Uuuu I am so annoyed, so please excuse me if this gets a bit messy! Alright, Bismo my 10 moths old baby is the first pup I've ever had. I've tried so hard raising him and being consistent, the thing is, my parents have totally been doing the opposite of what I've tried to accomplish. They taught him to jump, they keep on giving him food by the table, they just... don't get it and I've spoken to them a hunded million times about this issue but it's like they're not taking me serious. Either way, he is big now and isn't fun with an almost 40kg dog jumping on me (I am a small person) everytime he gets excited. He keeps jumping and jumping and I know he's playing, but it hurts when he bites and goes for my face. He has gotten alot of bad habits and I am clueless of how to break them. For instance, he wants to jump on literally anyone we pass when we are going for a walk. You see, when he was smaller everyone absolutely adored him so they would just out of nowhere pet him without my permission on walks. Every. Single. Person. Did they ask me? Nope. Did they even acknowledge my existence? Nope. It was like I wasn't even there! And now I am left with a dog that expects everyone to pet him and that thinks it's okay to jump at them. Because, you know, the typical "i am ok with it" they'd say whenever I tried to telling them that I don't want to teach my dog to jump. They were okay with it when he was 8kg, but he isn't that small anymore. Now they just get angry so it's even gotten to the point that I am even scared of walking my dog, angry people are scary I also have this issue of having him loose because he expects everyone to love him so he will literally chase people, bikes, children. I don't know how I can teach him anything because it literally feels like everyone is working against me. I would love to be able to enjoy my dog Thanks for any tips of how I can effectively break these habits!
I forgot to add that I'm also a bit tired of his constantly biting, like, I get it; labradors are mouthy dogs. I can keep up with "soft" nibbles but whenever he gets excited in his play he'll play tougher and tougher to the point that... I don't know the english word. But you know when you bite with your teeth really hard so they hit eachother and it makes that snapping sound? Yeah that.
Please don't fret too much. I understand it's hard and you are doing a great job. Can your parents see how unhappy you are? When seeing people try and get in there first. Make yourself really interesting and have a small treat ready. Have him on lead at these points. Stand still with a relaxed lead (takes time and I wait for my 7 month choc lab to look at me before we continue) It helps him to focus on something else. Maybe take off lead where you know there won't be bikes, people or children and reintroduce very slowly with lots of praise. Hope this helps a bit
I know what you mean it bloomin hurts doesn't it? And it's very hard not to react. I move away for few seconds then reintroduce what we were doing. Some labs get over excited very quickly so it's worth keeping an eye on that.
I think there are two things you have to do here . Firstly, you have to take him right back to basics , start from scratch , read some of the excellent pinned articles in this section and treat him like a blank canvas . The second thing is to maybe get someone else , a family friend or relative to speak to your parents with you , to enforce that this is not working , that it is distressing you , that you need their support badly .
I'm sorry you're feeling so upset about Bismo and his bad habits. It's really difficult if other people are not following up the training pattern that you are trying to establish because Bismo is becoming confused by the differences in expectations. You have already had some good suggestions and you won't be able to sort out everything at once. If your parents will not stop feeding him at the table, could you give him some of his food (or some tasty treats) in a Kong in another room (or in his crate, if he has one) while you have your meals? I hope you manage to sort things out by going back to basics. Do let us know how you are getting on.
