Hi I have a 10 week old black lab pup, male, and he is so very agressive I am almost at wits end to get his behaviour under control. He challenges everyone, snaps, growls, bites hard enough to draw blood. Is there anything I can do to get this pup to submit? I have never seen a pup like this in my life.

10 weeks is very young -- are you sure he's not just being a lab puppy? Our lab bit us hard enough to draw blood until he was about six months old. It's very normal, although it HURTS a lot -- something you don't realize when you're getting a puppy! You could just have a headstrong male -- ours was like that and although it was very frustrating, it can be managed with lots of training. You need to show him who the alpha dog is -- with training, not force of course. Our lab would snap because he was teething and he just wanted to get his mouth on EVERYTHING!! Have you had lab puppies before? Does this seem different than other puppies you've had? It sounds kind of normal, unfortunately, but most will grow out of it. It's very rare to have an actual aggresive lab, although certainly not impossible.

Well I know that a young puppy can bite, nip and mouth. But when he doesnt want to do what you ask of him, like get down when he is trying to get on couch, then he growls, and bites. He is enrolled in Puppy preschool beginning April 5. He does not have a problem with food agression. And at times, when he wants to, he will sit and wait with hand and verbal commands. But when you try to stop him from going into the hallway or my childs bedroom, he gets very angry and does his best to turn , bit, and growls. I do have 5 yr old in the house , but she doesn't really play at all with the pup, shes in school 8 hrs a day and when she gets home she relaxes. But he will grab her feet or pant legs and tear into them, and when I correct him, he gets quite angry. And this is a Lab/mix. We do not know the other portion of the mix. But he looks like he a pure bred lab. And yes his behaviour does seem very different than pups I have raised in my past.
I do hope he does grow out of this , and that the trainer can help him and getting snipped in July can help. We do love my lil "hellion on four legs" and we do want to keep him as our family pet. Thanks to all who offered me such onderful advice, I will use some of the suggestions to help get control of his behaviour.
Thanks again,
Kristen D.

Hi
Wishing you all the luck with your pup. I really hope it all works out well for you. keep us all informed with your news.
Good Luck
Ali :)

Also, when you say challenge, what do you mean? Do you mean that he's constantly getting in everyone's face to get them to notice him? If so, that's pretty normal, but you have to teach him that he can't always be the center of attention.

sammy, im suprised to read that snapping enough to draw blood can be considered normal lab behaviour !!!

Not just normal lab behaviour - normal any breed behaviour. Unwanted, but normal. Once the owner has accepted this, they don't get into a panic and over-react to it, but start work to calmly discourage and ultimately stop it. :)

sorry!!!! id never accept that as normal behaviour in any dog iowned

Not when they're adult, no. But it is a puppy stage - they grab things too hard, and our thin skin breaks. Once they've learned not to grab so hard (no tugging games etc, where they get over-excited and possessive) it stops.

kris has posted saying that the dog is growling-snapping and biting, and never seen anything like it in puppys hes had or seen!!!!
yes pups grab etc, -but getting nasty, meaning it is a different thing all together, ive had rotts for years, now another bigish breed in sharpei----ive not ever had a pup growl and snack at me through malice

Dizzy - I can understand how you would be concerned that it isn't normal, but it can be VERY normal. Our lab was exactly like that, and I was afraid that I had gotten an aggressive puppy. But with lots of training and love, he's now a very sweet lab who loves affection. Puppy teeth are very sharp, and it doesn't take much to draw blood. For the first few months, I had cuts all over my hands. I was in tears forever because I thought I was never going to be able to pet my puppy! But labs needs lots of training and patience.

i must be putting this over badly--i accept puppy teeth etc are sharp, i know pups can be very rough, also that they need to know their place-but theres surely a difference between puppy hooligans and outright aggression???the poster is saying his pup is aggresive,!!! not his pup is a handful, nipping etc. but taking him on-growling-biting etc,

I understand that -- sorry if it seemed like I jumped all over you :( I would just be afraid of having a puppy labeled as "aggressive", especially a lab because it is very rare for a lab to actually be aggressive. I also thought my puppy was aggressive, but it turned out that he was just headstrong and needed extra training. The NILF method worked wonders for him. The same puppy who used to bite me if I didn't get his food fast enough now sits patiently by his bowl until I'm ready to feed him.

sammy---i didnt label him anything ----his owner did, although i still have to agree, it sounds more than a puppy hooligan, ive had and shown dogs now for 20-21 years, and the way this puppy is described to me isnt right!!

I know the owner labled him as aggressive -- she sounded desperate and I was hoping to reassure her that it's probably normal behavior. Have you had and shown labs for 20 years? If you have, then you must have seen a lab puppy that was more fond of biting than others.

sammy-----my brother bought a pedigree lab pup when his kids where younger,theyre teenagers now so it was a good while back-he was telling me the same sort of things as the posters complaining of-i like you thought it was probably just puppy mouthing etc-this dog was nasty-bigtime,no-one could go near its food dish without snarling and if pushed an attack-it would work itself up from a warning to full out aggresion if they tried to brush it and the dog didnt want to be brushed etc-im not saying its common-but you do get bad pups,-this one got so unreliable it was pts!! the only dog weve ever owned in all our years and had put to sleep because of temperament was a pedigree lab ,
so although ive not had 20 years with labs, i have just about with rotts, and if either of the breeds where expected to be a handful, i uspect it would be the rott.

As other people have said, without actually seeing the behaviour it's very difficult to tell if it is normal playing behaviour, slightly hyper OTT behaviour from a dominant pup, or seriously strange behaviour. Many people have different expectations of puppy behaviour, and what is normal. The range of "normal" behaviour is enormous. The odds are that this is normal, so I would personally treat the pup firmly but fairly, and keep a careful watch on it....and read as much as I can about canine behaviour.
:)

sorry to stick the proverbial spanner in the works but didn't kris say the pup was a lab crossed with some other unknown dog?Thsi might explain it as in 10 years with labs i have never witnessed anything like this, they all mouth objects and even chew fingers if you let them but no snapping and growling.maybe its the cross bit that's producing this behaviour.

I would have to agree with Dizzy
I do not find it normal for any pup to be this aggressive , puppies are usually all happy and outgoing and love everyone
Keep an eye on him I hope it is not bad temperament
Mari

Mari, not all puppies love everyone. Some are afraid of strangers, and some mouth strangers who think that they are biting them.

Please dont misunderstand me but how much experience do you have? I understand from your post that this is not your first dog but so many dogs growl when play fighting and some people misunderstand it. I have also known unchecked puppies bite to fetch blood because they have never learned how hard is acceptable. This is the problem with a board, we are not in a position to see the thing happen. It would be very unusual for a puppy to be out and out aggressive at that age although not impossible I've had a 15 week old Golden get stuck in to me at club one night so it could well be! It is almost impossible without seeing the dog to be able to prononce on it. Any more detail you could give could help.

Regards. John

You are right John we dont have all the details
I only went on what I read accepting what the owner is saying,that the puppy is aggressive.
Sammie True not all puppies love everyone but I find puppies that are not outgoing and friendly usually have something wrong like nervousness and did not get past the fear factor.
or have inherited bad temperament.
Which is why I said to keep an eye on puppy .
Firm handling not allowing this pup to get away with his behaviour is definetly needed
I would also suggest training classes to compare and talk over the problem with other lab owners.
Mari

Kris ...I think that Mattie has answered your post on Visitors Questions :)

Melody :)

Max was like this at 10 weeks although he is a male GSD, and still can be quite pushy but I think that some in the breed are like this. When we first took him to training classes at 14 weeks he took an instant dislike to the trainer a female who stood sideways to him so as not to look threatening, but he growled and snapped at her, maybe he just didn't like her.

When you mention biting are you sure you just arent confusing this with mouthing . Young pups do mouth ALOT and the majority do it so its not an unusual thing . And with those little needle teeth they can be very sharp and on occasion scratch the skin . This doesnt mean pup is aggressive - it will calm down after a while although this depends on the dog as to what age
In what situations does he bark and growl ?
Do you have children in the family as sometimes kids can be a bit overwhelming and energetic to a little puppy . They can also sometimes growl etc either when excited ( which pups are !!) or when a little scared or intimidated .
I would think it strange for a pup this young to be aggresive just as you would find it strange for a really young child to be deliberately aggressive or nasty .
Lel

Just a suggestion. Start training right now and adopt the NILIF approach (nothing in life is free). For everything, get him to do something for you (something simple he has learned, like sit). So when he gets his dinner,sit. Before he goes out the door, sit etc etc.

It's a great non-confrontational way of getting him to realise he is not the leader.

Kat

My lab puppy also drew blood when she was younger but she grew out of it. As she got a few weeks older she learnt how hard she could bite.

She also growls and barks for attention all the time.
You just have to ignore them and only give them attention when they're being quiet.

He will get it eventually and quicker than you might think as well

One thing I did slightly pickup on is the fact that you (original poster) are obviouslu worried, but you have asked what you can do to get him to submit. I find this an interesting choice of words and wonder if you have indeed mistaken what this pup is all about, tried to confront him to get him to submit, (or done things he does not understand) and now he is reacting out of pure defensiveness? It does happen, much more than we think.

Puppy owning in my view is not about getting a dog to submit, it is about understanding why the pup does things, and helping him/teaching him what is, and what is not, acceptable. A well trained pup does not need to "submit" because he may not have great obedience, but will start to understand he must not grab clothes, must not mouth (and this should lessen significantly over the weeks and months), must learn basic good manners such as sit for dinner, etc.

It can be very hard to teach a pup who is exciteable and feisty, and esp. if this is your first pup, you may be wondering what exactly is happening!! :(

I would suggest you buy a copy of "The perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey and this will help give you confidence and understanding of how to train for a well mannered pup.

I do agree we cannot make any assumptions as to exactly what is happening, owners often may mistake quite genuinely what a pup or dog is doing and my view is that we have to give the benefit of the doubt as we cannot actually see the situation.

I suggest getting a sympathetic trainer or reputable behaviourist along to view your interractions at home with the pup might be a good step. Take a look at www.apdt.co.uk for a trainer near you.

Best wishes
Lindsay

I can clearly remember when we first got Sonny, he snapped at my elder son when he tried to push him pff the bed. He drew blood and bit his hand. I put that down to puppy 'biting'.
Then Sonny would growl if you walked past his bowl, tried to take something he wanted from him, etc. I put that down to 'puppy 'aggression'.
Then Sonny bit my husband - no warning, no reason.
Then he bit my son - some of you may remember - on his face which still has the scars.
There is puppy mouthing and biting and pure aggression. I dare say it is a rare thing and we, being not very experienced, didn't know the difference. Now I do. Murphy is totally different, non aggressive but does nip. He has never draw blood. I can take bones, food, anything from right inside his mouth if needs be.
It's a difficult one to answer. I don't think any amount of 'training' would have changed Sonny but I know he's with an experience behaviourist at the moment and hopefully they will be able to keep him under control.
With my boys, I have to be able to trust that the dog will not snap in pure aggression - I can do that with Murph, even though he's only a puppy.

TTFN

Ruth

well explained rooney!!! there is a world of difference between puppy mouthing etc, and downright nasty !

Hi Kris,
When our GSP was around that age she was quite nasty too, so much so that I asked for advice on the champdogs site because she turned into a real demon if we picked her up when she didn't want to be taken away from whatever she was doing, and had us really worried that we had a vicious dog on our hands. Whenever she turned on us like this we held her down until she calmed down - be this right or wrong - but it seemed to do the trick. She is now a lovely, affectionate two year old dog who loves everybody and is a real joy to have, so don't despair Kris, perhaps he is just pushing his luck at the moment or trying to find his place, so I hope you will not give up on him just yet and I wish you all the best for the future.

What you have is a puppy with high prey drive. You have to teach this pup what is an acceptable prey item and what is not acceptable. This pup is very mouthy and verbal, but that should change in a few months. A firm "No" (not an angry no, just firm) should be used. Grab pup by scruff of neck and shake (not too hard), this is how his mother taught him. Give him a toy and PRAISE like crazy. Pup will learn that biting the toy gets him praise, biting you gets him in trouble. A 10 week old pup is like a 2 year old child. Their attention span is very limited, so you must be consistant. Crate this pup when you can not closely supervise him. Crateing is not punishment and should never be used as so. The crate becomes the dogs den, and he will feel secure inside. This also protects your children from the puppy's "terrible two's". Best of luck

I do not think that the origional poster (Kris) wants to hear that it is normal puppy behavoir. She probably wants to hear what to do about it. It sounds to me that you have a real problem here. It is true that puppies bit and growl, but not to this extent. You should not let this go on. He may or may not out grow this. I wouldnt want to take the risk of having a 60lb plus dog acting like this. Definitly talk to the trainer about this. You need to get some control over him. Training classes are just what he needs.
Bigpoodleperson