Hero and OH have a very hit and miss relationship and at times it is driving me to distraction. My own opinion is that this has happened because hubby refused to follow same methods with the no bite training as everyone else. He thought standing like a tree, ignoring, turning back, diverting with toy or activity, going other side of stairgate, etc, was stupid. Well now I've had several months of him moaning and tutting and saying he's fed up with it and not having any more of it when Hero likes to use him as a chew toy or pull at his clothes. I've tried working with both OH and Hero to get past this. It works for a few days, then hubby gets fed up doing it and back we go to square one. Watching Hero it seems that to him it has become a real game. He knows that if he starts to nibble at OH who then forgets everything he's supposed to do or can't be bothered, the situation escalates to hanging off arms, clothes, shoulders until OH leaves the room. Then Hero comes and settles at my feet. As soon as OH returns it starts again. Real vicious cycle has developed. Have had real barney's with hubby over this because his attitude stinks and all he wants to do is moan and grumble about it. Have tried to get him to see that he needs to find a way to work through this. Even trainer and behaviourist have tried with him and it works for few days till he gets fed up again. We're now at the stage where only way to stop this behaviour is for me to keep jumping in the minute I see the signals and this really isn't helping the problem. Hubby's big problem is that no matter how many people have explained to him that there is no quick fix for this, he expects it to stop all together after a few times. Strangely it is only when OH wants to sit down. All other times Hero is fine with him. Have thought of it being attention seeking, but it just seems to be a case of Hero not wanting hubby in same room as us. He's tried sitting on different chairs but makes no difference to behaviour. Me having to get between them or take Hero out of the way is not ideal but now stuck for ways round this short of getting shot of Mr for a few hours every evening
I think it probably is attention seeking - hero's learnt that bothering your OH is guaranteed a reaction because you're feeling sensitive about it and have to intervene. I found with Loki he was fine when he was alone with either of us but in the evenings he'd annoy my partner and I'd feel I had to intervene and so the cycle continued. The solution was for one of us to leave the room, usually me rather than the victim! I was reminded of this today when I had a visitor and Loki was embarrassing me and generally acting like a badly behaved puppy, he knows it's impossible for me to ignore him when I have guests so he plays up. It only occurred to me after my friend had gone that we could have just left the kitchen.
