Since you lot came up trumps with the fireworks suggestion, heres's another one.
Lab pup is now 8 months old. We got him in July at 8 weeks and from July to early Jan I wasn't working so had a set routine in morning of getting up, letting him out the cage, toileting , breakfast and usually a nap on my lap as I had my morning coffee.
Over the course of the day he could be left alone, either whilst I was upstairs, or out the house altogether for a couple of hours. He would lie in his bed in the living room , or on the couch and no issues.
I started work and his morning routine has changed however, he simply cannot be left alone now - 10 mins on his own whilst grabbing a shower and he starts chewing on the cushion or ripping his (5th and last) bed apart. As a result of this, he is now put back in his cage (which he seems to like).
I realise there are a whole load of behaviours, insecurities and possibly anxieties at play here but any suggestion as to how we get him back to been able to be left?
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Colour blind though. He thinks his car isn’t green...
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I know you cant help it, but the transition from company, few hours alone, to work all day has been too fast at too young an age. Not available to you I know, the ideal way round this would be to go back to square one and build it up again slowly.
Now dogs are great at putting human body language together in context. He now knows the morning routine that means he will be left alone all day. To him you getting up, breakfast, morning shower, cup tea, putting on your work shoes all means one thing.
My fast fix would be to break up your morning routine daily, change the order of things, leave things out. Do the same morning routine on days off, and build up the period you leave the house, 20 mins, 40 mins hour etc etc. leave come back feed him a treat Disrupt stuff, don't let him know what going to happen on any day.
And of course, I think we discussed this. The cage is a safe lair, available door open at all times, Don't be frightened to leave him with just a cage, a bowl of water and nothing else - no comforts, as long as its dry, out of the wind and has access to water its fine.
See how you go with that
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Cheers but should have clarified - he is not left alone all day. Bit more detail.
Missus works 3 long shifts a week so 4 days of week she is home. When she works, we (me, missus and 2 adult kids) are all out to work by 8.30 at which point he goes in cage till about 10am when my mother in law comes up and takes him for the day - she also has b-i-l's lab and the two of them have a great time , down the nature trails etc etc.
So he may be left for 15 mins whilst folk shower in morning , or he may be left for an hour or two during the day whilst missus goes to the shops etc. With both these scenarios he was previously fine and would just lie on couch in living room, or in his bed in corner of living room. But now the same scenario means he rips cushions apart, rips his bed apart.
And re cage, we tried the scenario of leaving him in the utility room overnight with his cage door open - but he just attached the door and skirting to try and get out. So he is now in the cage with door locked at night again - we got him a bigger cage so plenty of space and he does run into it at night when we say "Bedtime".
Our last dog, the black lab, whatever we did with the training, we did a good job as he was a cracking, well trained dog that I could take into the hospice and he would be allowed amongst the patients as well as up in the offices. But of course, it was 9 years ago that we were at this same stage and we are not sure what we are doing wrong this time! I know that I havent helped things by being about the house the first 6 months he has been with us but he did have a lot of variety in that time.
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Ok, well its been a sudden transition for him, at a young age. He's built a routine with you in the morning, but its been chopped off at the legs.
The sequencing body language and actions together thing still apply tho, vary your morning routines, disrupt his knowledge, throw in some games and treats during your getting ready to work routine.
And as I said, its no real big issue if your dog is shut in a bare cage for a couple of hours, which sounds like thats all it is. They dont need squashy comfort.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 31 Jan 20 at 22:26
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>> Our last dog, the black lab, whatever we did with the training, we did a
>> good job as he was a cracking, well trained dog that I could take into
>> the hospice and he would be allowed amongst the patients as well as up in
>> the offices.
Your old dog wasn't 8 months old at that point. Its a severe mistake to compare old and new dogs You haven't done anything wrong, you have a different dog, with a different character.
When I get my next pup, I know the first THREE YEARS, will be a growing learning experience for both of us.
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Oh and beds are £3.50 a pop in Home Bargains.
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Cheers Zero, will try the varying routines and see if it helps. Will report back....
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Doggy advice - MD
