we got a baby lab! need help on behavior issues!

**brendacs** · 08-26-2010, 02:44 PM

We got a baby lab last week. we estimate that shes about 8 weeks old. She is a very smart girl and is almost fully pottytrained. We knew she would be "chewer" and dont mind it at all...what we mind is her chewing on our ankles. She loves to get behind us and chew on our ankles and we hate it. I want to stop it but no matter what we do she continues!!! what do we do???

**ALONSO** · 08-26-2010, 03:00 PM

My lab did not stop until she was almost a year old. She is not only going to chew on your ankles, but furniture, shoes anything she can. We bought her lots of toys were you could put a snack and will keep her busy but it's part of them growing. Best of Luck!

**Imp** · 08-26-2010, 04:20 PM

Some of it will pass with time, but you need to tel her no and smack her gently on her nose *everytime* she does it. If you just sort of pull your ankles away, she won't learn.

We have two labs and raised one from a puppy- they are GREAT dogs. One thing that we did was to sometimes stick our fingers in her food while she was eating, or take away her food entirely for a few seconds. That trained her to not be food aggressive and if someone (like a child or a cat) sticks their hand/face in her food while she's eating now, she backs away and waits for them to move. Now that she's huge, that's really good. Also, sometimes my husband would pretend to chew (not really, of course) on her favorite toys in front of her. As a result, she isn't possessive about her toys now, which is also a good safety thing.

Enjoy your puppy!

**brendacs** · 08-26-2010, 06:56 PM

thank you! she is getting better and we just LOVE her! she is doing great in all aspects except for this need to chew on our ankles. i could care less about the stuff around the house...we have nothing too nice. hopefully she'll stop soon or eventually!

**laury** · 08-26-2010, 07:25 PM

OK, so I saw the words "baby lab" just after seeing an ad for a horror movie where 2 scientists combine alien & human DNA - can't remember the movie now, but I sure wasn't thinking "puppy" when I saw "baby lab"!

**whisperthedog** · 08-27-2010, 02:42 PM

what you will find when her baby teeth fall out she will be less inclined to chew and the main reason for chewing is boredom keep her occupied as much as poss and you will find it helps. The one thing you must remember is that there is one boss either you or your husband and when they are giving the dog orders try not to interupt or the dog will get confused. We have a toy fox terrier and it didnt take long to get the dog to sit and wait for it foods sometimes this was up to 15 or 20 mins...