Understanding Labrador Retrievers My Labrador is Eating the Furniture!
By: Kelly Marshall
Submitted: 2008-12-01 03:14:32 | Word Count: 537
Several new owners of Labradors are not use to the fact that these cute little puppies have a natural tendency to nip and bite at our hands and arms. As a matter of fact, these little guys will put anything in their mouths that can actually fit. Unfortunately, some new dog owners mistake this behavior as simply biting and unfairly scold and yell at the animal. You have to understand that Labs are genetically designed to have an oral obsession, particularly for retrieving.
Your dog has to be trained with positive reinforcement not to mouth and bite at people s limbs. A perfect example is to look at a Labrador puppy the same as a piranha, but with fur. They run around with their mouths open and hunting down anything to put in it, something, anything, whatever they can discover.
[ advertisement ]
When labs get older they have a tendency to begin grabbing onto people arms and clothing. This kind of behavior should be considered wrong and should be stopped before it develops into an act of domination. As you probably have heard before, training a Lab not to grab onto your arms and clothes with its mouth needs to be carefully instituted. You can never totally stop your Lab from putting things in its mouth but you can certainly teach him to make better choices.
Your Dog Cold Have Health Issues Due To Mouthing Stuff
Another perfect example to describe the oral obsession of a Labrador Retriever is to think of them as vacuum cleaners. Oft times they accidentally suck up and swallow objects which can lead to health problems, especially if they get a hold of products that have poisons in them.
Labs have been known to swallow toys, tennis balls, small stones, socks, rawhide, bicycle seats, and even knives! Basically anything that can actually fit in their mouths and down its throat is fair game to the motivated Labrador Retriever. It is a good idea to de fluff your pillows, remove sofa cushions, and discard any loose toys or items around your home that could cause harm if swallowed.
I once came home from work and discovered that one of my wooden dresser drawers completely removed from the entire unit. The front panel was ripped off and my clothes were everywhere. As I was straightening up the mess I discovered that there was small pieces of wood chips all over the room and the front panel was nowhere to be found. As you can probably imagine, my lab chewed up and ate the entire front panel, even the metallic handle was missing. I’m so glad that he did not suffer any internal damages and the handle passed through his system without harm.
The perfect solution when it comes to raising a lab while minimizing personal damages to both your house and your dog is to dog proof anything and everything you can find. Supervision also plays a big role in training your dog not to chew up certain things. As a dog owner, you have to have plenty of time to invest into your Lab which will prove to be time well spent as you watch your dog grow into a well mannered adult dog.
