Dear All, Since Luffy is now on the mend, I wanted to address the many behavioral issues he's developed during his period of recuperation. One of problems we are having is trying to get him settled in his doggy bed. He see's his bed as an unquenchable object of desire. He does not sleep on it, instead if anyone were to touch the bed he would unleash one of his bad behavior escapades. This has proven to be extremely embarrassing when visitors are around. Can I ask if there's a good way of changing the way he sees his bed? Any help will be appreciated.
I've just replaced Saba's soft bed cushion with a Rosewood tough and mucky cushion which has a different feel. He's not in the least interested in humping the new cushion. I feel sure I read somewhere that dogs are more likely to be 'demonstrative' with fleece/fabric bedding, so it may be worth trying a different cushion
LOL, little devil. My solution was to provide a humpy toy. Poppa Bear was bigger than 9 week old Oban when I got him at the thrift store. I encouraged puppy Oban to "get Poppa" which he did with gusto. Humping has tapered off with maturity but Oban has never, ever humped anything else. Not other dogs, not people, not furniture. Poppa is washable and can be hidden when visitors come. Humping Poppa doesn't bother us. Some people are horrified but might try direction to an approved object as we did anyway, and then fade away the object. Or, can you fix the bed so it's anchored down and he can't bunch it up to do this with?
Alas, originally the bed was placed in the dog crate which he now doesn't at all take too, so there's no way of anchoring it down I will try and redirect his behavior to a huge Winnie the Pooh bear we have upstairs - I don't know whether my brother will be willing to give that up I will try and see if changing the doggy bed will allow him to see the bed for what it is: sleeping! The one thing this excessive activity does is tire him out - after which he settles down for a deep slumber... Thank you for the suggestions.
LOL, I have to add a comment. My BIL became a grandfather for the first time three years ago. He's the only grandfather the child has and he decided he'd like to be called Poppa. Poppa! Of all the names he could have chosen did he have to pick the name of my dog's humpy toy? Couldn't he just be Grandpa? It hasn't seemed to confuse my dog when we tell the child to go get Poppa. When the child gets older and realizes what's up I hope he isn't permanently damaged.
I'm sure the child will be fine! Especially with having delightful grandparents and a lovely dog Luffy hasn't taken too kindly to Winnie - he thinks he's competition to our affection so he goes all wild on him when we bring him out to play
Puppies do hump their bedding, toys or anything. It's just play, a release of energy. As said having a special toy may give him some control over where and when. Homer will still have a good go at his bed, not often but once right next to my Aunt while we we having a family lunch.
Dexter humps his 'place' which is a piece of vet bed. It use to be his Kong teddy but it got too small and has since been chewed up.
