I wonder if anyone out there can offer us any help? First a bit of history. We have a lab X who is now about thirteen months. He's a neutered male and we've had him since he was about eight weeks old. We bought him from a rescue centre where he was born and spent his first few weeks with his mother and siblings until mom was re-homed and then his siblings. That left him on his own for about two weeks until we brought him home. My husband has grown up with dogs - they had quite a few over the years and we've had a previous dog ourselves but the personality of this young dog has left us both bewildered. Right from the start he suffered separation anxiety which now thankfully he seems to be much improved. However, a more worrying trait seems to be taking over. If he gets the chance, ie when he's in the house or garden, he will suddenly 'pick' on someone (usually members of the family). He will jump towards them, heckles sometimes up and bark without any provocation and will try to nip or bite. Today I was in the garden and he 'charged' me on the lawn, swung round and went through this intimidating routine. We'd appreciate other people's opinions on this as it seems to be getting worse.

he thinks he rules the house,
and is trying to see how far to push you all with his intimidating,
did he ever go to training classes, you might want to look into taking him.

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Sounds if maybe he could have missed out on some vital socilizing during the puppy stage, Looks like you have managed to solve that but sounds like he is trying to upp his position in the pack, he wants to be 'top dog' . Not a huge problem, any good behavioirst would give you good advise should it get worse, but keeping him is his rightful place at the bottom of the pack could be a starter.

regards
DT

Thank you for replying. I thought this might be the problem. The way we've been dealing with it was to put him in a quiet room on his own for two or three minutes until he's calmed down. When he was doing this in the garden, I had my house keys with me so when he jumped towards me I threw them on the ground in front of him which seems to stop him.

Personally i think that as this is a new behaviour then it could be a medical isssue i would take him to a vet before you think about anything else. dogs may react in this way if they are in pain or ill.

If he gets the all clear from a vet the second thing to consider is if there has been an event which could have really freightened him or a new person or animal in the neighbourhood.

My advice would be to get a good behaviourist in to take a look at the bahaviours, make sure they come to you and spend time watching this behaviour as its easiy to misinterpret these things without observing them yourself.

When he does these behaviours it is very imprtant that you do not punish him as you will only make the problem worse, instead ignore him and walk away, this will be punishment enough if you ignore him, reward any good bahaviours, such as playing, having a cuddle or just sitting out the way. letting him know what beahviours you prefere often is the best way to get rid of unwanted behaviours. punishing any bad behaviours in any way will more then likely make them worse or cause more problems.

good luck

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At what age was he castrated Suz? The reason I am asking is if he is only 13 months now it could be debateable whether he has reached maturity! Has he been castrated in the last couple of months?
regards
Sue

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Sounds like a case of the 'Kevins' to me

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He was castrated between 6/7 months. This behaviour isn't really new, but more challenging. He's always been very excited when we go into the garden with him and started by running round and round the garden. Then the running past us developed from this behaviour. He's also done this to my husband in the house when he's come back from a walk. He trots off when he's had his lead taken off and then would suddenly swing round and charge back jumping and barking in this intimidating manner. I've now told my husband not to 're-act' when he does this and totally ignore this bad behaviour. I tried it out in the garden today - and it seemed to work. Regarding his health, he's absolutely as fit as a fiddle - he recently saw the vet for his boosters. Thank you for offers of help - they're much appreciated.

I know this is nothing to do with your post or question Suz but IMHO I think castration at 12 week is barbaric

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