Annoying/ dangerous habit

[Timeaftertim3]

Hi,
My Labrador/ golden cross is 32kgs, and has the very occasional habit of getting really excited (becoming totally deaf to any commands) and running full pelt so close to people it’s frightening. Yesterday she knocked my son over. He’s fine as she just clipped him, but honestly I’m considering never to let her off lead as it’s really unpredictable and infrequent, so it makes it difficult to manage.
Apart from that, she’s a good girl.
any advice? Experience with a tendency like this? Ta!

Hi OP, how old is your dog? My lab (male) would do that as a puppy and would jump and bash my children into doors / cupboards / anything! It was horrible but, with age (he’s 2 1/2 now) it did stop. We stress “sit” when the children come in and they would give him a treat and ignore him until he stopped jumping. It did work (it was a case of repeat, repeat, repeat!) but you just have to persevere.

Hiya, yes- thanks for your post. She ‘s 3 now and we’ve done a lot of similar training as she used to be jumpy etc. she is so much better at that now and doesn’t do it.
it’s a strange one as she won’t do the run/ bash for ages (like 6 months or so) and then suddenly, out of the blue it’s like she’s possessed and just wants to run close to people really fast. It only happens when we’re out and just very occasionally, otherwise, she’s great off lead and her recall is good.

It just sounds like excitement to me. If her recall is usually really good, could you have a longline clipped to her harness so that you can grab her back?

Definitely use a long line

Thanks all. Yes- it’s excitement, I would say.
I have a long line- so will try that, but only concern with that would be a sudden pull could damage the walker too. As she just suddenly bolted yesterday - it came out of nowhere. But might try that…

Long lines are fantastic things but they can also be really dangerous. Especially if you've got kids or other people around. You've got to have relatively good control before the training/walking on them starts. Otherwise you'll be tied in knots or towed. Or both!"

My boy has a habit of zooming straight at people, and dodging last minute. The trick is to keep still and let him manoeuvre. Best way to prevent a barge, intentional or otherwise. Calmed down now hes a bit older, so it does get better!

A lab owner told me when hers plays with other labs they like to run into each other, so maybe it's a hardwired trait. A labradoodle was playing with my dog and repeatedly slammed its body into my legs. The next day I had bruises across my thighs! I see it off lead and avoid it now. Personally I'm cautious and keep my pup on a lead in situations when I'm not fully confident in how she'll react. But if she doesn't do it for six month stretches I can see why you would feel confident at her being off lead.

As an aside, do people really use long lines with big strong/fast dogs? Last time I used ours my 20kg 9 month old ran after a crow, and the impact from her reaching the end of the line dragged me over and really damaged my little finger (and must have hurt her too). Personally I won't use one again.

Totally agree with the concern over the long line- I haven’t used one on her in years, my instinct is that it could cause serious a harm. She can be fast and strong. I might ask our old dog trainer, but I think it might be a breed trait. I assumed she would grow out of it along with all the training, but I got a right shock when she knocked over my son (who was just standing still…) this week.
thanks for all your answers- interested in anyone who’s dog still does this and what you do to manage the behaviour. Funnily enough @MildredCurry my boy was still, but she clipped the side of him, we are lucky he’s absolutely fine as he’s still quite young. She really could have done very serious harm, but like I’ve said- it’s once in a blue moon, so we thought she’d grown out of it.