Hi all and thanks again,yes ive calmed down now and i know thats the way to go,giving him a biscuit to do something.I do that all the time anyway,even getting him to jump into the car for walkies .It just bugs me why he needs to bite me,it could have easily been my 3yr old and if he had his toy he couldnt "reason" with him,he automatically would try to take it.I must say this has only ever happened when hes been in his cage and i crawled in after him,any other time he is fine and will give most things up,eventually.Thanks for the advice,sometimes having things spelled out to you does help xx
edited to add,kimberly,yes we do sometimes chase him when he has things and of course this then turns into a game which Ted finds great fun.I can see now that expecting him to just drop things on command is just confusing to him,thanks for the advice xx
Don't chase him - practice trading with him, so when he's got something make sure you trade it for a higher value treat and he will get in the habit of giving things up but DO make it worth his while. Rather than a biscuit to start with make it something smelly such as cheese, meat etc
Labradors can be quite possessive dogs as can most gundog breeds - they need to be to have that drive to go all out crashing through undergrowth, swimming across rivers, jumping fences etc in order to find a retrieve but they are also bred to be biddable and highly trainable so that you can mould them to what you need i.e to give that retrieve to you!!
Also at his age Teddy is an adolescent so his behaviour will be more challenging anyway..even more reason to make doing things for you worth his while!!
I use two commands with Bella one is leave it (or even AHAH) if she is about to go for something and if she has something in her mouth, then I ask her to drop.
Initially I made the mistake of chasing her and turning it into a game, particularly if it was something I didn't mind her having, but after the incident with the swallowed cup cake, I changed tactic. Now if she has something, whether I am happy for her to have it or not, I get her to drop it. If I don't want her to have it, I give her a treat, if I don't mind her having it, I take it, then get her to sit/down/give paw and then give it back to her. Now when I ask her to drop, she drops every time (and that is normally multiple times a day ). The main thing is I don't get into a battle or game with her, so knows the rules now and goes along with them.
____________ Owned by Bella, Shadow & Cats ....
Never forgetting Harry : 18/01/11 - 14/05/11 RIP
We made the same mistake of chasing Bamber when he got something as a puppy - he is now 4 and I have just about managed to undo the damage now!
It wasn't until I did a bit of gundog training with him that I started to learn about better ways of getting things back off him (and all labs seem to be masters at pinching stuff!). We have retrained him by encouraging him to bring anything he picks up to us - not worrying at first if he gives it up, but just rewarding any indication of bringing something towards us, rather than bouncing away. And this has most definitely involved rewarding with a biscuit, or sausage, or an exciting toy - prancing about with something he shouldn't have is one of Bamber's absolute favourite things so he has needed a big reward and loads of excited praise to convince him to do a different behaviour. He has now learnt that it is more rewarding to bring things to Mum than to keep them to himself (I should point out that this means you need to reward ANYTHING they offer you - even if it is a manky bit of old dead bird!).
It sounds to me as if it would help you to change tack. Stop worrying too much about grabbing stuff off him and start just encouraging him to bring things to you. When I started retraining this with Bamber I used lots of "stooge" objects - things I wasn't worried about that I could put on the floor and if they got a bit chewed it didn't matter - plastic bottles, flower pots, old towels, etc.
If you take this approach then it should avoid the confrontation that you are currently getting into and Teddy will learn to eagerly give things up because he gets something more exciting as a reward. My 11 month old crawls over and takes Bamber's own toys out of his mouth and Bamber just comes to me for his reward for being good so it is clearly well ingrained now!
What a nice attitude you've got asatylerluca, being prepared to listen to everyone's comments.
I'm always amazed what great advice people have here.
My tuppence worth is that my one year old Django had a bad month between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 months old and on two occasions he growled and snarled at me, on the second occasion really scaring me since he was snapping at a little dog I was carrying in my arms to keep away from the scarey teenage lab. It wasn't helped by some dog fearing observer strangers telling me they were terrified and on the brink of calling the police to destroy the dangerous dog.
Based on what I read here I realised that Django was snarling and going for the dog I was holding, not me, and that I was causing the situation by carrying another dog. Also that I had had signs before that carrying my other dog somehow excited/enraged Django. I resolved to keep Django under careful observation, never to carry the other dog and always to bribe Django into good behaviour if necessary. I now always carry a little treat box with basic kibble and high value chunks of pig's ear and broken bonios for special moments when I want my dogs' attention. It's worked for me so far and my dog walker told me on Monday that he thinks Django is a fantastic and very well socialised dog. I was thrilled (tho OH spoiled it by saying that he probably says this to all his clients).
Definitely go with the reward thing; if you can positively reinforce that bringing something to you is more rewarding than keeping it, it really is a massive, massive help. We have started this under advisement with Frank, who loves to nick something and run off with it. Mostly what he nicks is nothing he cant have, its more the fact he's nicked it in the first place - but occassionally it's really useful not to have that whole "chase me chase me" situation. Frank just assumes if he has something he shouldnt and i want it, its a game. Over the past month or so he's really got into the habit of deliberately picking up something he shouldnt have so that he gets chased for it. And it's not great when you want to go out the door to work and he's running round with a pair of your knickers in his mouth, or when he's picked up the tv remote.
I have to be careful what I treat, because Frank is on the lardy side, but once they get it into their heads that bringing you something is a reward, it's really useful. Because their motivation for picking something up is all about giving it to you, rather than nicking it for themselves!
If I were you I'd teach your children the same method. If he has something; you offer him a biscuit to get it back. And in doing so, teach them to throw whatever the reward is behind them when he's dropped his prize; to avoid him snatching it back and catching little hands in error. And of course, if it doesn't work, they dont attempt to pull something away from him - not until you've got over this little "hump" and are really confident he's not going to snap
____________ Jane - Rosie, Frank, Suki, Lily, Lewis
hi all,i see there's lots of early birds on here too.Now its been pointed out,its so obvious that what ive been doing is wrong.I will definitely be starting my new tactics today.Ted is a lovely boy and i know hes not agressive,if that makes sense.I dont think he has a bad bone in his chunky little body .Thanks to everyone again id be lost without you xx
I ust wanted to add one thing, he didn't bite you straight off he gave you a warning by growling first, that's a good thing, never tell a dog off for growling, because inevitably they may just go straight for the bite.
____________ Natalie x
LAB LINK RESCUE Co ordinator and Forum Administrator for my sins
Jack, Molly & Maia, watched over by Tara Banana from the Bridge
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.It just bugs me why he needs to bite me,it could have easily been my 3yr old and if he had his toy he couldnt "reason" with him,he automatically would try to take it.I must say this has only ever happened when hes been in his cage and i crawled in after him,any other time he is fine and will give most things up,eventually.Thanks for the advice,sometimes having things spelled out to you does help xx
). The main thing is I don't get into a battle or game with her, so knows the rules now and goes along with them.
