What is going on with Ollie

[Big Paw]

Hello all,
I have a very beautiful 13 month old black boy, he is my fifth Labrador. I am frankly at my wit's end, the destruction is horrific. Previously I have always had a puppy with an older dog but this time it is just Ollie and me. When he arrived a little under 12 months ago at eight weeks I designated my sun room to him which sadly now is wrecked beyond recognition, chairs, side tables, window cils have sadly all been devoured and the room will need re-plastering and in some areas new plaster board. It is like Jehkel and Hyde, his door ettiqutte is immaculate, he waits to eat his meals until I give the signal he will sit and wait when I have an outstretched hand with chicken in it until I give the command that he can eat it but our walks are a nightmare he knocked me flying yesterday and this constant need to chew continues all day. During the day we do fun training, good walk ect., but the excessive destruction just goes on. Being honest my life is a total misery and I have thought of rehoming him but frankly it wouldn't be fair on a new owner. I took him to a gun dog trainer back in December for some intensive one to one and she said he saw me as a joke, wasn't quite sure how to take that. Having had four other labs as puppies I have never experienced this level of destruction. I am concerned that maybe he will always be like this because from my past experience by this age chewing was beginning to subside but Ollie just seems to be getting worse. If you have read this far without loosing the will to live, thank you.

 

[Lisa]

Hello and welcome here! There are many here who have raised puppies, and I’m sure we can give you some tips. Do you have any pictures of Ollie? We love pictures here!

Every dog is different, as I’m sure you know, having had four already. Some Labs really enjoy being “mouthy”which often results in dreaded “crocopup” as we affectionately call them here. Many of our members can attest to having survived this dreaded creature! So don’t despair! I’m sure you will get much commiseration here as well as some good ideas for how to get through this stage.

Ollie sounds like he has a lot of pent-up energy, which is not surprising for a year-old Lab. Can you give us a clearer picture of your life with him? Is he left alone for periods during the day or does this destruction happen at night?

Either way, my first recommendation would be a crate. You need a place where you can put him where you have peace of mind. Crate training will take some time as you build up positive associations with the crate until the dog willingly and happily settles in there. Many dogs love their crates and feel very secure in them. One way to build up happy associations with the crate is by using clicker training. This type of training can be very useful in many other instances as well. I would highly recommend Kikopup’s video channel which will give you lots of tips on clicker training. Here’s a link to getting started on crate training.

One of the best principles of dog training is to think of whatever issue you are facing in this way: not as stopping the dog from doing something you DON’T want him to do, but as training him what you DO want him to do in that instance. This is an important mindset that I have found very helpful. So, for example, if your dog jumps up at people when you have visitors, the solution is to train and nice sit and stay when people arrive. If he is destroying everything in sight when you are gone, train him to settle quietly instead. As I said, that will likely involve finding a place where he can’t destroy anything (ie the crate). It also might involve teaching him to settle quietly while he is with you. How is he at that?

You sound like you have many issues you want to deal with. Try not to get overwhelmed. Pick the most distressing one and start there. It is amazing how working on one thing can translate into progress in other areas, too. As it sounds like the destruction is perhaps the most pressing issue, start there.

 

[Atemas]

a very beautiful 13 month old black boy,

Welcome @Big Paw. So sorry you are have this problem with Ollie. Also glad you have found us as I’m sure the forum can help. You mention some real positives where he shows great self control.

Being honest my life is a total misery

You sound worn out and I recognise that.

Do you give him frozen kongs to occupy him during the day? This could divert him away from chewing and if you use a crate so he eats them in there, he’ll associate that with a good place to go.

There are others on this forum who have a wealth of expertise and can offer better advice than me but just to say we are a supportive lot

 

[Cath]

Hello and welcome @Big Paw. Ollie is still a young dog, be kind to yourself. Young dogs are hard work.
Have you seen this

How To Stop A Dog From Chewing - An Owner's Survival Guide

Learn how to stop a dog from chewing everything in sight. Great tips to help you stop a puppy or dog that chews your home and possessions.

www.thelabradorsite.com

 

[Granca]

Hello and welcome, @Big Paw. I’m sorry Ollie is being so destructive. @Lisa ’s suggestion of a crate is worth considering, although perhaps easier to introduce to a younger puppy, and as @Atemas suggests, frozen Kongs are excellent. A combination of crate and Kongs can help to settle a puppy.

I’m sure there will be other who will have a few more constructive ideas, but meanwhile do let us know a bit more about Olli’s daily routine.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Welcome to you and Ollie @Big Paw
Is Ollie chewing when he is left alone? I know it can be a sign of separation anxiety, though lots of dogs do just chew.

some intensive one to one and she said he saw me as a joke,

Not quite sure what this is all about.*
Clearly not a good trainer, or at least not the RIGHT trainer for you! Don't give up, there are loads of good experienced people out there, though sometimes I believe the gundoggery world can be a bit up itself (apologies if anyone takes offence at this).

I'm pretty sure things WILL get better.
And I would definitely go down the crate route.

*Re-reading that, does she mean Ollie doesn't respect you? In which case she may be using outdated pack style concepts in her training?

 

[Selina27]

Welcome to Mlf @Big Paw .
I am sorry to read of the destructive issues you have currently have with Ollie, I hope we can help you solve them!
As you have had 4 Labs before you will know I am sure how different they all can be!
I would endorse the idea of a crate and Kongs as already suggested.
Cassie, who is rising 6, is my first lab but not my first dog . She really put me through the ringer at Ollie s age, her mouthing being directed at my arms largely due to over stimulation in the great outdoors, I know now. One of her litter brothers behaved like Ollie - his owners too had always had Labs , indeed they have their father who was always an exceptionally good boy ! I only mention this as of course it is all in the distant past and the monstrous destroyer has become the archetypal Black Lab , handsome and well behaved. I saw him only last week!
I wonder could you ask the gundog trainer about him seeing you as a joke? Something a bit more constructive might be helpful for you !
Agree with @Jacqui-S , maybe another trainer ! Perhaps there is a positive reinforcement gundog trainer near you ?

 

[Lab_adore]

Welcome @Big Paw from Maxx and I down here in Australia. He is our second lab and so completely different to our first that I can't comprehend it. He is now 4, but up until about 12 months old chewed every possible thing. Furniture, plaster, us, mats, blinds - EVERYTHING. Luckily I found this forum or we would have rehomed him.

We bought a pen and simply popped him in when he chewed without anger or punishment and rewarded him when we opened the gate and he didn't chew. It took time and patience and I remember the despair so vividly so I can completely empathise. You will get there!

I have to say that the trainer's comment, to me, smacks of someone who didn't know what to do with your dog. So a dog trainer that doesn't know how to help someone with a troublesome dog is no dog trainer at all.

Stick with us, there are others massively experienced here that will be able to help you.

 

[kateincornwall]

Welcome @Big Paw from me and my three and a half year old Reuben . Please dont despair , you need the right help and frankly I doubt your current trainer is right for you if this is the remark they are making. Reuben has never been destructive but at this age he was very headstrong to the point that for me , an older lady with lots of dog experience , I began to think I was not enough for him . Lots of positive training , lots of patience and most of all consistency was the breakthrough . A good trainer can help to make a dog , the wrong one can help to break the dog . I am sorry you are in such a pickle with your boy, many of us have been there but with help from other forum members , we have ( mostly ) overcome our worries x

 

[MellowYellow]

Hello there and welcome! I am so sorry to read the sadness and despair in your post, but please don't give up, many of us have been through very difficult times with our dogs, particularly that 1 year old phase can be a real pain... My Poppy, who is the BEST GIRL ever and so well behaved it would make you spit with jealousy, was an awful growling barking nightmare at that age, very nervous of strangers; we worried would she ever get over it. But of course she did, with lots of positive training.

With Ollie, it sounds like the chewing and destruction is a sign of something else going on. Maybe he is nervous, does this happen when you leave him alone? Because destroying things often happens when a dog is alone and suffering from separation anxiety. (We recently had a spate of separation anxiety with Merlin, so I understand...) If so, you may have to go right back to puppy training and start from scratch with teaching him that being alone for a while is not something to worry about.

The other thing I would say is do some more training with him - teach him to follow a trail, search for dummies in the long grass, do more retrieving... You don't necessarily need a gun dog trainer for this, there are lots of online videos and/or books that can give you tips, the main thing is that he enjoys something that works him physically and above all mentally. Or join a gun dog group, or agility, or mantrailing... anything that you both enjoy. He is a very young dog, and needs to be stretched mentally, so he feels tired and happy, rather than full of pent up energy. Long walks are not the same as a training session where he uses his brain - and where he works as a team with you.

Above all, keep coming on here and talk to us about him, what you do with him, how you are feeling, etc. We've all been through it, and are very happy to chat!!!

And photos... we love photos...

 

[JES72]

I cant add much more advice but can add solidarity.

When Homer was a year old, I was told that my dog was bullying me by a trainer who also added that, 'ALL labrador males should be castrated!', I left in tears. I also went though many times when I thought I needed to rehome the monster that I had created. Then I found My Labrador Friends, the support I've had here has saved both Homer and myself. Homer is now nearly 10 and still with us.

I found he needed a lot of mental stimulation. Homer has quite a lot of anxiety especially about noises which developed as he was a bit older, but there may have been tell tale signs earlier as he found it really hard to have any patience. We did Agility, which I think hyped him up too much and now do Mantrailing which he loves and keeps him mentally stimuated and we have a lovely clam undertanding trainers.

 

[Candy]

Welcome @Big Paw and Ollie from Joy, small black Lab, nearly five years old now (aka GGJ, which stands for GoodGirlJoy) and me. I'm sorry that you're having problems with Ollie and don't have much to add to what others have already said here, but even my GGJ was challenging at the age Ollie is now. I found that engaging her brain was a good way of helping her to calm down, so she got very little of her food actually in her bowl, and a lot of it in things that she had to work at, so snuffle mats, Kongs, interactive toys, cardboard boxes with screwed up newspaper in, anything to make her think and work for it. She still gets some of her tea time meal in a Kong Wobbler or snuffle mat, which she enjoys, and she has an early evening Kong between 6-7pm when I sit down with a cup of tea (or a glass of wine depending on what day it is) as a signal that it's time to settle. I took her to Flyball when she was a year old, we both loved it, it definitely improved our bond and helped me to see that actually she really really wanted to please me, I just wasn't always being clear enough with her about how to. Something else that has helped me is the realisation that 'No' doesn't mean much to her. It works loads better to give her something positive to do instead of the behaviour that I want her to stop. An example of this would be rather than telling her not to jump up, to ask for a 'Sit' and then rewarding this. All of this is stuff that I have learned from this friendly, supportive forum, so stick with us and let's see if between us we can help things get easier for you and Ollie. Oh, and as for that trainer you mentioned, it sounds like she's the one that's a joke, but not an amusing one. I'm sure you can find someone more helpful than that!

 

[Shaz82]

Welcome to the forum @Big Paw and Ollie. I have also survived the crocopup stage, it is what brought me to this forum in fact. Maisy was very bitey toward me and my clothes (I have scars) but not to the extent that Ollie is with your furniture. Looking back on Maisy's chewy phase I think I should have let her rest more, over stimulation was probably part of her hyper behaviour, dogs can sleep up to 17 hours a day and pups need more so it is easy for them to get 'over-threshold'. But as you know, and you are an experienced dog owner so don't listen to your dreadfully rude trainer, all pups are different. Please stick with it, try some of the suggestions given here, come to us when you feel like a moan or to celebrate even the smallest victory, and don't forget lots of photos.

 

[Big Paw]

Thank you all so much for your ideas and kind words, I feel the cavalry have arrived. He does have a crate that I should have bought much sooner and that is the place for special yummies and I scatter small treats amongst the various chewed fleeces to give him something to look for.

I live alone with Ollie so he does have total attention apart from being left when I go to the supermarket or similar and of course regular trips to the tip obvs, the bloke at the tip was astonished when I took one of the chairs he destroyed that a puppy had managed to so completely destroy it, we were pre crate days then. Yes have been down the frozen Kong idea but it takes me longer to fill than it does him to empty it, it really is the speed that is astonishing; for example yesterday afternoon I introduced a new game, the "bun tin and tennis ball challenge", this was Ollie's first introduction to tennis balls as all his others are rubber, anyway after about three quarters of an hour he was sitting quietly gently squeezing one of the tennis balls with his teeth, silly me thought this might be a gentle comforting activity for him so thought safe to hop off to the kitchen and make a cup of tea which took all of 3 minutes but, by the time I got back there was very little of the tennis ball left.

My Holy grail is loose lead walking, sadly I fear there is some hope, no hope and Bob hope but I can live in hope.

Not been a good week and a some what wearying week but thanks to all of you, still standing and hanging in there. Pictures to follow. Thanks again.

 

[Lisa]

@Big Paw don’t despair. You and Ollie will get there. It can be so exhausting to deal with a big, energetic dog who always seems to be causing an upset of one sort or another. But small steps every day will add up to a steady improvement for both of you. Hang in there. You can do this!

PS here’s a pic of my goofus, Simba, a LabX who came to me at 9 months old and who had a LOT of unlearning and training to do before he settled down. He’s 10 now and I don’t know what I’d do without him.

 

[Atemas]

there is some hope, no hope and Bob hope but I can live in hope.

All can’t be bad as your sense of humour shines through your post. As @Lisa says You can do this, keep sharing and the cavalry will be here

 

[Selina27]

Yes, keep sharing, the cavalry will keep coming!
Have you done any settle type training? Maybe this would help.
While it is a certain fact that mental stimulation is required they also need to be able to unwind. If I am honest , although Cass did have kongs when younger I never felt they helped her relax particularly, she always seemed to be looking for the next one afterwards! Very helpful though for building positive associations with the crate.
Could he have followed you to the kitchen to make tea? I wonder if he did feel slightly anxious about you going out of the room?

 

[edzbird]

Welcome to the forum @Big Paw . I've yet to have a puppy - my two were "grown up", 16 months & 2 years, when we got them, but Coco has always been a nightmare to walk so I do feel some of your pain. He is better now he's nearly 8, but if we see another dog....

I think I would go on the search for a better trainer, they are out there. Your gundog trainer was not one of them. Ollie is only 1, he is still a puppy in a big body. You will get there....what is our mantra here? "This too shall pass".

 

[HAH]

Thanks for trusting us @Big Paw - I’m so pleased you have; many have had similar experiences to yours with Ollie (including me with my now-4 year old lab Kipper) and there are buckets of tea and sympathy any time you need them.
@edzbird ‘s point is excellent:

Ollie is only 1, he is still a puppy in a big body. You will get there....what is our mantra here? "This too shall pass".

It’s tough when they get to adolescence and start to look like grown dogs, while still having their puppy brain - it’s easy to forget they’re still very much developing, and other people often assume they’re grown ups (sometimes I think human teenagers have similar problems!).
There will definitely be a better trainer out there more suited to you, so don’t give up if you’re in a position to find one. It’ll make all the difference to have kind and expert support. Welcome again!

 

[Naya]

We all feel your frustration as in some way or another, we have all had them!
Loose lead walking……I feel your pain. When Harley was 12 months old I went back to basics. We walked up and down my driveway until she could do a loose lead (5 min at a time). We then went up the driveway and a few houses down. When she got this we would go to the end of the road. It took 3 months to be able to walk to the local shops (10 min walk), but it was worth it. All her walks were off lead from the car, so no need for loose lead walking. Now we can walk for miles on lead and it is so much nicer.