Maisie's anxiety about me leaving her is getting so much better, hooray! But! There's always a but :............ ......the summer holidays are here and the kids are at home and OH is on hols for a weeks as well, so what a great opportunity for them all to spend more time with Maisie and I can go out and about and leave her at home in their care, sounds great doesn't it! However, every time I have gone out and left her she refuses to interact with my boys (13 and 14) and my OH and just sits and whines by the door or goes and lies on my bed. They have tried playing with her, bribing her with treats, etc. She is super excited when I return. Also I have noticed recently that when they return from being out/school or OH comes in from work Maisie does not get excited, she raises her head and carries on sleeping, or whatever she was doing! I have been getting them all to feed her, do short training sessions with her, come on walks with me, etc, but so far there is no difference in the way she interacts with them. She will recall to them though I don't know whether I'm worrying too much and her relationship with them will develop as she gets older (now 5 months old). She seems to be a very calm dog; she's not boisterous with other dogs and people when we are out and has good manners around dogs that she does and doesn't know. She sticks to me like glue unless there is a good smell or rabbit about!!! Perhaps she's just laid back and doesn't want to rush around playing with them!! Who knows : Ramblings over!
Re: Interacting with family members Debs.....I can't really give you any insights as Dexter is our first dog.....I can say though that left to himself,he does favour me.....that must surely be natural for a stronger attachment to be made with the person they see more,who probably is the one who feeds them and in our case trains and mostly,excercises him.Dexter is totally bonded to Chris,my Husband though....and if I'm not there,Chris will definitely do.if she is whining and sleeping on your bed..this could still be some separation anxiety ...but I don't know enough to be sure....hopefully someone else will be along to help you with some suggestions.She still is only very young and you sound like you are doing lots of things to involve the rest of the family Best wishes Angela x
Re: Interacting with family members It sounds like you're doing a fabulous job, and getting the others more involved in being the bearers of good things is also an excellent thing to do I would keep that going. But I also wouldn't worry too much that she prefers you. The main thing is that she can cope with you leaving for periods, even if she isn't thrilled about it, and it sounds like you're making inroads there
Re: Interacting with family members All sounding good to me too Debs , she is still only a puppy and as her confidence grows , she will probably go to others more willingly
Re: Interacting with family members Thank you, I do probably worry too much :! I'll keep going with everything I've learnt from you guys and the other forum members. We're just back from a fab training session in the woods and she was a star! Had her first dip in the lake as well.
Re: Interacting with family members My dogs are definitely my dogs and if I leave them inside with someone they sit at the door or keep returning to it. I have the opposite problem to you though. When my OH gets home my dogs go nuts with excitement. They are getting better but I think I'd rather have them a bit more like Maisie. If your OH or children encourage Maisie to interact, perhaps with a toy, does she then ? If she does perhaps that could be the first thing they do when they come in. Call her and when she comes make a big fuss and play just for a little bit.
Re: Interacting with family members Jen, she usually will not play with them if they try and interact with her, except if they are playing cricket in the garden!!. But, that's a good suggestion about getting a toy as soon as they come in the door, I'll try that. I suspect that having teenagers with a pup, rather than little children, I need to remind them to play with her as well as expecting Maisie to want to play with them (if that makes sense?).
