Hi--newbi to this forum here.

We are at wits end--and about to give away our "Snowy" because he is disrupting our life.

Snowy is a wonderful bischon who will be one-year old in January. We purchased him as a puppie at about 3 months old last March. We had had a bischon for 15 years previously, and we had to put him down on new year's day in 2007.

We are a couple in our early 60's--and live in a house. Snowy has had the "best" of everything as far as care and is certainly spoiled by us.

The problem--everything--everything is a game to Snowy. Starting around 7 PM every evening, he literally goes nuts. He wants continuous attention--he'll jump on myself or my wife, he'll play bite (no growling or showing of teeth) our arms, pull on our clothing, and play bite our feet or shoes.

If I'm sitting in my lounge chair with my Laptop, he'll pull our the plug or jump on my lap and close the screen (honest!!).

He'll look around the room, which has dozens of dog toys on the floor, but instead decide to grab and chew a decorative pillow, the remote control, or anything else that's on a table.

He's too fast to catch to try to stop him, and while he's doing all this, he's alert and his tail is wagging. He thinks this is all great fun. Hollaring "NO" of trying to hit him with a rolled newspaper just works him up--and he thinks its just a big game.

He's housetrained--very few if any accidents.

He eats well, and is generally good when we're eating. We don't usually give him food from our table until we're done (if even then), and he generally doesn't beg while we eat.

He seems like a very smart guy--and if very inquisitive and remembers things from day-to-day.

He has managed to train ME to fetch his ball (he loves rolling it under furniture and then barking at me to "fetch" it for him)--and, unfortunately he is pretty well running the house at night!

We went to puppy class, and he does the basics (when he wants to)--sit, come, down, stay, shake hands.

I read about the NILIF technique--but how do you ignor him when he's pulling on your pant leg, biting your arm, or stealing a piece of paper from the table so he can shred it.

We both love him, but unless we figure out how to control him, he's going to be up for adoption.

Any actionable suggestions would be most appreciated!!

Thanks!!

Snowy's Mom and Dad

Dogs can learn self control, but it takes work on your part. You don't need to just ignore the dog when it behaves inappropriately but instead train it to perform behaviors you want, like sit. Teaching a dog to sit can progress into teaching it downs, and sit/stays and down/stays. Make this the game. Also this dog would probably benefit from some play time everyday, maybe with another dog.

You can find some good training books here

www.fearfuldogs.com/books.html

there are some things I need to know to be able to help you. It does really sound like there are some positives tho often when it has been so long people forget what puppies are really like


you didn't mention if he is neutered.

how often is he taken on 20 or 30 minute walks?

where did you purchase him?

what exactly are you feeding him?

Hi Suebgone,

Yes, Snowy is neutered.

He was purchased thru a breeder, altho we purchased him from a local person who helped the breeder place his dogs. From all we could tell, the breeder is reputable.

We feed Snowy Nutro Ultra for puppies. It is dry kibble food--We keep Snowy's feed dish available to him all day--although he usually eats mostly at night.

Snowy generally gets one or two 20 minute walks a day. We also let him out on a 20 foot lead in our front yard 4 or 5 additional times a day. (We live in a suburb of St. Paul, MN--and do not have a fenced yard.) Over the past several weeks, I have been letting him out, off leash, around 11PM--after traffic has died down. We live on a cull-de-sac street, so there is little traffic. He loves to be "free" and runs up and down the street many times, as fast as his little legs can carry him. My thought was that this would "use up" some of his energy--but he seems to have an endless supply!!!

Both my wife and I are retired, so he gets attention from one or the other of us through-out the day--although the really "bad" behavior starts in the evening.

Not that things changed, but Snowy did have surgery on one of his rear knees when he was about 6 months old. He recovered quickly from the surgery and is fine now. He was wild before and after--altho he is bigger now, so he can get into more stuff!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Snowy's Dad -- Denny

oh my, unfortunately what you have there is a puppy mill dog. you bought him from a broker. reputable breeders do not sell puppies that way as they want to meet the buyers, sometimes do home checks & offer 2 year health gurarantees.

luxating patella's are herriditary & for one so young to have already gone through the surgery is not good. you may want to consider a little preventative maintence & start him on some glucosimine, chondroiten, msm to help those ligaments that keep the knees caps in place. Of course his racing around puts him at high risk for a re-occurance.

Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM information and product

some foods are very high in sugars & protien which will both make a dog nuts but while I am not a big fan of Nutro it is much better than grocery store or WM food

I would never tie any dog outside unattended. even tho you are in a fairly private area, people look in those areas for dogs they steal for pit bull bait or to sell to research labs, hawks & owls can grab him in a heartbeat & they do.

it sounds as tho he is getting enough exercise - have you tried to figure out what is triggering him in the evening? altho a crate should never be used for punishment have you tried crating him for about an hour with a stuffed Kong toy when his nuts time comes?

I would also never let him off leash. even as angry as you get at him I'm pretty sure you don't want to see him laying dead in the street.

I really think you are dealing with the puppy mill factor which hopefully will wear down some soon. he is still a puppy. you could try Rescue Remedy, one of the Bach Flower Remedies available at health food stores. here is some info on Bach products Buy Bach Rescue Remedy/Spray/Cream at iHealthTree.com

I truly hope you can weather the storm because re-homing him is probably not an option