Dog Community

Attention starved?

Posted : 4/24/2006 12:48:24 PM

A woman and her golden, Hannah, come to agility class with us. She has a situation that I'm not sure I can help with but wondered if you wise I-Doggers might have some suggestions.

First off, she has 2 young kids and Hannah is a rescue golden who's previous life existed at the end of a tie out. Now Hannah gets to live inside with her new family.

The problem is that Hannah is VERY attached to the woman. If she ties Hannah out for a while to get some breather room, Hannah gets out of the tight collar and gets on the deck to whine and stare in the window. Hannah always has to get in between the kids and this woman and is always underfoot. Even if given a rawhide or something, she is always underfoot, following her around the house.

She admits that she probably doesn't give Hannah enough attention or exercise. So that was my first suggestion, which is why she comes to agility class with her. So it's a good start. I've suggested doggy daycare a couple times a week to help out but are there any other suggestions out there from anyone?

Hannah is really sweet and non-aggressive (so far) in her attention hogging. I've never had an attention hog so I'm not sure how you would go about it other than stern "no" and mean it.

I keep running this through my head and really she just needs to put in the effort to get the end result. It's like me and Kota's recall. He's ok but not great and I need to put forth the effort to get the end result and I just don't have the time right now. But he doesn't go anywhere off leash where it's a problem at the moment. So my second question is does anyone have a suggestion on a nice way to say this? lol..

faol

Posted : 4/24/2006 2:53:02 PM

[blockquote]

I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record across these boards.
Perhaps she needs to establish herself as pack leader. You know, the whole four step process with the five minute rule and all that.

[/blockquote]

nigguysmom

Posted : 4/24/2006 7:37:09 PM

Would the NILIF work if the woman had everyone else in the family take it over and act as the primary caregivers for the dog? I don't know if this would work, but when Nigel and DH had their little "power-struggle" when we got married DH became the primary care-giver and things got much better.

schleide

Posted : 4/24/2006 8:06:07 PM

Maybe I misread the OP, but it sounds to me like the issue is between the mom and the dog. Mom needs to be more of a leader and dog needs to be confident in his/her place, and therefore not be pushy for attention?? I would think that mom putting this dog on NILIF and also doing some one-on one bonding like these agility classes might really help... especially if all other family members are consistent with the rules mom implements... If she does this at first and then the other family members take over certain tasks with the dog, maybe that might work??

Like you told her originally, if she can find a way to bond with and really exercise this dog, that might, in itself solve a lot of the issues...

tashakota

Posted : 4/25/2006 7:25:29 AM

Yeah I think the dog is pushy for attention but I also think she's inconsistent with training, reward/positive punishment types of things. Like not looking at the dog and walking away instead of making eye contact and pushing away kind of thing. I explained that to her and she seems to understand. She said her husband is not very consistent and I also explained that if that's the case, it will hinder the training.... her kids are still probably too young to do much at this time but I also wonder if Hannah thinks she's above the kids at this point, which is possible. We've suggested NILIF to her and we'll do a little more this weekend as well.

Thanks all!

random

Posted : 4/25/2006 8:21:57 AM

Chase isn't a velcro dog. He's quite happy to give me space and just chill out on his own. But I think that if I tried to tie him out, he would also whine and struggle. Maybe that's one of the problems, especially since this golden used to be tied up constantly? Maybe it's hard for her to relax when she's tied out?

If your friend is looking for some alone time, maybe you could suggest a crate and a frozen kong or raw soup bone.

tashakota

Posted : 4/25/2006 8:31:26 AM

I think that is part of the problem here. She says that Hannah is always underfoot and she can't go anywhere without her following around and being underfoot. I think the woman is feeling a little crowded herself because Hannah is always around her.

I have one dog that is somewhat pushy for attention but they all know "that's enough" or "git" or "no", ya know? So I think one thing she might try is training her to go to a bed/crate. I'm not sure at this stage if a crate will work but I'll suggest it if she hasn't tried it yet. The going to a bed would be to train the dog to go to the bed and stay until released. She admits she's not good/consistent about training a stay, so that is definitely a problem.

mudpuppy

Posted : 4/25/2006 9:53:26 AM

gee, I'd be kind of surprised if a golden retriever DIDN'T try to follow his owner around everywhere. I don't think exercise, attention, or training will change the basic needy velcro character of the breed. The only thing I can suggest is putting a "dog's place", such as a mat, in every room and encourage the dog to sit quietly on the mat instead of being underfoot.