My Bichon Bites. Help Needed.

welsh_cake

Sarabe, When i come home from work he goes mental and jumps up and wants attention (no big deal to me) but my vet told me that he thinks he is the "boss" and he needs learn to stop. To be honest, when i do get home, the ignoring him goes out the window because i am so pleased to see him and end up chasing him round the house/garden for 15 minutes!

oldernotwiser, thanks for the reply, but this is the first incident of him actually snapping, so do you think it is right that i should just say "Oh well, he snapped at my neighbour so lets take him to the vet tomorrow and get him put to sleep" before i even try everything in my power to solve the problem. This is the problem these days, some people give up too easily. Charlie will never be put to sleep - My dog and I will work on his behaviour for the next 10 years if we have to. He is with me for life. Its a good job that I saved Charlie from his life of hell or he could have ended up with someone who just gave up on him and then he wouldn't have had a life at all. Sorry if i sound harsh, i don't mean to, but i am just as protective of him as he is of me!

Oldernotwiser

welsh_cake wrote: »

oldernotwiser, thanks for the reply, but this is the first incident of him actually snapping, so do you think it is right that i should just say "Oh well, he snapped at my neighbour so lets take him to the vet tomorrow and get him put to sleep" before i even try everything in my power to solve the problem. This is the problem these days, some people give up too easily. Charlie will never be put to sleep - My dog and I will work on his behaviour for the next 10 years if we have to. He is with me for life. Its a good job that I saved Charlie from his life of hell or he could have ended up with someone who just gave up on him and then he wouldn't have had a life at all. Sorry if i sound harsh, i don't mean to, but i am just as protective of him as he is of me!

No, of course you must try everything you can to overcome the problem but you should also bear in mind that you might not be successful.

welsh_cake

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

No, of course you must try everything you can to overcome the problem but you should also bear in mind that you might not be successful.

I really believe i will be successful, i have come on here for any advice i can get and am willing to try anything (apart from shouting/smacking him!).

Oldernotwiser

welsh_cake wrote: »

I really believe i will be successful, i have come on here for any advice i can get and am willing to try anything (apart from shouting/smacking him!).

That's good. I recommend you see a dog behaviourist because there seem to be lots of issues going on.

Good luck.

welsh_cake

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

That's good. I recommend you see a dog behaviourist because there seem to be lots of issues going on.

Good luck.

Yes, thanks. I am looking into it now, there seems to be a lot of people to choose from and different things to consider!
Thanks

hethmar

Many Tears places lots of ex puppy farm dogs - they always insist the adopters already have a dog in the house that the new one can learn from.

Why dont you send them an email or give them a ring to see if they can help you?

starnight_2

welsh_cake, I know you're being told to ignore him when he jumps up, although I don't advocate totally ignoring you dog. You do want to teach him not to jump on others, as someone said make people coming to the door something good and fun, if he misbehaves ignore the bad behaviour if he does something good reward him.

I hope you have luck finding a good behavourist that can help you get him over this hurdle.

mrcol1000

The whole jumping up thing i think your actually find is how your dog has been trained to great people. My dog jumps up at me when I come in to say hello but only if I allow her. Sometimes when you stumble in with bags of shopping the last thing you need is 15kg of dog propelling itself at you.
I quite enjoy having a dog be excited to see me and don't mind being jumped up at for her to say hello but when the door opens she stays still till either we say helllo which means she can jump up and say hello or stay which means don't jump up yet.
So you need to bascially train the dog how you want it to say hello. If you want the dog to jump up then let it. If you don't you need to train it not to do it. The best way is when you come in to ignore the dog. Turn your back on it. Wait till it stops trying to say hello and then you say hello and make a fuss of the dog. Its hard and needs a lot of patience and will power but eventually it gets easier and then eventually the dog gets the message that the correct way to greet people is to wait for instructions.

As for the biting your neighbour. That is pretty shocking and an awful thing and you should be grateful your neighbour is understanding. That is not acceptable and until you get the problems with the dog sorted you should not open the front door unless the dog is in another room. You don't need to have the dog put down but you should stop using the excuse of you being too soft and his past problems. Its very easy to allow a dog to misbehave and use past problems as an example. However if the dog bites someone and they make a complaint then the police aren't going to listen to your excuses.

hethmar

Sounds to me that your dog is nervous - and being aggressive is her form of defence - get one in before they do. Im sure with some good advice and hard work on your part, you can help her. Contact many tears.

http://www.freewebs.com/manytearsrescue/

welsh_cake

I understand what your saying Mrcol and i am making excuses for him at the moment!

hethmar, yes my dog is very nervous. I am very aware of Many Tears and the fantastic work they do and will look into this. We did have another Bichon and him and Charlie were best friends, but i can't say his behaviour is worse since we lost Barnie because this is a problem that has been there a while, but recently he's becoming unbearable. He didn't learn any bad behavour from our other dog either, as Barnie was as daft as a brush.