One Year old Labrador-nipping

[Icanseeclearlynow12]

Hi We recently took on a one year old Lab who has been well looked after and is used to children
On a couple of occasions he has snapped up in the air towards my 9 year old daughters arm when she went to stroke him(Not playfully)
Another time he nipped at my daughters leg(Possibly playfully?!) Made contact but didn’t break skin
Is this something that I should be worried about or is this normal puppy behaviour? I do feel nervous when they interact now and feel like I can’t trust him, not that I would ever leave them unsupervised

It's tricky.

Labradors are naturally mouthy but a good owner will train them not to nip and grab at hands and legs. They're bred to retrieve and carry things, after all.

However one is still very young so I suspect a lot of this is down to lack of training and boundaries so it shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

When the dog snapped at your daughter, what happened? What was he doing and where was he when she tried to stroke him? Did she maybe surprise him when she reached over his head?

I'd personally find a good local trainer and get to training classes. Maybe take the kids too. Although it's quite common at that age for a pup to still be learning it is also a good idea to train it out now.

Context is really important.

If they were playing and the lab got excited it probably is normal puppy behaviour that has not been taught out yet.

Make sure your lab has something in their mouth already eg a toy when interacting with your daughter and this may stop any mouthing or nipping.

It is less common for labs to nip but that may just be the word used. Labs will put their mouths around the arm of a person but this is from the need to carry things. A nip eg a lunge forward nip and move away is less likely to be puppy behaviour in a lab.

A 121 trainer in rl would be the best bet to confirm the reason for the behaviour and ways to prevent it in future.

Either way the dog would have been above threshold either in excitement or tired or over aroused and probably needs more time to chill and relax. Young labs can peak in a very short time!

What's his background? Unusual for a 1 year old lab with no issues to be rehomed. Even with no issues, I wouldn't expect them to slot into an entirely new home.

As to the nipping, is it actually nipping? I would say that would be unusual at a year, we still had some mouthy play at that age but it wasnt what I'd describe as nipping.

I'd suggest you need someone qualified to see it in person and give advice.

The first incident, when you said she went to stroke him, was he resting? You really should leave a dog having a snooze or just relaxing alone, petting them can startle them, and cause a panicked bite

It's hard to tell without seeing the dog but my guess in this scenario would be that he is trying to tell her to back off and may have already tried more subtle messages that were not understood, or may have learned in his previous home that more subtle communication does not work and so taken to giving more explicit signals.

Air snapping is a classic back off message. Because it makes the other party take a step back but without resorting to injury.

I would be...

a) researching what those more subtle signals look like. Check out the ladder of aggression (don't be scared by the title) and look for example videos.

b) talk to your 9 year old about the signals and understanding them. There is a nice illustration of dog body language here: bowwowinsurance.com.au/pet-community/pet-talk/dog-communication-body-language/ The artist (Lili Chin) has also done a cute little book that might be nice for your nine year old to have and read

c) Actively on the look out for your dog given those signals and noting what kinds of scenarios they occur in

d) making sure this dog gets plenty of calm and space. They should always be able to get away from children easily and quickly, to somewhere peaceful.

e) making sure they are always supervised together and I would not be encouraging much interaction at all between them right now. They need time to build up a trusting relationship.

f) Working on using treats to habituate/counter condition the dog to human handling. This dog may be used to children and come from a nice home but few owners actively do this and all should. Accepting human handling does not come naturally to dogs and the more you can help them get used to it, the better for all.

As with any new-to-the-home dog, any interaction or fuss should be at the dog's request really. This is epecially true when coming from children who can act strange (to dogs) and not be able to notice the body language asking them to stop.

If all that seems like a lot for you then also consider finding a good local trainer who can support you and work through this with you. It can really help to have another pair of eyes looking at dog body language while you interact.

@SirSniffsAlot covers everything. Having a nippy breed I know training isn't exactly the answer, more focus and distraction work. If the dog is anxious it will take time for this to work. And the suggestion to work with the breed instinct to have something in its mouth is wise.

I wd intervene fairly fast though. My middle child went through a phase of being v anxious of our BC when she nipped as a puppy which just caused her focus on dc to escalate. Redirecting her focus on to us took a lot of work. If your 9yr old is still fairly calm now's the time to give the dog plenty of space and teach body language.