8 month old Lab Mix- Just won't Stop

TyBella

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#1
I have a 8 Month old Lab Mix, pretty sure with some Pit in there somewhere. Evans she had that kind of head structure (we were told hound by someone that was keeping her in a apartment that didnt allow pit or pit mixes) BUT we don't mention that around my Husband. Anyway we have had her 2 months and we have tried and tried many things to get her to stop whining and plowing us over to get to the window when someone comes to our house and to stop mouthing us and getting into everything while we are right there.
She will literally Junp right on your face and could care less just to see what's out the window. She also continuesly whines constantly. Over nothing. She will just sit there and whine. She whines at the cat, in her kennel, outside, out the window, in the car. She will even just sit in front of you and whine. If she wants out and you put her out she won't leave the porch unless you go out with her. And if you don't go out with her she will whine at the door. Quiet frankly my husband is pissed cause I brought her home and no matter what we do she doesn't listen. He cannot believe he wanted a Lab cause they are smart when she learns nothing..... She knows the bathroom and bedrooms are off limits but of you open the gate to go in yourself she is plowing you over to get behind there and then when she's in there she is getting into everything.
She mouths you when ever she wants to play and if you tell her no and give her a toy she will just ignore the toy and Bite you harder. If my husband finds out she has pit in her possibly and she is biting my daughter then she will have to go. There won't be time to fix it. When she doesn't get what she wants now she will jump at you and Nip you.
She also counter surfs. Climbs in your face when she wants to and if you make her get down she will just start biting at you. She will steal food off your plate...
I've tried clicker training...no interest in any of it. She knows basics but she only does them when she feels like it. I need help or my husband is gonna make her leave

Yes she gets excerise. She goes out to play and walk multiple times a day for 30 minutes each. She goes to the dog park and also the dog beach...she just never stops.

Help please. No negative comments please I just need some advise. I didn't come here to be bashed like the last forum.
 

milos_mommy

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#2
First of all, I wouldn't necessarily think she has any pit bull type breeds in her based on her head shape. With mixed breeds you can't really tell and this behavior sounds fairly common in young hounds and sometimes in lab.

She's still very much a puppy, and it sounds like she never learned manners. Labs are smart, but any puppy is going to act like this to some extent with no training.

She probably is not getting nearly enough exercise and stimulation. You posted that she gets plenty of exercise, but a half hour of a leashed walk or going in to the back yard a few times a day is not much for a high energy puppy. This is the most active period of her life. It's also pretty unusual for a dog this age to want to be by themselves in a backyard. Unless you are outside playing chase or fetch or tug with her, it's not really good exercise or very interesting for her.

I would try to find increased ways to exercise her, if you can get her swimming or hiking trails with you, if she likes other dogs see if she can have a play date with a friend's dog, you can try a flirt pole, fetching is a good choice. Taking her places to socialize, if its safe and not too overwhelming, like a trip to the pet store or hardware store, will help tire her out. I would also recommend looking into getting her some puzzle toys.

She isn't well behaved enough in the house to have the privilege of running loose. If you can't block off her access to the window, gate that room off or keep her in another room until she's got a little more self control. Keep her on a leash around the window and immediately call her away from it when she tries to go to it, during short training sessions. If you completely physically prevent her from going crazy at the window, she'll soon realize there's no point in trying. It's probably very rewarding for her to look out and bark, so any time she's left to do it will be making it worse.

I'd really recommend looking for some basic obedience or puppy classes. They will help a lot.

As far as the whining, always reward good behavior, at first this can even be if she stops for two seconds, and work up to longer durations of being quiet. If she whines for attention you can get up and walk away from her (or turn away from her at first). Try not to reward her for whining, for example never pet her while she's whining, if she whines while you prepRe her dinner, wait for quiet (even a second) before putting it down, don't let her out of her crate until she's silent.

As for mouthing, continue with offering the toy, keeping her on the leash will help, you can trying firmly saying "OUch" when she bites and then completely stop interacting with her, stare at the ceiling, cross your arms, turn your back. At this time, if needed, you can step on her leash to prevent her from jumping up to bite.

If the biting is really nonstop, it's ok to totally end her play session and put her in the crate or separate her. Don't make it a punishment, do it quietly and it's ok to give her a treat for going in the crate, but soon she'll learn getting too rowdy ends playtime and freedom.

She should also be less mouthy/generally annoying if she's tired out, so if you walk her or play fetch or whatever before you start trying to play with her inside or just hang out quietly, she'll be more likely to relax around you and less likely to mouth you.

Good luck!
 

TyBella

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I ment to saY too that we are out playing with her all the time outside shw only goes out alone when she needs to pee. But she won't go out and pee she just whines at the door. She is walked 2-3 times a day and played with many times a day at least a half hour if not longer plus a doggy play date at the park or beach daily and I take her everywhere even though her manners are lacking.

We have a Trailer so she is confined to the living room. Hence to bolting through the gates to the other rooms as soon as they are open. We tried leaving her on a leash she chews it. The window is impossible to block off and she barrels up there for every little sounds we cannot live with a Leash in our hand. We have a remote collar for her my friend is a trainer and we use the collar to keep her in our yard like a wireless fence. We have tried using that to keep her from jumping on our fave to get to window and she doesn't care. But it works to keep her in the yard we use the tone button.

If I had money I certainly would do classes but classes here are 65 for 1 hr lesson I don't have that kind of money. And weeks of classes can range up to 1,500 I don't have that extra money just laying around. This included my friends classes but she trains hunting dogs and I don't hunt so that's of no use to me.
 

Maxy24

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#4
Her behavior sounds fairly normal for a young dog. Labs are not known for their respect of personal space lol. The whining could just be normal begging, but if she's literally just walking around and whining for no reason she may have anxiety issues which could be helped by medication. However you've only had her for a short time, she may just need to settle in and feel safe.

The bolting by you/running you over when you open a door/gate should be fairly easy to stop. Are you familiar with body blocking? Start to open the door/gate and as soon as she tries to move by you walk into her, forcing her to back up (make sure you don't actually step on her). If it somewhere she is allowed to go, release her to enter when she is waiting politely (you'll need to choose some release word/phrase like "go ahead"). Here is a video showing body blocking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHV0998pVjA
Alternatively you can also simply close the door/gate each time she attempts to go through it but this works best if you are definitely letting her through at the end. It's harder if you want to try and go through ahead of the dog, body blocking works better for that.

Body blocking could possibly be used for the window as well but it depends on your set up (how easy of an area it is to "defend") and how upset she is. I wouldn't suggest doing it with a very upset dog as she could knock you right to the floor or redirect her frustration onto you. Never try to grab her collar/scruff/body when she is trying to look out the window. If you want to remove her I suggest buying a slip lead which you can quickly toss over her head when she's at the window to take her away. You can also train a strong come command to call her away from the window and then have her sit or down stay until whatever was outside has passed, then release her. Make sure you have treats handy (keep a container of treats out of her reach but nearby to the window) to reward her for coming and staying until she's released. You'll of course have to train her to come and sit/lie down before trying it on the window. The easiest way to stop the window obsession would be to simply block her ability to see out of the window. You can purchase window films at a hardware store that block her view (or tape wax paper to your window).


If she wants out and you put her out she won't leave the porch unless you go out with her. And if you don't go out with her she will whine at the door.
That's very normal, dogs want to be with their people. Just go out with her. If it's really important to you you can practice by standing in the open doorway, then start closing it very briefly before reappearing, then closing it for longer and longer until she's used to it. But honestly I'd just stand out there for 10 minutes while she goes to the bathroom.

Quiet frankly my husband is pissed cause I brought her home and no matter what we do she doesn't listen. He cannot believe he wanted a Lab cause they are smart when she learns nothing
Chances are this is more of a training problem than a dog problem. How are you teaching her?


She mouths you when ever she wants to play and if you tell her no and give her a toy she will just ignore the toy and Bite you harder.
If she mouths you try immediately yelping or gasping like it really hurt. Then quickly turn your back on the dog, cross your arms, and stare up at the ceiling. COMPLETELY ignore the dog. If she starts tugging at your clothes or is hurting you you may need to walk out of the room and close the door (or step over a gate so she can't get to you). You want her to understand that the moment her teeth touch you play ends. When she is calm and is no longer trying to force you to play, calmly pick up a toy and try to get her to play with that. If she latches onto the toy you can get more playful to reward her for choosing to bite the toy. But try not to get her too worked up. If she bites you again just repeat. If she is really loosing it and just won't stop going after you then end the play session for good and put her away in a crate or a room by herself to calm down. Remember this will take LOTS of repetition.


She also counter surfs. Climbs in your face when she wants to and if you make her get down she will just start biting at you. She will steal food off your plate.
Try to keep food put away. I solved our dog's counter surfing by squirting him with a water bottle the instant he went to put his feet up on the table, but not all dogs are bothered by it. Even if you do choose to do that it's imperative that when you are not there the food is put away so she can't rehearse the behavior without consequence. Also remove whatever the dog was going after after you've squirted him. The water bottle works well because it startles them, after the first squirt they may brace themselves and try again so it's best to remove the temptation. You're essentially teaching her that she will always fail when she tries to get food off the counter.

If you are pushing her off she may simply think you're playing with her. Try removing her without using your hands. You could rapidly stomp your feet to see if that startles her off. You could walk into her (like body blocking). You could use a slip lead. Once you've gotten her off be prepared to body block her from trying again.
 

milos_mommy

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#5
Your choice is really going to be to keep her on a leash for a few weeks, or have her behaving like this for life. You don't need to "live with the leash in your hand" meaning you don't need to hold it..,you can let her drag it around as long as she's supervised. It's just for you to grab when she starts at the window. At first, yes, you'll be grabbing it a lot and constantly redirecting her. But if she doesn't get the opportunity to go to the window, she'll learn to stop REALLY quickly. Like within a few hours or days.

Get a heavier duty leash, or maybe a light chain leash. Braided ones are stronger than flat nylon. She should only be leashed up if supervised, so if she starts to chew the leash just get her attention off of it. You can also give her a chewy toy like a bully stick to chew while you're hanging out.

Does she have a crate or is she crate trained? Because that is going to be an extremely helpful training tool. Especially if she's confined to the room with the problem window, any time you can't watch her she should be in a crate.

Those prices you've cited should definitely be for private lessons: I live in the most expensive county in the US and that's the prices at the highest end training facilities here. Do you have any local pet smart or petco stores? The classes aren't always the best, but at least at petco they are supposed to be training using highly studied and efficient methods. Classes there are $100 for 6, plus if you adopted the dog from a shelter or rescue you get a discount. It is a lot of money for most people but honestly you'll otherwise spend more on stuff she's destroying and devices to try and fix her. If you don't have those stores, see if local pet stores or rescues offer group puppy classes. Also, many city shelters and local humane societies will offer free, low cost, or sliding scale training sessions if you tell them you can't afford it and your other option is to rehome.
 
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#6
I'm with the others - this all sounds like pretty typical puppy stuff. Puppies (and children) are annoying :p

You've gotten really great advice, so I won't repeat it. It sounds like your pup needs a lot of exercise and mental stimulation, combined with a lot less freedom in the house. If you can dedicate some time to training (stopping) the unwanted behaviors by rewarding good behavior, it will be well worth your time.
 

greg_nill

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Tip

I'm with the others - this all sounds like pretty typical puppy stuff. Puppies (and children) are annoying :p

You've gotten really great advice, so I won't repeat it. It sounds like your pup needs a lot of exercise and mental stimulation, combined with a lot less freedom in the house. If you can dedicate some time to training (stopping) the unwanted behaviors by rewarding good behavior, it will be well worth your time.
Train. Challenge them mentally, not just physically.
Give no free food, reward them for obeying commands. Start early. :)
 

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