Odd Behavior

[YellowLabMom]

Can anyone explain to me why my 12 week old male yellow lab puts things in his mouth then vigorously shakes his head back and forth while growling?

 

[jess2416]

Its play

 

[Vivien]

It is natural instinct. Thats how he would kill prey that he caught in the wild. I wouldn't worry about it. However I am sure some other members here will be able to help more.

 

[Lizmo]

Probably just having fun, or trying to tell it he is Alpha lol He is 12 weeks old, everything is new

Lizzie, my BC mix, does this some times when playing with her Soft toys.

 

[bubbatd]

Natural and normal . If he was still with his litter mates , they would be doing this to him and he to them .

 

[ACooper]

Yep, Yep, completely normal.............I would worry if he didn't play like that at some point. It is the kill or rip flesh from bones thing! Sounds bad, but just like humans play house, puppies play "dog"

Orson is 8 months and STILL loves to do this to my dish towels when he gets the chance!

 

[Zoom]

He's "Killing" his toys. It's nothing unusual, though I probably would not play tug of war with this dog, or if you do, do not let him "win" and "kill" the tug afterwards.

 

[Doberluv]

but just like humans play house, puppies play "dog"

I love that. That's good.

All my dogs do that. Jose' especially gets into it with an old sock. He growls and snarls, talks and wags his tail and does the head banging thing. Then he drops it in front of me and stops dead in his tracks, staring at it and then at me, "grrrrr" all the while wagging his tail ferociously. I grab the end and we play tug. And I play growl too. He gets to win because I think it builds confidence and he really loves to win. Then he drops it in front of me and we do it all over again. We have loads of fun. Nothing cuter than a couple of Chihuahuas killing a sock. They're really quite good at it.

 

[Lizmo]

All my dogs do that. Jose' especially gets into it with an old sock. He growls and snarls, talks and wags his tail and does the head banging thing. Then he drops it in front of me and stops dead in his tracks, staring at it and then at me, "grrrrr" all the while wagging his tail ferociously. I grab the end and we play tug. And I play growl too.

WOW! :yikes: Lizzie does the SAME thing with her toys

 

[casablanca1]

I think the shaking is them acting out their instinct that the way to kill is to shake their victim, in order to break it's neck or back. It's not very nice to think about, but it's pretty much normal for all puppies and dogs to play like that. If they start doing it to the family cat, that's when you need to worry. Make it clear that play has boundaries, but it's okay for them to do it to toys.

 

[sparks19]

LOL Teddy likes to do this sometimes. Although not as much as he used to since the .... incident LOL.

he was shaking around a toy like crazy and he must have hit himself in the eye or something because he just dropped the toy immediately and backed away and just had this look on his face like "why did my toy do that to me... I was only playing" Awww I felt so bad for him LOL But yes he would behave the same way if he were to catch a squirrel or something. if nothing else it will break the critters neck and they will die instantly