My puppy is attacking me...

Hi @Fenhrir, The trouble you had with your puppy reminds me all too well of exactly what we’re going through with our 5-month-old Golden Retriever. If he gets overexcited, he starts nipping us really hard and jumping up at the same time. He actually tore my partner’s jacket, who just couldn't get him to settle down. It’s easier when there’s two of us because we can hold him back and stop him from lunging at his "target". We’ve tried the toy distraction technique, but the moment we move, he’s straight back at us; if he isn't too "hyper", we can sometimes manage to calm him down by making him sit and then lie down for a while. He’s been behaving like this for over a month now and we’re starting to get a bit worn out by it. At the moment, we’re trying to put him in a "time-out" as soon as he starts. That said, even though he’s got a bit of a strong personality, he isn't spoilt and he’s actually quite obedient otherwise. How long did it take for your Mali to stop doing this? I’m starting to get really worried. Thanks in advance for any advice...!

Thanks for all the encouragement! Everything is going well with him; we're still working on the issue of passers-by when we're out on the street. He’s ignoring people more and more now, unless there’s another dog around, obviously! Since he’s getting bigger, people don’t pay as much attention to him anymore. He even gave a little boy—must have been about five—a bit of a fright; he pointed at Daïko and said to his mum, "Look Mummy, a wolf!", while clinging to her haha. It’s a bit more complicated with my mum, though... she’s trying out different techniques but she’s really struggling. Since she’s the one looking after him all the time, Daïko pushes his luck with her constantly, whereas he doesn't do it with me or my boyfriend. She read that she needs to be the "pack leader", but that’s basically turned into "I’m the one shouting the loudest so you’d better listen". When he nips at her calves, she makes these little "deterrent" noises like "teuh, beu, ep"—it’s hard to describe, but it’s not convincing at all! And when she tells him "no", her tone makes it sound like she’s saying "jump!" or "up you get!". She won’t listen to a word I say; it’s a lost cause. She actually bought me a book on "dog psychology" by Cesar Millan (which is quite interesting, even if I don't agree with 100% of his methods; it does explain how a dog "thinks" and acts quite well). She absolutely loves Cesar, she’s watched loads of his shows and thinks his approach is brilliant. Yet, when I literally quote passages from his own book to her, she immediately gets defensive just because it’s coming from me—even though it’s Cesar’s own advice! Anyway, that’s another story and it’s up to us to sort it out, but I’d love to make her realise that if she doesn’t start questioning her approach, we won’t get anywhere with Daïko. He hasn’t got a mean bone in his body, he’s just a bit of a boisterous lad! Anyway, here are some photos of my boy:

When he bites, grab his lower jaw and don't let go.

I just wrote a massive wall of text and lost it, I’m gutted :'( As I was saying... thanks so much for your reply, @Lazy Girl. My mum called a behaviourist, who made her realise that we needed to treat Daïko like a dog again and not like a spoilt child... So now, if he’s the one asking for play or cuddles, we ignore him. Then we go back to him later, but it’s always on our terms, not his. Even just that has changed so much... When he tries to nip our legs or does what I described in my first post, if we’re out on a walk, I put him back on the lead until he settles down, then I let him off again, and so on until he’s better. If we’re in the garden or the house, I make him sit or take him to his bed and make him sit there too. Then I ignore him for 10–15 minutes. He doesn’t charge at us for no reason like he used to; usually, when he does that now, it’s because we’ve been playing and he’s got a bit over-excited. I pinned him on his back once because he started baring his teeth and growling when I told him to sit, and since then he hasn't done it once. Anyway, things are going much better. We’re walking him more than before—adding about 15 to 20 minutes to every walk—and every morning he gets a big 2-hour walk in the countryside off-lead where he can really burn off some steam in the fields. It’s doing him the world of good. It was a bit tricky before because I was in hospital and my mum was managing everything on her own, so he was only getting short walks... In the afternoons, we’re doing more thorough training sessions than before. We review or work on commands: heel (off-lead), sit, down, stand, recall, stop, steady, stay, roll over, and a tiny bit of agility (hurdles and the dog walk), but only a very little bit since he’s still so young. He absolutely loves it, though! Basically, by the end of the day, we have a tired dog who’s had plenty of exercise :) It’s such a relief to see that things weren't as catastrophic as they seemed. When people come over to the house, I tell them to ignore the dog until he calms down, and I make him sit so he doesn't jump up at them. On the street, it’s a bit more difficult; passers-by call him over, and when Daïko jumps up, they praise him and give him even more fusses... So I tell them not to do that, that he’s still young and shouldn't pick up bad habits because it won't be so funny when he’s fully grown ^^ Usually, they don’t get it and tell me I shouldn't "spoil his fun" or that he’ll end up being scared of strangers and so on—basically, they just don’t understand. I try to get Daïko to sit when we pass people so he doesn't get over-excited, but it’s a bit of a struggle... We’ll keep working on it...

Yeah, but I can’t move forward – he’s hurting me so much that I can’t move, otherwise he rips my sleeves and the bottoms of my trousers... we’re going to the dog training club tomorrow and we’re going to ask if they know a good behaviourist.

I would've kept him in a separate room... I’d recommend getting a behaviourist in sooner rather than later... better safe than sorry! ^^