Just like everyone else in the United States, my family bought a dog during quarantine.
We had the original idea to buy a small to medium dog, but instead came back with a chocolate labrador puppy.
I had this whole idea that Finn, our chocolate lab puppy, was going to be my best friend and love me forever. After living with the devil for six months, that is not the case.
Almost immediately, Finn got a soft spot for my parents and listened to everything he said. Whenever me or my brother tried to get him to do something, he wouldn’t listen to us. The only time Finn would listen to me was when I taught him how to climb onto the couch, which my parents were not happy about.
Like any other puppy, Finn has a biting problem. I know this isn’t going to go away anytime soon, but oh my gosh, puppy teeth are the worst. There are multiple scars and bite marks on my hands and wrist from him. My hands don’t even look half as bad as my Mom and Dad’s hands and arms.
I tried to make amends with Finn by feeding him dinner. I would get him excited, and we would race over to the food container to scoop up some food for him to eat. Finn got used to this and started bullying me. When he thought it was time to eat, he would come find me on the couch and start barking at me. I didn’t listen to him. Then, Finn would climb onto the couch and bark in my face and try to bite at my hands. I had to stop feeding him in order to break the habit of being fed by me and only me.
Finn loves to run and jump into people’s arms when they walk through the front door or come downstairs. Never once has Finn ever done that to me. He even did that to my sister, who came back home for college in May and moved back to school in Louisiana. When I come back from school with my brother, I always open the gate to let Finn run free. He doesn’t hesitate to run into my brother’s arms and ignore me.
Sure, Finn can ignore me all he wants, but the moment I start ignoring him, he gets mad at me and starts to bark, nip at my hand, and drop toys at my feet. So I try to interact with him by picking up the toy, but he goes in and grabs it first, nearly biting hard into my hand. It is so rude.
Recently, I’ve been trying to take Finn on walks and play with him in the backyard. The only problem is that Finn is stronger than me and likes to almost pull me to the ground with his leash. Yes, Finn is only over fifty pounds, but I am an incredibly weak person and cannot match the strength of my own dog.
In order to better train Finn, we’ve started taking him to puppy classes and daycare. This is great, because Finn is usually gone for an afternoon or the entire day. I call that paradise. Eventually, we do have to bring him home, and when we do, he goes sprinting to everyone in my family except for me. There are times where Finn will look at me, then turns around to go to someone else in the family.
The only time Finn is nice to me is when I bring out the ice cream. For some reason, my Dad started giving my dog a couple of licks of Vanilla Bean ice cream. Now, whenever I open the tub of ice cream, Finn will come running up to me with his wagging tail until he gets his handouts for the evening. Don’t worry, I don’t give him any.
There are times when I do appreciate Finn as a good dog, but it doesn’t happen often. I don’t regret convincing my parents to get a dog, it has definitely made my family’s time in quarantine a lot more interesting .
