7 month old golden retriever suddenly gone very hyper

[Ohheavens]

Our normally lovely and calmish golden retriever has quite suddenly become very hyper, biting, and nipping all the time, taking things from the table and barking.

We were feeding him a raw diet and have now swapped to dry food and his behaviour has coincided with this. Is it just a coincidence.
And whats the best way to handle this,
Many thanks for your help,

[MostAmused]

Is it possible he's just hit his teenage years? Dogs test boundaries and can start to behave differently as their puberty kicks in.

This might help :)
3lostdogs.com/just-kill-me-now-surviving-your-dogs-teen-months/

[MostAmused]

I should add that they do get over it though!

[Sillysausage2]

What food are you giving him? My lab was very hyper and loads of energy, the dog trainer said her food was too high in protein so we swapped to Burns and she's calmed down since

[mrslaughan]

I would say the food is the culprit. You need to talk to your breeder about what the best dry food is for your breed - protein level etc.

Our breeder recommends raw, but I do know she has made comments about certain kibble not being suitable because of protein content.....in the way it has sent the dog crazy and it is not surprising.

[LadyTurmoil]

Many, many people report that their dogs are much more calm when fed a raw food diet, so it may well be the cause of him going suddenly hyper. Could also be his age though.

Why did you change from raw to a dry food, out of interest?

[Ohheavens]

Thank you for your helpful replies.

We regrettably had to stop raw feeding due to lifestyle changes and couldn't manage it.
I think we will try and organise things so we can restart it, he was definitely calmer before we went on to dry food.
Thanks again.

[fjalladis]

My lab did exactly the same at that age. I had to put her on kibble from raw as i had run out and had to wait for a fresh delivery so bought some kibble. She had been perfect on the lead to this point and pretty reliable all round. That night she messed twice in the house and had weed on my carpet. She was hideous out on the lead, started barking at people walking past my house, running loops round the house. It was horrid. I'm ashamed to say I got cross with her as after 48hrs of non stop manic behaviour I'd had enough. Things are getting better I put her back on raw but the behaviour continued and although she now has kibble available again (and didn't get the dramatic reaction the second time) her behaviour now is nowhere near as good as it was four months ago. I suppose it was inevitable that she would have a teenage phase I just hope she grow out of it soon!!!

[lulalullabye]

I have to add that we have had a lot to do with guide dogs in the past year. The puppy raisers opinion of golden retrievers is that they are suspicious dogs and they go through a phase of 'going nuts'. I took my children in for a few weeks to help with a 7mth old retriever/lab. He suddenly hated children and slipped his lead trying to get away from some. The first time he met the kids, he hid behind the trainers legs, two weeks later le was running after them and joining in with all their games.
As the trainers said, 'he's just a golden'
I fear it will be a temporary thing and not much to do with food.