Vet thinks pup is 'dominant'

JencParker

neveranymoney wrote: »

Oh meritaten, she is scolded and then ignored, I think I am making sense when I type things, if only I could load my brain thoughts onto the screen!

Her bite inhibition is slightly better since her arrival but not wonderful. Ten minutes ago was a prime example of her demon behaviour. I came down the stairs in my jams, fleecy dressing gown and slippers, obviously doggy catnip, the humping, biting legs and slippers, told very loudly 'shadow, OFF' at it again, a very loud 'shadow off' and you could actually see her backing off a bit and really thinking about going in for another go! She slunk off under the clothes horse and started licking her behind like a possessed thing, which is another one of her things when told off and I called her and told her to sit nicely and that broke the spell. She wandered about and took herself into her weird bed in the kitchen (this is the mat that that actually came with the crate, the actual crate has vet bed, blankets and her soft toy, moo) now I have to sit in a flipping draft as I can't close the living room door tightly or I wouldn't hear her!


She did sit in front of me briefly and I would wager it was to get up in the settee, but this lasted five seconds and she took off and wasn't a bit bothered. My husband thinks she shouldn't be let up as 'she will be a big dog and how will you get her down then?' Mega sigh from me. I'm fully aware she will be big, i will train her when she is able to get up and down properly herself but I'm flecked off now with the whole ruddy lot of them!

Completely agree with the post about bite inhibition this needs to be done slowly. Google Ian Dunbar's The Bite Stops Here, he explains it well. Labradors are a very mouth breed - they are retrievers that use their mouths all the time. You may find that the scolding is stopping it, but as you say she 'slunk' off, there are much more positive ways of teaching bite inhibition and redirecting that behaviour.

neveranymoney

We have had a lovely morning, Shadow is fab at retrieving, I know that's her breed, but we still think shes ever so smart. Moo was thrown up the room, Shadow told to wait and then released to bring it back, great fun and brilliant to watch.

She is definitely learning about cuddles and often winds her way around your legs like a cat when wanting stroked, its very hard with my son as I believe he is generally nervous of her at times and can be quite jerky when playing with her, he doesn't 'get' not letting her have something when she is leaping about and nipping. I generally get him to feed her when hes not at school and also get him to give her bits of her kibble throughout the day by getting him to ask her to sit, give paw and what have you.

Is this an example of of good bite inhibition? When she got very excited with this mornings game, she turned to nip my husbands hand, she didn't clamp down like she did last night with my daughter (but that only happens in the evenings when she is over tired) and when she finished and you could see her going in for another go, she stopped herself. This happens quite a bit and when she doesn't actually connect, we tell her shes a great girl, no bites, just kisses please. Is that the right thing to do? This also happens with the humping, if you catch going in for a 'dance' and just calmly say no and she stops herself, we praise her.

My daughter is a fantastic help with her, playing, training, watching her whilst I cook and the two of them have this thing where my daughter sits on the floor and Shadow clambers up on her flat out legs and has a wee nap. My daughter has always been a natural animal person, she has always lifted poops and gotten involved and not done the typical child stuff of losing interest. She was desperate to go to bed last night but didn't want to move as Shadow was lying on her instead of me. She is one of the reasons we went into dogland again as she was great with Scampers and wasn't gonna just leave the grunt work to Mum and Dad and proved that over and over again.

The getting off the bed bit was a bit weird, she did probably want to stay in the nice and warm, but my daughter was in the process of getting up so no one was in the bed when I merrily called @come on Shad' and went to lift her, she backed off and gave a baby growl repeatedly. It really wasn't 'I'm playing, chase me Mummy'. For now, we have fashioned my sons old baby stair gate (thank God I'm a hoarder, pity I didn't keep the damn wall brackets) as I would like to deal with one thing at a time plus, she was running up the stairs the minute you turned your back and I was worried about her joints and had to remove a Nerf gun bullet she found under my sons bed!

I'm always appreciative of advice, it sometimes takes a fresh pair of eyes to state the obvious to you, but I do agree that everyone is a bloody expert. No, I will not rub her nose in her poo after the event and 'smack her bum' at the same time, thankyou as i was told this person does(I have no need to anyway, she was fully trained within a week, like I said, a smart cookie)

We have turned into doggy advice givers though too. I thought that this was lovely, a guy in my husbands work has a little boy lab the exact same age as Shadow, I think he and his wife's children are grown up and away so this is their new baba and apparently he and my husband have a great time discussing and chatting about their mad pups. The man remarked that now his pup has had his last jab, he can't wait to take him out walking and my husband replied, that his wife is never finished reading up on dogs and that you can't take puppies too far a field as it could damage their joints in later life. The guy said he didn't know that at all, I have a lovely mental image of two big, gruff guys talking away about their beloved babies, i got a full run down of the other pups first bath!!

From having Scampers and also chatting/reasearch online, I have learnt the not great fact that vets can sometimes be just experts in the medical side of animals. I'm not from my mothers generation, who took the doctors word as gospel, I am the most non confrontational person in the world, but shocked a doctor whilst pregnant with my son when I (quite reasonably, I thought!) said that no, I hadn't been taking my iron tablets as my blood count was perfect and I ate a good diet and didn't think I needed them. She was scandalised! I agree that Shadow needs good strong boundaries and these are reinforced day in day out, but we didn't get a dog for it to be a machine that doesn't enjoy the comforts of family life. When she is able to hop up and down on the settee herself, we will train up and off and if problems arise then, why, I'll be on here again!!