old pup. Welcome.