Hi all
I am a new owner of a gorgeous 1 year old zuchon called Teddy. I'd definitely put him down as more of a shihtzu than bichon.
We adopted him 3 days ago, the previous owners had to go back to Australia unexpectedly, and we had a lot of discussion about Teddy before we agreed to adopt him. They said he was a brilliant dog, fully house trained, loves people although shy at first, fine on the lead, no behavioural problems, loves his walks - pretty much the ideal dog.
Anyway, we met him and took him for a walk with the previous owners and sure enough upon meeting him he was quite shy and a bit stand offish although he was absolutely fine once he'd 'sussed' us out. We brought him home and let him explore his new surroundings and he was fab, he was still a bit hesitant when we went to pet him but quickly accepted us and 3 days on he seems quite happy for us to pet him.
HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!
Last night we had a visitor to the house. Beforehand, he had a massive long walk as I was a bit anxious I welcomed her in with Teddy shut in a room with my partner and after 5 minutes (once he'd stopped barking!) allowed him into the kitchen and asked the visitor to ignore him completely whilst he sniffed her etc. After a while she went to pet him (very slowly and so Teddy could see her hand approching) - fine. He then started to get VERY exciteable, I mean constantly jumping up at her and nipping her hand even if it was just on her lap, he also barked everytime he realised he wasn't getting any attention. He started tugging on her clothes (he sometimes does this but not quite as much as last night). He also kept mounting her leg which was odd (and slightly embarrassing!) as although he isn't neutured, he apparently has never done it before, but last night he tried to do it a LOT. I tried to distract him with his favourite toys and give a stern 'no' but he either ignored me or would proceed to jump at me and also nip my hands - increasingly hard as if he was borderning on the over-excited - aggressive line. I took him into another room and asked him to sit to try and calm down which he appeared to do, but once he came back to the room with us he was at it all over again.
This literally went on for the whole 3 hours she was here. I shut him upstairs in the bedroom with my partner at one point, which Teddy would be more than happy to accept usually, however all I could hear was him barking away and scratching at the door to come back downstairs.
I don't know whether he is still 'settling in' as I spoke to the previous owners this morning and they insist he's never acted like this before. I wonder if he was as properly socialised with visitors etc when he was very little as what I would consider 'socialising' a puppy. I do find it odd that he was fine with us also when he initially came to us and didn't act like this. It's just with visitors.
I'm really concerned about his behaviour last night - any tips or suggestions?
Steph x
I am a new owner of a gorgeous 1 year old zuchon called Teddy. I'd definitely put him down as more of a shihtzu than bichon.
We adopted him 3 days ago, the previous owners had to go back to Australia unexpectedly, and we had a lot of discussion about Teddy before we agreed to adopt him. They said he was a brilliant dog, fully house trained, loves people although shy at first, fine on the lead, no behavioural problems, loves his walks - pretty much the ideal dog.
Anyway, we met him and took him for a walk with the previous owners and sure enough upon meeting him he was quite shy and a bit stand offish although he was absolutely fine once he'd 'sussed' us out. We brought him home and let him explore his new surroundings and he was fab, he was still a bit hesitant when we went to pet him but quickly accepted us and 3 days on he seems quite happy for us to pet him.
HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!
Last night we had a visitor to the house. Beforehand, he had a massive long walk as I was a bit anxious I welcomed her in with Teddy shut in a room with my partner and after 5 minutes (once he'd stopped barking!) allowed him into the kitchen and asked the visitor to ignore him completely whilst he sniffed her etc. After a while she went to pet him (very slowly and so Teddy could see her hand approching) - fine. He then started to get VERY exciteable, I mean constantly jumping up at her and nipping her hand even if it was just on her lap, he also barked everytime he realised he wasn't getting any attention. He started tugging on her clothes (he sometimes does this but not quite as much as last night). He also kept mounting her leg which was odd (and slightly embarrassing!) as although he isn't neutured, he apparently has never done it before, but last night he tried to do it a LOT. I tried to distract him with his favourite toys and give a stern 'no' but he either ignored me or would proceed to jump at me and also nip my hands - increasingly hard as if he was borderning on the over-excited - aggressive line. I took him into another room and asked him to sit to try and calm down which he appeared to do, but once he came back to the room with us he was at it all over again.
This literally went on for the whole 3 hours she was here. I shut him upstairs in the bedroom with my partner at one point, which Teddy would be more than happy to accept usually, however all I could hear was him barking away and scratching at the door to come back downstairs.
I don't know whether he is still 'settling in' as I spoke to the previous owners this morning and they insist he's never acted like this before. I wonder if he was as properly socialised with visitors etc when he was very little as what I would consider 'socialising' a puppy. I do find it odd that he was fine with us also when he initially came to us and didn't act like this. It's just with visitors.
I'm really concerned about his behaviour last night - any tips or suggestions?
Steph x
