3 yr old Lab becoming agressive

[ED209]

Oscar our 3 (nearly 4) year old black lab has always been a pleasure to walk and own, never agressive towards either other dogs or people, even when naughty kids have deliberately tried to wind him up.

Over the last couple of months he has started to be agressive though, he has on occaisions had a go at other dogs (mainly other labs) when out for a walk and has also growled at me and my partner a couple of times though never trying to bite us. Today this has come to a head when he has actually bitten a workman working immediately outside our back garden fence. He managed to stick his head through a hole in the fence caused by said workmen weeks ago which i have been on at them to fix for weeks (another very long story).No major injury has been caused however the Mrs has been on the phone and she is distraught.

Oscar has always been terriotorial and will bark at unknown people who he sees either through our garden fence or from the house window however he has always been fine once face to face with people and in public he never barks or is agressive to other people.

Now what could be the cause of this aggression?

Is it because he is reqaching maturity and simply has too much testosterone flying about?

Or could it be that its down to us also having a lab bh pup now? He is never agressive to her despite her best efforts to provoke him but is he being protective of her? Or could it be something to do with her coming into season? (She is 5 months old now and we suspect its coming now)

Anyway despite my wishes he has now been booked into have his balls off next week. Is this likely to solve the problem? Oscar is small and very fit for a Lab, is having his balls off likely to turn him into a fat slobbering mess?

[bexVN]

Not unless you let him.

Yes it could be a lot to do with the youngster. Maybe worth PM'ing nick007 on here for a few tips. Though neutering likely to help you may need to include some retraining aswell.

[Ryn36]

I agree with Bex that you should probably look at enlisting the expertise of a trained behaviouralist, but I couldn't help but pick out from your post that you've had workmen outside for a while, in addition to a "new" addition to the family.

If he's always been a bit territorial, he could just be worn down with being uneasy of late - lots of strange noises, lots of people he needs to "check" on, coupled with accepting and then protecting the small one...


It's an absolute guess, though, so could well be complete bks and, as such, I'd await proper advice from a trained professional who's assessed him on how best to deal with it.


Does he have a strong routine? Our two settled down loads once they had a set, unchanging routine.



When is he growling?

[Doshy]

Too late to chop his knackers off, what the others said, re-training. Good luck.

[bexVN]

Doshy said:

Too late to chop his knackers off, what the others said, re-training. Good luck.

It won't be too late if behaviour exacerbated by the female pup. Seen good responses in the past as long as neutering and good retraining done together.