Bad behavior

[SamBrown]

Help..... I have a one year old female black lab; she is extremely hyper and destructive. She is literally into everything from "reading" (destroying) books to stealing stuff off the kitchen counter, to eating several pairs of glasses, to digging like crazy in the back yard. Walking and playing with her gets rid of the energy for a couple of hours.... then she is back to her old self. Our other dogs were energetic as well, but NEVER like this one. I have been threatening her to take her to Second Chance; it is not deterring her at all. HELP.

[CenTexDave]

She needs lots of room to run.

[Texas Immigrant]

In an obedience class we took our dog to, they told us to have a special flower bed for the dog. Don't plant flowers in it, but hide treats and bones in the dirt so that when they feel like digging, they will dig there. It's where the reward is for digging. Our little pom wasn't a digger, so I never tried it out. I might need to give it a shot with the Border Collie we have now.

[bytem]

While I certainly am not a professional dog trainer,it would seem to me,that by giving your dog his "own special flower bed" to dig in, are you not actually teaching behavior that you are trying to stop?

[joyohjoy]

My boston was a digger, liked to destroy magazines and anything else she could get a hold of. At the recommendation of our vet we bought a kong, filled it with goodies when we left her alone and now she doesn't destroy anything. The digging we are working on by not letting her stay out in the yard unattended for long periods of time. When we do catch her...you have to be sneaky...we have a coke can with several pennies that we shake. It startles her and she quits digging. You have to sneek up on them and usually they are so intent on digging its pretty easy to do. Hope it helps.

[Iteachtoo]

Help..... I have a one year old female black lab; she is extremely hyper and destructive. She is literally into everything from "reading" (destroying) books to stealing stuff off the kitchen counter, to eating several pairs of glasses, to digging like crazy in the back yard. Walking and playing with her gets rid of the energy for a couple of hours.... then she is back to her old self. Our other dogs were energetic as well, but NEVER like this one. I have been threatening her to take her to Second Chance; it is not deterring her at all. HELP.

Sam, you see, the problem is, she knows you would not take her to Second Chance for anything, she has called your bluff!!:))

[Yve]

The coke can with pennies worked with my dog to control barking...

[SamBrown]

Sam, you see, the problem is, she knows you would not take her to Second Chance for anything, she has called your bluff!!:))

I know she has called my buff on that one:(( I will not admit it to her, however. She has the room to run and does she run.... over everything in her way. As I am watching her I sometimes wonder if she is one of my former students who came back to punish me?????????? I used to have a kong for my other dogs; they were quickly bored with it. I may have to try one with her.

[Iteachtoo]

Now, that was funny, the former student thing. I can think of a few!!!

[siamcat]

Help..... I have a one year old female black lab; she is extremely hyper and destructive. She is literally into everything from "reading" (destroying) books to stealing stuff off the kitchen counter, to eating several pairs of glasses, to digging like crazy in the back yard. Walking and playing with her gets rid of the energy for a couple of hours.... then she is back to her old self. Our other dogs were energetic as well, but NEVER like this one. I have been threatening her to take her to Second Chance; it is not deterring her at all. HELP.

Our lab was very energetic and chewed things up too when he was young.
We put him in a crate when we had to leave him for long periods of time. He loves stuffed animals, so we got him several, and whenever he would get something he wasn't supposed to have we told him no and gave him one of his animals ( They only lasted about a few weeks). As he got older we would leave him out for more and more time. We also give him a bone when we work all day. It's funny he won't eat the bone until we get home. Until then he guards it like it's his baby.
He's almost 3 now and doesn't destroy anything anymore. No idea on the digging, but the special digging place makes sense to me.

[schiperno]

This may not help you, but once our Lucy hit the one year mark she suddenly was only half as bad as she once was. :) Maybe yours just needs a few months to age? Wish you luck!

[Iteachtoo]

We lovers of Labs know what we are getting into when we get them, that is all part of their charm. Ours, yours ago, ate my son's salt map as it lay on the patio table to dry. I know this is lame, but we laughed, and said this was one time he could really tell his teacher the "dog ate his homework". She also dug a tunnel under our house (we lived in East Texas where the dirt is much softer) when she was younger and we had to have someone come fix the foundation because she dug so far, it cracked. I loved that dog dearly and have never had another one like her. It took her about four years to out grow her "puppiness", but when I am able to have another dog, it will be a lab.

[Brad Buckley, D.V.M.]

I had a similar experience with a labrador puppy while attending college. Not a good choice when renting but I digress. Obviously, these pups are extremely active, can be very destructive and seem to never run out of energy. Though this behavior does seem to dampen with time, the time leading up to that can be very frustrating. I have found that there is no easy fix for these issues but can best be dealt with by spending lots of time with the pup and doing things to keep excess energy levels down. Vigorous walks, staying dominant over the dog and avoiding play that reinforces their natural "mouthiness" can help. Probably the biggest help will be the passage of the next 6-8 months and a good dose of maturity. My reply doesn't really appear to be very helpful but I wish you the best. Maybe others will continue to share their tidbits and ideas!

[THEMEANOGRE]

I recently saw a preparation in a mail order catalog for solving digging problems with dogs. You spray it on the area where the dog likes to dig and they don't dig there anymore. I'm pretty sure it said that it was all natural, so you can probably consult a good text on herbology. I recommend Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs as a starting place. If you can't find one, I have a copy. Contact me by PM, if you're interested.

[Missy]

My experience with the Labs I have had, is that they have a two year "destructive" period or the terrible twos...they are pups and chew everything they can get to and dig and play. We could stop them by command but we weren't home all of the time. When they reached two years old, it just stopped. I guess they finally grew up! Way too much like kids.

[prideworks]

Help..... I have a one year old female black lab; she is extremely hyper and destructive. She is literally into everything from "reading" (destroying) books to stealing stuff off the kitchen counter, to eating several pairs of glasses, to digging like crazy in the back yard. Walking and playing with her gets rid of the energy for a couple of hours.... then she is back to her old self. Our other dogs were energetic as well, but NEVER like this one. I have been threatening her to take her to Second Chance; it is not deterring her at all. HELP.

Excercise, excercise, excercise............I have a Jack Russell terrier and she was doing the same thing and still does if she gets the least bit bored. I walk her before I go to work, a neighbor walks her during lunch and I walk her again at night. Cut down on a lot of it and is good excercise for me.

[Texas Immigrant]

Let's keep this thread about animals and save the politics for another thread. ::) TY

[poundpup]

We are presently living with a 10 month old coon hound that was a little $*it when she got here two weeks ago. Over the furniture through the dogs, across the kitchen, up the stairs, over the beds, through the bathroom and back down out the doggie door ... day in and day out.
Digging holes half way to China, unearthing underground cable, nipping and biting... by day two I was ready to take that daggum dog to the pound!

So I stopped and thought about it. You have to consider the original use for the dog. Labs, like coon hounds, were bread for hunting - a high drive for day long action! They are bred to think for themselves and figure out things (like how to get the duck out of the pond, or the raccoon up the tree.)

I have given the coon hound something to do. We tie a sausage to a rope, let her sniff it, then hold her while we drag the sausage along the ground out of site, and around the yard... then we pick it up, take it over a few yards and bury it.

She needs that thought process of figuring out where it went, aside from sniffing, which she was born to do.

While people often say exercise, exercise, exercise - and they are not wrong - the brain also has to exercise, and if the dog is not used to solving puzzles, the brain fatigue after doing a task is just as important as the muscle fatigue after a long run.

We used to have a lab, and we took her to the lake, tossed something in the water and had her retrieve it. She even dove and caught fish a couple of times.

I can tell you, that for hunting dogs, you need to run them for at least three miles daily if you want to meet their need for exercise... so the mental solution may be more feasible for some of us.

[Rick]

Let's keep this thread about animals and save the politics for another thread. ::) TY
Thanks for that TI, I deleted the messages.

[FieryPrincess]

Labs do have a tough period. Training and exercise is mandatory. In the long run, all they want to do is to make you happy, but you have to be the "big dog" and teach them!

I have two lab mixes and I wouldn't trade them for the world!

[old dino]

I once had a black and tan coon hound. I think she was really a lap dog in disguise. She didn't chew very much but she love to serenade the neighbors.

[prideworks]

I had a similar experience with a labrador puppy while attending college. Not a good choice when renting but I digress. Obviously, these pups are extremely active, can be very destructive and seem to never run out of energy. Though this behavior does seem to dampen with time, the time leading up to that can be very frustrating. I have found that there is no easy fix for these issues but can best be dealt with by spending lots of time with the pup and doing things to keep excess energy levels down. Vigorous walks, staying dominant over the dog and avoiding play that reinforces their natural "mouthiness" can help. Probably the biggest help will be the passage of the next 6-8 months and a good dose of maturity. My reply doesn't really appear to be very helpful but I wish you the best. Maybe others will continue to share their tidbits and ideas!

My chihauhau was grieving hard after losing her best friend; my rat terrier,to old age. I knew I had to get another dog that would keep her busy and get her back to her old self. Went to the pound, found one with the sparkle and said, "yep, this will do it."
Little did I know what I was getting myself into......a Jack Russell Terrier.

"Mighty Minnie" is full tilt buggie 24 hours a day, even moves in her sleep. She chews anything that is not tied down, is constantly under my feet and thinks the cats are wind-up toys; she winds them up a lot......:doh

[bytem]

My chihauhau was grieving hard after losing her best friend; my rat terrier,to old age. I knew I had to get another dog that would keep her busy and get her back to her old self. Went to the pound, found one with the sparkle and said, "yep, this will do it."
Little did I know what I was getting myself into......a Jack Russell Terrier.

"Mighty Minnie" is full tilt buggie 24 hours a day, even moves in her sleep. She chews anything that is not tied down, is constantly under my feet and thinks the cats are wind-up toys; she winds them up a lot......:doh

At my house it's the other way around,the cats rule and the dogs are merely their puppets.Isn't it great,how much laughter they bring to our lives?:07: