Labrador Retriever Forum

General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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...

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

Spay her.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

What's your pack order like? Has it changed? Do you have a much older dog who, perhaps, is failing?

Dogs will try to move into top position when the older, presumably alpha, dog starts to weaken.

Does alone time once a day work with her? Maybe a ride in the car or the golf cart without everyone else? Something's got her breeches in a twist??

Good luck!!

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

breeder 30 yrs
Spay her.


why would she spay a 3 year old bitch because of something that started 2 weeks ago? could be something simple and fixable.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

Because the owner stated blood work was normal. THIS IS NOT NORMAL TEMPERAMENT. Any temperament in this Breed that is not stellar , should be spay !

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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.

Re: bizarre behavior out of a 3 year old bitch

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.