she gets plenty of exercise as we live on a large piece of property and all of us go running every night. Well they run I ride the golf cart. During the day they are either in the house with me or out in the yard playing.
She is only locked up when I am not home and it is not isolated as she can see everyone else, but I cant stress the other dogs out by the OCD behavior.
Blood drawn showed nothing out of the ordinary..sigh...
Maybe she's just bored? Can you get her into an obed class or out to the field, and give her a job where she has to think? Physical exercise only goes so far w/ some dogs.
this may sound odd, but try an animal communicator- we have had really good success with them! Be happy to give you their information if contact me privately
just because a blood panel came back normal does not mean its not a hormonal issue or a deficiency.
It would be different if she was acting aggressively towards other dogs, shes just being passively annoying.I know a lot of labs that are bizarre in their own ways.
I can at least tell you how I stopped ear sucking at my house. Get a tube of Bandguard. http://shop.corneranimal.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=10701
Put a tiny dab on your finger. Put half a dab on the inside of the tip of each of the other dogs' ears. Once the habit is broken, you can clean off the ears.
no.... I am not spaying her, she has been a "stellar" dog in every other way except for this past two weeks.It is not a temperament issue, this I am positive of.
The ear sucking has stopped today, will see if the annoyance does too.
Wonder if she is cycling earlier than expected? guess I will know soon enough.
To my mind, these behaviors sound hormonal and not all that unusual.
As another poster suggested, the timing may have to do with a false pregnancy, or how she is responding to the drop in circulating progesterone, which happens whether the bitch is pregnant or not.
Hormones are very powerful in the body and their effect on the individual bitch is very variable. She is a young bitch and is chosing these behaviors as a way of interpreting her body's progesterone levels. Some bitches (I had a rescue do this) will grab all the toys in the house, create a nest, and curl up for hours with her "babies" as a response to the fluctuation in progesterone levels, 2-3 months after a heat cycle. Your girl is treating her littermates' ears like "babies" and is humping due to hormone levels....she is a bit confused but I would certainly not spay her for this reason alone.
Hormones will eventually normalize and the behaviors should stop. If they don't after a month or two (coinciding with the time she would have puppies), you may want to do a more comprehensive workup, and check sex hormone levels.
Less likely would be a hormone-secreting tumor, but is not reasonable to go to as a tentative diagnosis due to her young age and general overall health.
I bet this will go away by itself soon, but be aware that she may have hormonal issues in the future after her heat cycle if she is not bred.
Most vets would tell you the cure for pseudocyesis or false pregnancy is to breed her! Then when she is done with having puppies, spay her.