Have I got the most boisterous labrador alive?

[Iamblossom]

Black lab, 2.5 years old. Absolutely beautiful to look at, incredibly loving, super clever.

I walk and run with him in an area that you can let dogs off leads. I regularly revisit recall and take a lead and treats on all walks and runs I take him on, and his recall is very good 98% of the time.

But oh my goodness, when I let him, he runs like Lindford Christie crossed with a greyhound, back and forth back and forth, barks very very loudly with joy at nothing in particular, is a total whirling dervish of energy. I see other dogs running about, and barking, but not like him, I get comments of amusement from people all the time.

Are all Labs like this or is he just super exuberant?

In my experience there are three types of Labradors...

The morbidly obese ones who plod along and appear well behaved because they are too fat to get into mischief

The healthy weight to moderately overweight ones who are usually friendly but very badly trained, very in your face and excessively lively and obnoxious and rude, usually but not always show types and I assume largely bought by novice owners who were tricked into believing the show bred labs are super lazy, placid, family pets needing very little work line.

And the beautifully trained, obedient labs walking to heel and polite and friendly with everyone which in my experience are pretty much always working line labs.

Ours is very lean, we keep him at "farm dog physique" as recommended by our vet, as he has elbow dysplasia which we are managing with supplements.

He is definitely in your face and excessively lively that's for sure. I avoid getting getting into situations where he can be obnoxious and rude.

I guess more training would have him trotting by my heel, but he loves to run and bark so where appropriate I let him, it's just mental to watch!

Not a lab owner but have a dog that jumps around like bambi on crack when she's excited. To the point people actually stop to watch her, followed by the usual is that your dog?
Same as your 98% recall.
Can be in your face , which is still a work in progress due to lack of socialising when a puppy.
Mad as a box of frogs

MrsJunglelow
I'd probably agree with you, but with the addition that the 3rd group can enjoy excitable off lead time and run around appropriate spaces too.

Plus, each dog has their own experiences. I sometimes bump into a lovely lab who is in the third group but I would say they're neither friendly nor rude. They are happy to mind their own business, well socialised with other dogs, but don't like to be petted by strange humans.

Made myself sound bad owner. She's a rescue and wasn't socialised with other dogs or kids.
We got her out of a cellar not a dogs home so we have done all the hard work to get her to where she is today

I'd probably agree with you, but with the addition that the 3rd group can enjoy excitable off lead time and run around appropriate spaces too
Oh of course!
I’m not one that thinks dogs should always be on lead or at heel constantly at all.
I just meant that the third group are very well behaved and under control, they are still energetic dogs but there’s no racing up to random people and putting mucky paws all over them for example or crashing into strange dogs and running round them play bowing which I see a lot with group two...

I see. I thought you meant always to heel, which made me confused. My friends dog would be a very fat lab if he walked to heel each walk.

Rushing up with muddy paw dogs are annoying and I wish people would stop saying it's friendly mutters miserably to herself

Ours is a bit like yours, a working lab (not that we work him), lean and energetic, pretty good recall, used to running free and not very good on a lead. He's not boisterous though, he's gentle and quiet mostly, and only barks when someone comes to the house. He's just greyhound fast and robustly healthy according to the vet.

I would like him to walk to heel but we live in the country and he's almost never on a lead so we haven't really needed to. Except that when we do need to take him somewhere it's a nightmare so we really should work on it

"racing up to random people and putting mucky paws all over them for example or crashing into strange dogs and running round them play bowing which I see a lot with group two." - yep mine did this for ages.....[facepalm]. Much better now.

@MrsJunglelow I have two labs, one from group 2 and one from group 3. Both treated and trained exactly the same. I’ll let you guess which one is the chocolate and which is the black!

My oldie lab now 15 is a working type, he did work but that was scentwork so not gundog work.

He could outrun a greyhound in his prime. He is always happy smiley and sooooo easy to train, a joy to be with. Every day with him now is a bonus he is a real gentlemen.

and then I was given working cockers for scent work.........

I had a yellow lab x ( staff ) He was a very lively dog and would play outside for a hour at a time twice a day ( plus 2 more 15 min walks ) a d still go batty in the house throwing his fav popped football around
He did not start to grow up till he was about 7 but was still lively untill he was around 10 he slowed down at about 13 ,.
He lived till he was 18 .
I would love another dog , but I am not sure I could cope with so much dog

@AlCalavicci yes exactly, they are SO MUCH DOG! If someone asks me if they should get a black lab I suggest they think loooooong and hard. Of course you should do this before getting any pet, but oh my goodness Jackson is ALOT.

My 10 year old yellow lab still bounces at every opportunity. I get lots of comments, people ask if he's on springs.
When he was younger I used to worry it could damage his joints, especially when he does it on hard surfaces but he's never had any problems. It seems to make him so happy.

Our black lab puppy was born on Tuesday, we’re very very excited! Very much planning on him being the third option suggested by a PP, ie beautifully trained and obedient. Hoping he’s a little less wild than our chocolate lab was!

our lab is our first family dog....i'm trying to train, but we got him just before lockdown so no puppy classes, limited grooms etc etc

he walks by my side nicely does all the usual sit, stay ....began recall training but it failed due to too many people walking him/not being consistent.but i'll be back on it as i really want him to run free like op dog!!

he's a sniffer......sniff sniff sniff nose to ground back and forth sniffing!i let him do that but i don't see other dogs do this obsessively like ours...is this right?

a great dane puppy was out in the woods today....came tearing out towards us....owner said he's 6 months and he was sooo uncoordinated, just like Bambi! such a lovely dog but stopped a very socially distanced 2 metres from us

OP, the thing to remember is he’s only 2.5. Some dogs mature at 18 months, my male lab was probably 3-4 years, female is 4 and a bit crazy, sometime longer.I am not sure that’s working or show driven just personality.
Just keep reinforcing the training and enjoy his joy. 😁

• some take

@DenimDrift

our lab is our first family dog....i'm trying to train, but we got him just before lockdown so no puppy classes, limited grooms etc etc

he walks by my side nicely does all the usual sit, stay ....began recall training but it failed due to too many people walking him/not being consistent.but i'll be back on it as i really want him to run free like op dog!!

he's a sniffer......sniff sniff sniff nose to ground back and forth sniffing!i let him do that but i don't see other dogs do this obsessively like ours...is this right?

Sniffing is great. Encourage it. It relaxes a dog, it is a natural thing to do, really knackers them out.

Get him to scentwork classes some are online he will love it

@Iamblossom

"racing up to random people and putting mucky paws all over them for example or crashing into strange dogs and running round them play bowing which I see a lot with group two." - yep mine did this for ages.....[facepalm]. Much better now.

Mine does this and she is 11 years old. And not even a lab. I have no excuses 😃

And she is arthritic. But still manages to cause mayhem somehow.

I think I know of one in the making. Hector is huge and 6 months and the utter joy in his face as he raced to grrrr my and D grumpy Dog, I have no idea how he managed to stop before crashing into us but he did 😂

My black lab is my 3rd.
The last one wasn't slim and well trained. She was calm and perfect, to be honest.

My 3rd one is the same age as yours and she's wild! She's more collie in her mentality and she's working line, and in some ways very trainable, but she's wild. And that means if it moves she wants to track it down, and she won't listen to me if she's concentrating on whatever is rustling in the Bauhaus. She yanks on the lead like an elephant rushing to the January sales, it rips your arms out and had made me literally fall over when I'm caught unawares.

She beautiful. And I keep telling her that's the only reason I haven't killed her and eaten her, she such a nightmare!

I have a fox red lab. He works with me with people so he is beautifully behaved even as the young dog he still is. He is calm, measured, responsive and looks oh so well trained. He will never jump up except at a couple of certain people who have encouraged it. I've put hours of work into him and he never puts a paw wrong.

However, put another dog or a football in front of him and he turns into an absolute dickhead and I look like I've never trained him a day in my life. Twat.