Why is my Labrador not protective?

If your Labrador is not protective you might be wondering why and what you can do about it. This post will help you to figure out why it has not been being protective.

So, why is my Labrador not protective? Possible reasons it is not protective are that it has not been trained to be protective, it doesn’t feel the need to be, illness, diet or mistreatment.

There are actually many reasons why it might not be being protective but there are a number of things you can consider when trying to figure out the exact reason.

Why your Labrador is not protective

The different reasons why your Labrador is not protective will likely come with some clues.

Below are a number of possible causes and what would make them more likely to be the reason.

It hasn’t been trained to be

Most dogs that are physically protective of their owners are protective because they have been trained to be protective. Naturally, most dog breeds will not be protective physically unless they are trained to be protective and this is especially the case with Labradors which are by nature a very friendly breed.

It doesn’t feel the need to be

It could also be the case that your Labrador does not feel the need to be protective. This would be more likely if you are around other people with it a lot. This would be a good thing since you do not want it being protective when it does not need to be.

Illness

If it has stopped being protective suddenly, it could be due to becoming ill or injured. This would be more likely if it has also been showing other signs of being ill or injured such as being fatigued suddenly or limping. In this case, the best option would be to take it to a vet.

It got to socialize a lot as a puppy

If your Labrador interacted with a lot of people and other dogs as a puppy and it is still regularly around other people and dogs then it might have learned that they are not a threat. This is a good thing since it means that it will be better behaved when around other people that are not a threat to you.

You have not been treating it well enough

The cause might also be that it does not want to be protective. It could be that you have not been walking it enough, feeding it right, giving it enough attention, mistreating it or not training it. This would be unlikely to be the reason especially if it is affectionate towards you but it would be more likely if it tends to avoid you.

Things to consider

Below are some things to consider when trying to figure out why it has not been being protective.

When it is not protective

It would help to consider when it becomes less protective or if it always is not protective.

If it becomes more protective when someone it doesn’t know is around the home but not when you are walking it then this would be normal behavior.

How old it is

It would also help to consider how old your Labrador is. If it is still a puppy then it might not have learned who to trust and who not to trust yet. If it is a puppy then it would be likely that it would become more protective in certain situations as it gets older.

With that being said, the goal should be to train it to be friendly towards people since it is much better to have an overly friendly dog than one that is too aggressive.

If it is an adult, the cause could be due to any of the reasons mentioned above. It would also be much more likely to be because it is naturally friendly and it has not been trained to be protective.

Not being protective is not necessarily a bad thing

It is also important to remember that it is a good thing that it does not become overly protective when you do not want it to. The reason for this is that it means that you can have it around other people and dogs without having to worry about it becoming aggressive when you do not want it to.

If it stopped being protective suddenly

It would also help to consider the timing of when it stopped being protective if it did use to be protective in the past.

For example, if it usually would bark when there was someone at the front door, it might have stopped due to learning that it is not normally a threat or because you encouraged it to stop barking.