I have two spayed female labs. One is 5, one is 2+. They play, eat, hunt, sleep do everything together until 3 days ago when the older female mounted the younger dog, and they had to be dragged apart with some good puncture bite wounds etc.The older dog has been dormant, but the two year old is getting bolder, with stealing toys etc. The older dog never seemed to mind this behavior until Bloody Sunday.
We now have to keep the older dog on a leash for fear she will hurt the younger dog. We have walked them together, and if they both are occupied they seem OK outside. With no distractions, the older dog is constantly checking out the younger and will posture and try to mount again if we don’t stop her … Will I have to give one of these dogs up?
~LLister
This is definitely a dominance issue. Here, read this article on Lab Sibling Rivalry. You need to understand the pack order and how to help square away the order within your house. I don’t see any reason why you would need to give either of them up as it is an easy situation to handle – if handled correctly.I hope it helps! Keep us up to date!
Lab smiles,
Sianan
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This is a wonderful blog! I stumbled on it when I was researching when my 11 wk old choc lab female would calm down. She bites(mixed soft) and snaps constantly and barks alot. We were thinking about giving her away b/c she is such a handful.We work and she is alone for up to 4 hrs at a shot ( I come home for lunch) didn’t want to crate her b/c I thought that was too long (we put her in a pen). She is house broken(still won’t go outside) but was wondering if she could hold it that long. I think she has separation anxiety, I feel bad and would never had gotten her if I knew she would be so up tight. Should we give her away or will this pass?
Labrador Retriever puppies are a handful and need persistent/consistent training. Please feel free to use this blog as a training reference but also seek professional training offline to help with your pup. She is totally normal.