Blinky the Pekingese

The first time I met Blinky was at a dog park - his previous foster had warned me that Blinky was fond of lunging at strangers to taste their flesh, but upon first impressions he seemed fine.

He slowly rolled over on one side to let me rub his belly.

"This is unbelievable! I've never seen him do this before!" exclaimed his then-fosterer. My dogs skills validated, I said I would take him home the next day.

As I picked him up, he went up to my apartment obediently. I let him off the lead, where he walked up to my boyfriend, wagging his tail.

"Hi there little guy!" said he.

Blinky lunged at him and bit his hand, then foot.

They stared at each other.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"I want to hit him, but I can't," said my boyfriend.

It was a nice introduction.

5 weeks later, Blinky is snoring on my living room floor. It has been erratic, with him snuggling up to me one minute, then growling from my lap the next.

I've put him on what I call the dominance diet. Blinky is not allowed on the sofa, he's not allowed in my room. He's not allowed to eat before me, to walk through doors before me and when we are on walks he's not allowed to walk in front of me at all. And if he snaps at me erratically I take him for a 'time out' - 5-10 minutes in my bathroom.

Thing is, you have to do all this calmly for it to be effective. I find it difficult to remain calm with a set of canines buried in my hand, but I have tried my best to oh-so-calmly pick him up and take him to the bathroom for his time out, ignoring the fact he is arching his neck round in an attempt to rip out my flesh.

Oh Blinky.