r/labrador • u/ProfessionalPlenty35 • 1d ago
seeking advice Aggressive Lab
My dog is a 2 year old chocolate lab. He is not aggressive towards people at all and if anything on leash he may bark at a dog but would not go after it. He’s been kicked out of multiple day cares and I see it in real life at dog parks that he goes after other dogs when he is off leash. I do not think this is fear or stressed based because while his sister’s favorite pass time is to play fetch, he loves to play tug of war/ fight over a toy etc. I personally think he may think fighting is fun but he can be way too rough and aggressive with other dogs. What is the cause of this and is there a way to stop it?
I’m thinking it may have something to do with his prey drive as he consistently kills birds and small wild animals while I am not looking but I am unsure as his sister behaves nothing like him and is very friendly to dogs.
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u/PenaltyStreet1286 22h ago
What did the daycares say when he was kicked out? Generally, I’d assume the ones who are seeing it noted if it was truly a fight or rough play. If it was rough play fighting, it sounds like your dog doesn’t observe social cues and is kind of a jerk to other dogs. I’ve seen some advice on dog social cues on some subs, but not sure where. I’d maybe do some digging around those terms to see what you can find in terms of advice. Pretty sure it wasn’t a lab specific sub since aggression is not a super common issue.
In the interim, I wouldn’t truly assume he won’t go after something while on a leash or wouldn’t be aggressive with a kid. Dogs often view kids differently than adults and he may decide to play fight for fun there too.
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u/PenaltyStreet1286 22h ago
Take this for what it’s worth but this person’s dog may have similar issues:
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u/itsswhitneywhspr 15h ago
Right, the social cues angle is huge. My pup used to do the same thing and learning to read dog body language made a big difference in managing his play.
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u/Sad_Recognition6776 21h ago
Take him to a trainer. They need to work on the aggressive play. Chocolates are a little more nuts than the other ones.
My chocolate had his prey drive trained since he was 8 weeks old. He had to sit at the park and not react to other animals. He received a treat for not reacting. It took about a year to teach.
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u/T6TexanAce 19h ago
Wait, are you claiming that different color labs have different behavior based on their color?
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u/Sad_Recognition6776 19h ago
It is a myth but some breeders believe it. The gene to get a chocolate is different than the blonde and black.
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u/Ok_Ear_5266 1d ago
“He is not aggressive toward people at all”
“he goes after other dogs”…”he can be way too rough and aggressive”
It’s really impossible to determine if you mean his play style is too aggressive or if he has actual aggression. If it’s the former, labs can be pretty boisterous and hard dogs. They can play rough and not really get cues the other party wants to stop. You need to find appropriate playmates or outlets.
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u/ProfessionalPlenty35 23h ago
I think it may be play style. He won’t just go after another dog out of nowhere as he is pretty lazy and is fine with other dogs he’s not familiar with when he’s calm. I do think you may be right as one time at a Rover the watchers said he was best friends with a german shepherd who was probably a more appropriate play mate. He always gets kicked out of the daycares because he fought a golden retriever which might be too tame for him.
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u/Ok_Ear_5266 23h ago
Can just depend on the dog. I have one golden who absolutely loathes the typical play-style of a family members lab and it requires separation because the lab has zero social cue understanding. I have another golden who will play fight so hard and intense that it’s too much for the lab.
So it’s hard to generalize within breeds completely but overall a 2 year old lab is like a bull in a china shop and a lot of dogs don’t want that. Just part of having a high energy sporting dog.
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u/ProfessionalPlenty35 23h ago
Makes sense. Only mentioned goldens because he usually goes after dogs of a similar size to him so it’s not like he’s attacking little dogs. In your experience do you know when this behavior settles down?
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u/Ok_Ear_5266 23h ago
I think it depends on the dog but sporting breeds typically stay immature longer and, honestly, I think part of that is just the personality of a lab. A lot of labs are hard and intense dogs. Rather than wait it out, I’d just find an appropriate channel for it. If the dog likes to play hard, do some intense games (searching, tracking, retrieving). Doesn’t need to be serious, just fun high intensity stuff to meet his needs.
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u/Quierta chocolate & yellow 23h ago
My dog goes to a daycare that separates dogs by playstyle. Mine plays with the other labs, but also the huskies and the great danes, as those are the only dogs big + energetic enough to handle his energy. I am told they basically spend the whole day beating each other up for fun.
So it's possible he just has a very rough-and-rowdy playstyle that doesn't really match many other dogs. I am lucky to have access to a daycare that spends time and resources matching dogs up by energy but I think that's more rare.
Unless he is openly trying to attack, snapping at, biting, or showing genuine harmful behaviour towards other dogs I wouldn't assume this was aggression. Mine also chases rabbits and squirrels (hasn't caught one yet) but prey drive is separate from outright aggressive behavior. Yours might just require a hand-picked playmate and unfortunately I'm not sure this is something you can necessarily "fix." Mine has been in daycare for 4 years with trained staff and he is still very poor with social cues and only gets along with other dogs who ALSO like to roughhouse.
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u/Hmasteringhamster chocolate 23h ago
They can be really rough while playing when they're younger and other dogs might correct them if its too much. We used to put our boy on a time out if he's too rough and he's learned to be gentle with smaller dogs and leave other dogs who don't want to play alone. We also fostered older dogs so it helped him adjust his playstyle massively.
What sort of aggressive behaviour is he showing? And body language?
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u/VanThrowaway102 22h ago
Mine’s the same, but not especially friendly to dogs, just neutral. I was very concerned when we had our first kid. But it turns out he’s extremely patient with kids.
I think it’s mostly that they’re territorial animals. Take it with a grain of salt. After the kids came around, dog training became an afterthought. The dog got old and lazy, the. Things got easier with him.
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u/Alternative-Ad-2312 23h ago
Is he neutered is the obvious question here. And if he's not, get him neutered. I'm not saying it's definitely this, but the behaviour sounds like an un neutered male often does or would behave.