Hey everyone, first post here! I’m hoping to borrow some experience and wisdom from anyone kind enough to offer it.
We have a new puppy, Jeeves, he’s a lovely little fellow. His mother is a Golden Retriever and father a cream Lab Retriever. We got him at 8 weeks old, and he’ll be 13 weeks in a couple of days.
This has been his first week of outside walks and socilaisation, which he’s enjoying immensely! My main focus has been making him feel secure and loved in his first few weeks away from his family, though I have been throwing in some daily training sessions, and he’s doing very well. However, I fear I may have made a mistake somewhere! He’s become very clingy, follows me everywhere, even to the bathroom.
I think this is because for the past 5 weeks I’ve been sleeping downstairs with him. We didn’t want to bring him upstairs in the bedroom because we have two cats, and we wanted a safe space for them. We have a petgate on the stairs with a catflap in it, so the cats can roam the whole house, but Jeeves has the bottom floor only.
I have a large crate I purchased, with the idea of crate training him. I tried introducing him to the crate, didn’t go well. Sporadically, throughout the day, I’d put surprise treats in there, his toys, and fed him in the crate. Though, he’s never gone in there of his own accord. However, he did take to a new soft basket. And for the first week, I slept on the sofa, while he slept in the basket. So far so good. Then the 2nd week, same.
Then through lack of sleep and an achey back due to being squashed onto a sofa, I put a mattress onto the living room floor, and slept on that. Jeeves joined me, and has been happily sleeping next to me for the last 3 weeks. However, I need to go back to my bed at some point!! I think I’ve been a bit (okay, a lot) soft.
I’ve noticed his behaviour getting a little worse recently. I read the book “easy peasy puppy squeezy” before I got Jeeves, and have been practising all of the reinforcing good behaviours, and redirecting bad behaviours to ‘better’ ones. Though I think this may be a case that he considers himself my equal due he’s been sharing my bed (mattress). He expects to share everything, and will demand bark if he doesn’t get it.
The first couple of weeks he was much better. When we were eating food, we’d direct him to his basket, and he’d sit quietly, with the occasional sigh. He wouldn’t demand bark when I was feeding him (or just before it’s his meal times). Now it’s the complete opposite! I’m thinking that he is now old enough for me to try sleeping upstairs - something I should have done much earlier. If I do go upstairs, he will whine and bark a little, but generally calms down and sprawls out on the sofa. But that is usually for just 20-30 minutes, I’ve never left him longer.
Any advice appreciated! I think Jeeves has trained me well
And of course a picture of him sleeping on my head, if this wasn’t a sign of dominance, I don’t know what is!
We have a new puppy, Jeeves, he’s a lovely little fellow. His mother is a Golden Retriever and father a cream Lab Retriever. We got him at 8 weeks old, and he’ll be 13 weeks in a couple of days.
This has been his first week of outside walks and socilaisation, which he’s enjoying immensely! My main focus has been making him feel secure and loved in his first few weeks away from his family, though I have been throwing in some daily training sessions, and he’s doing very well. However, I fear I may have made a mistake somewhere! He’s become very clingy, follows me everywhere, even to the bathroom.
I think this is because for the past 5 weeks I’ve been sleeping downstairs with him. We didn’t want to bring him upstairs in the bedroom because we have two cats, and we wanted a safe space for them. We have a petgate on the stairs with a catflap in it, so the cats can roam the whole house, but Jeeves has the bottom floor only.
I have a large crate I purchased, with the idea of crate training him. I tried introducing him to the crate, didn’t go well. Sporadically, throughout the day, I’d put surprise treats in there, his toys, and fed him in the crate. Though, he’s never gone in there of his own accord. However, he did take to a new soft basket. And for the first week, I slept on the sofa, while he slept in the basket. So far so good. Then the 2nd week, same.
Then through lack of sleep and an achey back due to being squashed onto a sofa, I put a mattress onto the living room floor, and slept on that. Jeeves joined me, and has been happily sleeping next to me for the last 3 weeks. However, I need to go back to my bed at some point!! I think I’ve been a bit (okay, a lot) soft.
I’ve noticed his behaviour getting a little worse recently. I read the book “easy peasy puppy squeezy” before I got Jeeves, and have been practising all of the reinforcing good behaviours, and redirecting bad behaviours to ‘better’ ones. Though I think this may be a case that he considers himself my equal due he’s been sharing my bed (mattress). He expects to share everything, and will demand bark if he doesn’t get it.
The first couple of weeks he was much better. When we were eating food, we’d direct him to his basket, and he’d sit quietly, with the occasional sigh. He wouldn’t demand bark when I was feeding him (or just before it’s his meal times). Now it’s the complete opposite! I’m thinking that he is now old enough for me to try sleeping upstairs - something I should have done much earlier. If I do go upstairs, he will whine and bark a little, but generally calms down and sprawls out on the sofa. But that is usually for just 20-30 minutes, I’ve never left him longer.
Any advice appreciated! I think Jeeves has trained me well
And of course a picture of him sleeping on my head, if this wasn’t a sign of dominance, I don’t know what is!
. Could you encourage him to have his daytime sleeps in his crate so it gets to be his safe haven? He may well then choose or be happy to go in there at night. The more active he becomes as he gets older the more tired he will become - could you place his soft basket inside the crate?
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this May.
Good luck with your pup, he looks like a good boy.
