It's been 6 weeks since we have brought our Labrador puppy home and we have went through a series of ups and downs. The good stuff: he sleeps through the night (usually 10pm-6am). Potty training is going well and we only have 1 accident a week, usually when we get a bit too confident about his abilities to hold. He's 15 weeks and at this point we are really struggling with the biting. I am trying to engage my empathy as much as I can. I assume this is all due to teething. I understand that labradors are very mouthy. He hasn't lost a single tooth yet, but he's been extremely mouthy. He bites. Hard. My hands and legs are covered in scratches and scabs.
When he bites, we redirect to a chew (puppy safe antler, rubber toys, soft toys, you name it). But it doesn't always work. He often bites our legs, grabs our trouser legs and tries to tug it. He's hurting us in the process. He growls when he does it. I know it's not aggression. We had a trainer come round and she said that he's showing a normal puppy behaviour. The trainer showed us how to react to his mouthing – redirect to an appropriate chew remove attention, stand up, turn around, leave the room. We have to leave the room a lot and in the process he attacks our legs. It feels like right now he communicates all his needs through biting our legs. This week, I left the room 3 times to do a reversed time out and by the third time he started peeing on the floor.
We crate him for naps, which are going ok during the day, but he still requires one of us to sit next to the crate in order for him to settle. But he usually naps for about an hour each time. Sadly, he's unable to switch off and chill outside of the crate. We do not have a playpen for him as we do not have space for it.
He gets those unexplained bursts of energy. Sometimes I'm walking him and everything is great and suddenly he starts attacking my leg. I try to distract him to a sniffing behaviour with a "find it" but that doesn't always work. I also tend to take a chew toy for walks so I can put something in his mouth – again, doesn't always work. Today when I got home from a walk with him he got those crazy zoomies, bit my hand really badly. Yelping doesn't work. It just riles him up. I had to hide in the toilet for a bit before I felt I can leave. It's so disheartening.
I keep wondering if I am making mistakes. Am I enabling this behaviour? Or is he just a standard labrador puppy with big emotions?
submitted by /u/Limp_Parfait
[link] [comments]