Sleeping arrangements, constant attention / begging, anxiety and following

Hello,

I'm sure you all know Troy by now so I won't blab on.

Had him over a month now and he currently sleeps in my bedroom in his crate. I get up every weekday morning at 5:15am to walk him before work and he usually wakes me up about 7am on a weekend.

I have him sleeping in my bedroom as per suggestion from here as I work full time so is at home some hours by him self, though my brother does come down and walk him midday. But because I am not around as much as I would like, it was suggested to let him sleep in my room to help him feel settled and bonded towards me.

I don't have a problem with him being in my room as such and he sleeps perfectly in his crate, it's just that he seems to be waking up earlier on a weekend. It used to be 7am (considered a lie in for me now!) but today it was 6am! He starts licking his bits early in a morning and it is very loud which wakes me up and once he decides it is time to get up he starts moaning. Sometimes if I tell him to 'shh' and lay down, I may get an extra 30 minutes if I am lucky.

Considering my situation, would it be advisable to carry on letting him sleep in my room or will he feel too isolated and won't be getting enough attention on a night if I leave him in his crate in the living room? I know for a FACT he will whimper and moan if I try leaving him down stairs (see below).

Moving onto the second issue. He is fine when I leave for work on a morning, probably because I give him a Kong to keep him occupied before I leave and he is not destructive etc, so no problems there. But, he will whimper, moan and bash doors if I leave a room without him and he follows me EVERYWHERE around the house. Even if he is sleeping and hears me move he will dash up immediately, even if I am just moving to the kitchen from the living room.

If my GF or anyone else is around and they move throughout the house he doesn't follow them unless they have food or run off with one of his toys.

The other issue is him begging for food. Admittedly he is not that bad, he sits and stares for a few minutes but usually gives up and lays down. He has started doing this when I am sat with my GF too though, he constantly wants to be in the middle of things and tries jumping up but I don't allow him on furniture. How can I make him understand when I want my own space and for him to move away and lay down for example? He know's the 'bed' command but I don't want it to appear as a punishment or anything like that.

Any tips appreciated, thanks

They are creatures of habit and crave routine. They don't understand what a weekend is. You could try a bit of extra exercise if you want to sleep in though.

They crave human companionship and will always try to be around. The best thing I can advise is constant and consistant training as well as plenty of exercise. A tired Staffy is a good Staffy

He gets exercised a lot. He can be chasing a ball for 1-2 hours straight no problems.

He gets walked 4 times a day minimum. I understand they like a routine, he goes bed same time as me so because we are going later on a weekend I though he might sleep in later.

When I am eating and things like that though, what can be done for him to recognise I want space? Just send him away and say no?

In regards to him being in other rooms without me, I am upstairs now and he is downstairs but only because he has a bone!

They don't understand weekends and will wake up the same time everyday.

For the food aggression just tell them no and don't feed them human food. Suki will still try to jump up or stare at us but we stay firm and consistant and she will give up after a minute or two

We had Lola in our room for the first wee while and slowly moved her downstairs and she started peeing and pooing in the living room and now she's in the kitchen and still pee's and poo's I think its a seperation anxiety.
She follows around as well.

They just want love and attention all the time and it is hard to resist them and their gorgeous faces!

I always feel awful sending her to bed when she gets to excited and jumps on furniature and want attention all the time, but they have to learn that they cannot get what they want all the time.

Have you tried a nylabone or kong to keep him busy?
Or pigs ear??

He is fine when he has a treat, he is downstairs with one now and isn't bothered where I am. If he didn't have one though it would be game over.

I want him to have more independence and realise it is okay to be in a room without me being there.

Following is good, it means that he is looking to you for leadership, but it shouldn't become obsessive.
Getting him to stop following and wait somewhere should be taught as an excercise because until you explain what you want, he simply doesn't know.
When you do this, make sure that you remain calm and relaxed at all times, but be positive about what you want. Try to keep in your mind, try to visualise, a picture of Troy staying quietly and patently where you put him.
To begin with do the excercise at random times, and never when you are stresed or in a hurry to go out.

It's much easier for the dog if you excercise him to drain his energy before you try to teach him anything.

Start when Troy is calm and receptive, take or send him to where you want him to wait and get him to lay down.
In this case, position is important.
A dog may well be on full alert in the sitting position.
For instance, dogs will often sit to scan the area that they are in for prey because sitting helps them to hold their heads up higher for longer than when they are on all fours.
Laying down sends a different physical message to the dog's brain. It says ' I may stay here for some time' . Laying down is what dogs do to relax and that's the message that you want to give him. 'Lay down, relax and wait for me.'
Once you have him laid down, stand in front of him and wait till he relaxes. Try not to use sound because sound generates excitement. I use my hand to signal 'stay'. Just hand up, palm towards him with strong eye contact and a confident strong stance in front of him.
Once you think he's got the message, relax and turn away. If he moves to follow you, stop him calmly and gently get him back to laying down where he was before.
Make sure that you keep a picture of the result that you want in the front of your mind and not the dog's mistakes.
Do this as many time as it takes.
I find that it's usually three or four repetitions before they begin to get the idea.
Be patient. give him time to get the idea. What you're trying to get him to do goes against his instinct. He wants to follow you.
Once you have him laying quietly move a few yards away and pretend to ignore him.
If he moves, repeat the excercise.
Gradually you will be able to extend the time that you ask him to wait from seconds to minutes.
The same approch, once he's got the basic idea, will eventually enable him to remain calm and relaxed and stay where you put him even when you leave the room.
If he stays where you put him until you call him, even for a few seconds, then you can end the excercise and reward him with a big fuss.
Repeat this at odd times during the day until he and you are confident about it and use the same technique when you leave the house.
Be patent, calm, quiet and firm.

Thanks.

I tried what you said and he listened on the 2nd repetition! The door was left open but I went upstairs to the loo and came back down and he was still waiting.

He was moaning a bit though. I'll keep practising it.

don't have a problem with him being in my room as such and he sleeps perfectly in his crate, it's just that he seems to be waking up earlier on a weekend. It used to be 7am (considered a lie in for me now!) but today it was 6am! He starts licking his bits early in a morning and it is very loud which wakes me up and once he decides it is time to get up he starts moaning. Sometimes if I tell him to 'shh' and lay down, I may get an extra 30 minutes if I am lucky.

Considering my situation, would it be advisable to carry on letting him sleep in my room or will he feel too isolated and won't be getting enough attention on a night if I leave him in his crate in the living room? I know for a FACT he will whimper and moan if I try leaving him down stairs

Romeos always slept in my room, at first on my bed when I would wake up suffocating as he was sleeping on my neck and then in his bed in the corner. My advice to you? Buy earplugs! Romeo snores like a drunk sailor most nights and I'd never get any sleep without them.

They don't understand weekends and will wake up the same time everyday

Wow I'm really lucky then, Romeo will just sleep and sleep. I didn't get up till 2pm today and he'd already gone back to bed.

Oh well, I'll just have to deal with it for now because he ain't ready to be moved elsewhere yet.

You are doing a fine job with him, keep it consistent all the time.

My Diesel will follow me like a shadow too when I go out the room, When I go upstairs I tell her to sit and wait.
I go upstairs, come down and she's there waiting, then lots if praise

Diesel tends to wake when we do as she sleeps on our bed, so she easily fits into our schedule kinda thing... And with the eating, Given half the chance Diesel would be counter top surfing, but I sit her our of the room when we eat, she can still see us, if she comes in, I body block her back out.

Forgot to mention Romeo follows me everywhere too but he's become more independent as he's become older. He used to follow me into the bathroom but he carries on sleeping on weekdays (how he hates those early mornings!). He'll still follow me upstairs and downstairs though.
He stares at me when I eat as well.

Jackieb wrote:You are doing a fine job with him, keep it consistent all the time.

My Diesel will follow me like a shadow too when I go out the room, When I go upstairs I tell her to sit and wait.
I go upstairs, come down and she's there waiting, then lots if praise

Diesel tends to wake when we do as she sleeps on our bed, so she easily fits into our schedule kinda thing... And with the eating, Given half the chance Diesel would be counter top surfing, but I sit her our of the room when we eat, she can still see us, if she comes in, I body block her back out.

Thanks.

I am going to keep practising and praising him when he does well.

shakespearesdog wrote:Forgot to mention Romeo follows me everywhere too but he's become more independent as he's become older. He used to follow me into the bathroom but he carries on sleeping on weekdays (how he hates those early mornings!). He'll still follow me upstairs and downstairs though.
He stares at me when I eat as well.

The bathroom Troy knows he is not allowed in. I guess with time and practice he should get better. How old is Romeo?

The bathroom Troy knows he is not allowed in. I guess with time and practice he should get better. How old is Romeo?

I originally took him into the bathroom with me because he was such a chewer when he was a pup and I couldn't leave him for a second or he'd mess on the floor or eat through a door frame. Bare in mind when we first got him I was unemployed so he was literally 24/7 with me.
He's two years and four months at the moment.

This reminds me of how Pixee was when we first had her. She never left my side for 2 weeks or so, and then started to follow son and hubby round the house. She sleeps right outside our bedroom door on the landing, our door is left open for her. the first week she didnt sleep, infact I woke a few times to find her sitting by my bed staring at me. I didnt say anything as not to worry her. She soon started to sleep. Then we had a phase when she was waking me up 3 / 4 times in the night, at first I thought toilet, so I took her out each time, but I soon learned it was her trying her luck getting on our bed. Then as I thought this was sorted, she started to wet her bed two nights in a row, and she had wee on the carpet, something she never did before. I took a sample up the vet, it was ok, no problems there. then just like this, she has now started to sleep through the night, she may wake us up once now at 6ish, but goes back to bed if we say so. If we want a bit of a lie in, she is allowed on our bed after 6.30 ish or when the alarm goes off to which she hears at oh jump on bed time . Now she is much more settled on the night time. I think she had a lot of issues with night time. You will get there,

I'm going to sound awful here... Vlad doesn't sleep in our room. His crate is in the lounge room. He goes to sleep before we go to bed so there's no issues there. We are renting our home and part of the agreement for having the dog is he isn't allowed on the carpeted areas of the house... The entire back of our home (including lounge room) is tiles, so that's why he sleeps there. He sleeps all night! He's sleep all morning too if we let him LOL. We also make sure he has a few quiet toys in his crate to chew and play with.

They are creatures of habit. Vlad does still pine and cry if one of us leave the room, but not all the time... generally it's when we've been at work or he's just tired. He is a real mummy's boy, so he follows me everywhere and I get cuddles first thing in the morning when he wakes up and last thing before he takes himself off to bed!